Video Games, Violence, & VA Tech
So far Dr Phil & Jack Thompson have come out blaming video games and violent media for the shooting at VA Tech… I’m sure there will be plenty more religious and parent groups piling onto this bandwagon shortly…
One word: Bullshit.
Some of these people need to do some basic research on video games and violence before they start tossing mud at everything other than the person.
Maybe this ESA Report?… or maybe look up the actual crime statistics yourself and correlate them with the release of the best known violent games and widely popular consoles and systems… like this perhaps.
(Click image to see a larger more readable version.)
Oh wait… so… crime started to drop once doom, the first violent moderately realistic game was released… and continued even faster after the release of the Playstation… the first console that people who weren’t gamers owned and incidentally the first console that had graphics that looked reasonably realistic instead of a few colored blocks on the screen… oh and it kept dropping with doom 2… gta… gta2… gta3… doom3? Wait… could it be that people use video games as a … pressure release?
“I think it’s plain to see the massive increase in violent crime that coincides with the release of these violent video games.” Yah. Right. That sure is a massive spike in violent crime there. Yeap. Nice stuff. Kids stay in and play games more rather than going out and getting into trouble with other stuff is the simple explanation. Adults stay in more. Rather than go into the office with a glock and hose down a few dozen people people go home take a deep breath and play a game. Horrible stuff.
You can pull the stats on violent crime right off government sites, the video game and console release dates are available all over the web. Do some research *YOURSELF* think for *YOURSELF* take responsibility for *YOURSELF* quit blaming the world for *YOUR* woes and problems. Quit trying to find some scapegoat so you can shrink away from your personal responsibilities and blame everything that you dislike for a variety of reasons.
In my life alone, I’ve heard violence blamed on everything from music and movies to video games. No parent wants to accept that their child was sick in the head or that they missed all the warning signs that something was horribly wrong– I can’t imagine the horror of my children killing them self or someone else and then trying to figure out what I could have done differently to have changed things, it’s a what-if game that never ends. The end fact remains the same though, the person– in the end, is responsible for their own actions. When something like this happens it isn’t video games that cause it, it isn’t music, it isn’t the girl who cheated on you, it isn’t violence in the media, it isn’t guns in society (never mind the fact we have more guns available each year and violent crime has been dropping since the early 90s), it isn’t anything but that persons choice and that persons mental dysfunction. Respect each persons choices and the message they choose to send… it’s no ones choice but that persons. Learn from it, listen to the reasons, and leave the blame where it belongs… for any action you do, the responsibility lies on your shoulders… for any action someone else does the repurcussions lie on their shoulders. End of story.
Grow up sheeple, and start using that brain you evolved or were given by the graces of god. Here’s some food for thought too…
Edit: I generally disagree with Rush on many points, but the man made a good point and I think its worth reiterating. The part about gamers is a short distance down the transcript, but a lot of what he has to say in that transcript is interesting really.
Edit2: He didn’t play video games, sorry people… guess you’ll have to wait for the next massacre to blame video games.
Edit3:Another person’s take on the video game releases…
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