Jump to content

The truth about Violent Youth and Video games


Guest
 Share

Recommended Posts

Game evolution

quote:

Thanks to the current media frenzy and barrage of lawsuits surrounding violent video games, I canÔÇÖt tell people what I do for a living without getting a lecture on the current plague of youth violence and the scourge that is Grand Theft Auto. I decided it was time for a rebuttal more effective than shrugging and saying, ÔÇ£Well, I think youen about 300ÔÇØ

So I sat down to write this article, and started n about me research. What I discovered startled me. I'm not sure I haveome studies to write a totally serious piece - it is not in my nature to beviolent , nor the nature of GR - but the issues are very serious indeed and the evidence is very real.

I am even going to use charts. With words on 'em. We spare no expense.

First off, I have absolute proof that video games are not the cause of this epidemic of youth violence in America. No, really, I do. Ready?

There is no epidemic of youth violence in America.

The whole concept is a lie manufactured, distributed and perpetuated by the media. Kids are not killing each other more frequently than they used to. In fact, it turns out the opposite is true.

Check out that ugly graph on the right. It doesn't take a genius to conclude that violent crime is at the lowest it has been in a good thirty years. For effect, IÔÇÖve also marked the release of the Playstation console, the first Grand Theft Auto game, the PS2 console, and the infamous GTA 3. Wow, look at those surges in violence!

Believe it or not, I got that graph - and all the others in this piece - directly from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics. All I added was the video game timeline. This isnÔÇÖt some privately-funded poll or crazy game journalist defense mechanism - this is the actual, most recent government data on crime as used by the FBI. The fact that they all max out at 2003 is irritating, but this debate has raged much longer than the past few months.

Please understand that IÔÇÖm not a conspiracy theorist. I donÔÇÖt think that there are any aliens at Area 51. I know that AIDS was not created in a secret government lab, I believe that men really landed on the moon, and I am 100% certain that Sasquatch shot JFK with the help of the Loch Ness monster. But something clearly isnÔÇÖt right here. The government and the media just canÔÇÖt go around making this stuff up, right?

Something must be missing. That first graph is the overall violent crime rate, and weÔÇÖre talking about youth violence here. So I found the data sorted by age, and it turns out that through 2002, youth homicide actually dropped across the board, the only increase being among adults. If I may quote directly from the D.O.J. report, ÔÇ£Recently, the offending rates for 14-17 year-olds reached the lowest levels ever recorded.ÔÇØ

The lowest levels ever recorded. In other words, the Playstation era has, in fact, produced the most non-violent kids ever. But I thought video games were training children to kill? IÔÇÖm sure I read something like that here and here and here and here and here and here.

To be fair, there have been about 300 studies on the effects of violent media, about 30 of which have been about video games. Most have found little to no connection, although some studies found a small, casual correlation between aggressive people and violent media.

Even if true, this does not necessarily mean violent media has created aggressive people. It is more likely that aggressive people are attracted to violent media. Blaming violent media would be like going to the opera, noticing that most people there are rich, and concluding that opera makes people rich. (Classical opera, by the way, is chock full of lust, incest, murder, suicide, and revenge.)

In an analysis of the risk factors of youth violence by the Surgeon General of the United States of America, violent media is categorized as ÔÇ£Small Effect Size.ÔÇØ In fact, there are 27 risk factors rated higher than exposure to violent media, like socioeconomic status, academic failure, poor parent-child relations, weak social ties, and being male. Quick! Ban all the males!

So is the media and the government flat out lying to us? Yes, and they have been doing so for years. As touched on in the rabble-rousing films of Michael Moore, fear sells. ItÔÇÖs how you turn terrible tragedies like Columbine and the WTC Attack into election votes and must-see TV.

The media in particular loves to bash video games, making sure to point out any time thereÔÇÖs an Xbox within 50 yards of a crime. This is because games are the new competition - every hour you spend interacting with a game is one hour less spent drooling in front of their fear-mongering programming.

And it's working. Sparked by Columbine, mainstream media routinely paints a picture of gamers as odd shut-ins dangerously close to the precipice of violent behavior, and almost unerringly misconstrue the games themselves without taking the time to fact check, as is the case in the very first sentence of this CBS News report. Points for killing cops in GTA? Do games still have points?

Gaming is also a new medium, one that has recently become wildly successful. Young people play them and old folks donÔÇÖt understand, so they must be bad. DonÔÇÖt forget that in the 1950ÔÇÖs, rock and roll was linked to youth violence in the same way. The hedonistic, tribal rhythms were going to turn AmericaÔÇÖs youth into a bunch of violent maniacs. Rock and roll was banned and censored all over the country. A bill was even put before Congress in 1955 to ban rock and roll altogether.

Something exactly like what is happening now. Sorry guys, I donÔÇÖt care what people say, rock and roll is here to stay.

Let me be perfectly clear: Grand Theft Auto is a best-selling adult game that should not be played by 12 year-olds. ThatÔÇÖs why itÔÇÖs rated ÔÇ£MÔÇØ and you have to be 17 to buy it. However, most games are not like GTA. In 2004, 54% of games were rated ÔÇ£EÔÇØ for Everyone, 33% were rated ÔÇ£TÔÇØ for Teen, and only 12% were rated ÔÇ£MÔÇØ for Mature. The vast majority of the best-selling titles every year are not rated ÔÇ£M.ÔÇØ Compare that to the 55% of movies rated ÔÇ£RÔÇØ and only 8% rated ÔÇ£G.ÔÇØ The ESRB might not get it right all the time, but who does? (Sources: the ESRB and the NPD Group).

And after all, thereÔÇÖs no problem with R-rated movies or mature rap lyrics or violent video games, because there is no problem with youth violence. The most disgusting thing to me is that some truly horrible high-school tragedies are being exploited by the media, and somehow, I'm part of the problem.

The truth is that these are the most non-violent kids we have ever had, and they all own Playstations. The government is so desperate to find some youth crime to crack down on that theyÔÇÖre strip-searching kids for 10 bucks while locking up 11 year-old girls for throwing rocks and eating french fries. The most peaceful generation of Americans in recorded history is being shoved through metal detectors, having their civil rights violated on a daily basis, are the victims of unreasonable search and seizure, and are treated with constant suspicion.

All because of a media lie. If nothing else can incite them to violence, maybe that will.


Go to the link for the graphs and the links, he gives a VERY good argument, and the fact is the whole BS about Youth becoming violent etc because of video games is just so much BS....

I take offense at the "Old Folks" reference, otherwise agree 100%... LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...