Video Game Violence
We've all heard, watched or read about the ill effects that violent video games have on our youth. Supposedly, they desensitize children's inhibitions regarding violence, as well as provide lessons on how to commit violent acts. Psychologists have even pointed to this lesson or that as some sort of proof.
I'm going to ask a simple question here: if video games cause violent behavior in children, then why is violent crime lower now than in the days before video games?
Something is inconsistent here. The Grand Theft Auto Series, The Godfather game, and others are best-selling games that contain graphic violence. I owned Grand Theft Auto III (since traded it in) and currently own The Godfather. I've played both and I know how violent they are. My son never saw Grand Theft Auto, but I did show him bits of The Godfather. He also plays Street Fighter and Marvel Ultimate Alliance -- two equally violent games that are a bit less graphic -- no blood.
And what has this done to Jonathan? Nothing. Except that he can speak with his friends about games that they play.
Jonathan lives in a world where crime is as low as it was in the early sixties. He has no knowledge of the very real dangers that was life in the seventies and eighties. Among all of his friends, there have been maybe seven or eight instances where some sort of fight ever broke out. By the time I was Jonathan's age, I think I alone had seven or eight fights with my best friend and my cousin. I witnessed more violence in Kintergarten than Jonathan did his whole life.
My point is, if these games are so harmful, and millions of kids are playing them, why is the United States safer now than they were in the seventies and early eighties before these games were invented.
Personally, I see attacks on video games as really no different than attacks on music back in the late eighties. The PMRC, Tipper Gore's baby, launched an assault on sexually and violently explicit lyrics in popular music. Targets ranged from Twisted Sister to Ozzy Osbourne to Sheena Easton. Yet even most of us "lost souls" of Generation X managed to survive the evils of popular music and become productive members of society.
I bet our kids won't be too damaged by PlayStation.
I'm going to ask a simple question here: if video games cause violent behavior in children, then why is violent crime lower now than in the days before video games?
Something is inconsistent here. The Grand Theft Auto Series, The Godfather game, and others are best-selling games that contain graphic violence. I owned Grand Theft Auto III (since traded it in) and currently own The Godfather. I've played both and I know how violent they are. My son never saw Grand Theft Auto, but I did show him bits of The Godfather. He also plays Street Fighter and Marvel Ultimate Alliance -- two equally violent games that are a bit less graphic -- no blood.
And what has this done to Jonathan? Nothing. Except that he can speak with his friends about games that they play.
Jonathan lives in a world where crime is as low as it was in the early sixties. He has no knowledge of the very real dangers that was life in the seventies and eighties. Among all of his friends, there have been maybe seven or eight instances where some sort of fight ever broke out. By the time I was Jonathan's age, I think I alone had seven or eight fights with my best friend and my cousin. I witnessed more violence in Kintergarten than Jonathan did his whole life.
My point is, if these games are so harmful, and millions of kids are playing them, why is the United States safer now than they were in the seventies and early eighties before these games were invented.
Personally, I see attacks on video games as really no different than attacks on music back in the late eighties. The PMRC, Tipper Gore's baby, launched an assault on sexually and violently explicit lyrics in popular music. Targets ranged from Twisted Sister to Ozzy Osbourne to Sheena Easton. Yet even most of us "lost souls" of Generation X managed to survive the evils of popular music and become productive members of society.
I bet our kids won't be too damaged by PlayStation.
posted by E-Luv at 1:22 PM
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