To Watch or Not to Watch, That is the Question...

Since the development of film and television media, there has been much debate over the influence that the violence in these programs has on aggressive attitudes and behaviors. Out of these debates have arisen controversies not only about the validity of negative effects theories, but also how governments and/or media companies should handle the violence that is portrayed. Operating on the generally accepted assumption that media do have some sort of impact on violent behavior at least for some people, several solutions have been proposed. One of these recent solutions is introduced by the company ClearPlay, and it allows viewers to skip over any scenes in a movie that have content they do not want to watch. An article in the BBC brings up this system in relation to its release in the UK that will occur in a few months. According to the article, though the British Video Association is not opposed to the system at all, there has been some controversy over its release in the US. Those who oppose the ClearPlay system are afraid that its implementation will be a "violation of copyright laws." In a court case, a judge ruled that there was no violation because "no fixed copy of the altered version of the motion picture was created." The general director of ClearPlay stated: "ClearPlay has an innovative system for enabling parents to shield their children from what they consider to be inappropriate content in the home...It may also allow them to watch age restricted video with younger children whose content is generally suitable to view but again there may be moments of stronger content."
Part of the reason that it is so difficult to determine how much influence violent media has on behavior is because there are so many individual factors to account for. Even if correlations between violent media and aggressive behavior are found, we still have to consider other influences that come in to play; i.e. family life, individual personality, life experiences etc... (Strasburger, Wilson, and Jordan). In addition, questions of causality remain. Does viewing violent media cause violent behavior and attitudes, or do violent behavior and attitudes encourage the viewing of more violent media (Strasburger, Wilson, and Jordan)? With these questions in mind, and an overall less than definitive account of the effects of media violence, it seems as though some sort of censorship and control should be implemented. This is especially important in regards to children and young adults, largely due to the fact that many studies have shown that, though other factors are still involved, violent media have the most impact on this age group of developing minds (Strasburger, Wilson, and Jordan).
Knowing this, do you think that the ClearPlay system is an efficient and reliable way for parents to regulate what their children are watching? Though it could have many other uses, it seems as though statements by ClearPlay executives infer that this is one of their main objectives. I am unsure of its overall effectiveness, but quite honestly it seems as though a better solution would be for parents to simply not let their children watch programs with content that they do not think is suitable. Why do we feel the need to, as the BBC article quotes from a member of the company, "make some tools available for individual viewers?" He goes on, "today they can only choose on or off. With ClearPlay they can make vastly more choices." Why do we need to be able to eliminate the parts of a movie or show that we think are inappropriate, simply so that we can have more choices? Maybe I am naive, but doesn't it just make more sense to watch something else instead? The issue here is not even whether or not the violence should be present in the first place, it is whether or not you should choose to watch it. If you patch out the material you do not want to see, you are not even watching the story that the film maker originally wanted to show you. If the content of that story is inappropriate for you or those you are responsible for, then watch something else. What do you think?