Media Violence: our society's proverbial whipping-boy.

[Immortal Goat]

It disgusts me when I see people blame media violence for their own problems. Take for example the horrible incident at Columbine High School several years ago. I remember seeing the news footage, and then hearing a phrase that went something like this. "These boys were avid players of the popular and violent PC game 'Doom', which has been attributed to their violent behavior." WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT??!! "Doom" is about as realistic when it comes to violence as the old Gozilla movies were realistic about special effects! The parents of the victims even attempted to sue the makers of "Doom" because they blamed their loss on the game, not the kids. Obviously, the suit was thrown out and now we have "Doom III" coming out, but it doesn't end their. Oh, no. I have taken too much space already ranting about this one single instance. I want to hear other horror stories from you, the reader, and also your opinions on this controversial subject.

[The_voice_of_reason]

In my senior Government class we had to write bills and then argue them, one of the bills was about violence in the media the writers of the bill decided to focus on video games, they claimed that video games were responsible for several violent incidents but then pulled a Vince in backing up their assertions. Between me and one of my friends (a die hard conservative who only agrees with me on matters such as this) we had the girl who was the main writer of the bill so frustrated that she tore the bill into pieces yelled "well I guess there is no point in writing a bill for a problem that doesn't exis" and stormed out of the class.

[Immortal Goat]

Very good, Reason, I like hearing these kinds of stories. It warms my heart to know that there is someone else out there that takes joy in proving other people wrong on this subject. I have also heard about a NEW study that says that there is a smaller rate of graduates in the male population because of video games. BULL FUCKING SHIT!! I play games all the time, and I am still in school. And also, there is a large population of female gamers in the world as well, and they are not included in the study.

[El Blanco]

there is a large population of female gamers in the world as well,

Lies. All lies.

Obviously, if you are taking marching orders from Duke Nukem, you got problems.

But to say that video games and music don't affect you in some way......


I'll put it this way: Guys don't buy Barry White albums cuz we dig his politics.

[Immortal Goat]

Yes, video games and music do have effects on us, emotionally. But to say that video games and music can make us more likely to do things that are morally wrong is inconcievable.

[Zhukov]

You don't think it is possible to conceive a link between real violence and pretend violence?

[The_voice_of_reason]

Originally Posted by Zhukov

You don't think it is possible to conceive a link between real violence and pretend violence?

There may be a link but i am going to have to assume that there isn't one untill I see some hard evidence that there is. It is all speculation, there are no honest facts linking video games to real world violence.

[ranxer]

i have a christian fundamentalist 'friend' that is raising 3 boys by herself.. she told me her kids are not allowed a D&D player because they call up demons that tell the players to do satanist things, she says that her kids are only allowed to play 'certain' video games because the others corrupt thier minds, she tells me that her kids cant go to the skate park becuase there are drug dealers there(ive never seen one) and i try to tell her that with responsible adults around none of these things are a problem but there's no reasoning that can get thru to her.. maybe she's thinking those wierd voices in her head are god talking i dunno :/

then after these kids are in such a 'clean' environment they are violent(constantly fighting), steal stuff from everyone and kill things for fun.. and she freaking SCREAMS at them(at least 3 times a week for like 20minutes) .. i can hear her from 3 houses away LOL..

when she gets going in an arguement with me she blames 'liberals' and my athiest 'kind' for her kids problems. tests my patience to the max. i've learned to just stay away from her. i'm going to go visit her at the next anti-abortion rally with a video cam hehe. oh yea, and she defends bush like her faith depends on it.

i think of her as representing at least 40% of the fundamentalist religious groups in america. what do you think?

[El Blanco]

Ranx, if you tell someone how to raise their kids, it pisses them off somewhat.

Although, I agree there is a difference between being a responsible parent protecting her kids and an over protective paranoid isolating her kids.

And about those Columbine kids, they used pipe bombs and propane tanks as explosives, but no one is protesting Home
Depot.

[The_voice_of_reason]

A lady I know (who is a mormon) took her kids to see Spiderman, she walked out when the green goblin was "worshipping" his mask. Can you believe that shit?

[El Blanco]

In a round about way, he was. But, he was meantaly deranged. That was obvious.

[Zhukov]

For the record I just want to state that I also don't think video games are the reason for school shootings and things. I just thought it was inconceivable to think it was inconceivable to think they were. :/

[theapportioner]

Video games probably do have some effect in shaping people, but poverty, physical and verbal abuse, social stigma etc. do much more harm. I would go so far to say that by focusing solely on entertainment violence and other unsavory images, one contributes to the problem by neglecting what matters more.

[El Blanco]

What game did Hitler play?

Manson?

Casey?

[Zhukov]

Hitler played 'World War I'.

[Immortal Goat]

My point exactly, El Blanco. Violence has been around a lot longer than videogames. Hell, it's been around a lot longer than the radio, or even electronics, for that matter. Before electronics, what did the society have to blame for violence? Books, mostly, but lets go back further, shall we? Even before society was literate, there was violence. What was the scapegoat for them? Nothing. Thats what. Violence is not caused by media of any kind. It is caused by someone's physical surroundings and thier state of mind. Case closed.