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April 18, 2007
Jack Thompson On Fox News Talks About Video Games And The Virginia Tech Killings
Topics: Human InterestAnti-video game activist Jack Thompson was blaming video games for the VT killing spree before anybody knew who the shooter was. Thompson says that the killer likely trained or rehearsed his actions in games like "Grand Theft Auto" or "Doom." Later, Dr. Phil took the same line on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Dr. Phil agrees with Thompson:
Speaking on Larry King Live, he said, "We are programming these people as a society. Common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high.Not everyone agrees with Dr. Phil, though. A study (also here) published by the British Board of Film Classification claims playing violent video games does not encourage people to become violent in real life, and that people who play computer games believe that violence on television and films is more disturbing and real:"And we're going to have to start dealing with that. We're going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murders of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose."
... The question really is can we spot them. And the problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me -- common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society.
The researchers considered the views of gamers aged seven to the early 40s, parents of young gamers, games industry representatives and games reviewers.Without knowing more details about the design of the BBFC study and what degree of bias, if any, was built-in, we can't know how much weight to put on the study's results.David Cooke, Director of the BBFC said: 'A range of factors seems to make them (games) less emotionally involving than film or television.
'The adversaries which players have to eliminate have no personality and so are not real and their destruction is therefore not real, regardless of how violent that destruction might be.
'This firm grasp on reality seems to extend to younger players, but this is no reason to allow them access to adult rated games, as they themselves often admit that they find the violence in games like Manhunt very upsetting.'
The research also found that people play games to escape from every day life and to escape to a world of adventure without risk.
From my own perspective, it seems that common sense suggests one could reasonably assume that violent games don't make someone become violent, but it would be difficult to argue that violent video games do not desensitize disturbed people to violence. In Jack Thompson's case, he goes a step further and suggests that some killers might actually use video games to prepare for committing violent acts.
The entertainment media and the businesses and associations affiliated with it should not be our source of information (as in the BBFC study) about possible effects on our youth from playing video games - no more than we should have been taken-in and given any credence to studies from the tobacco industry that suggested tobacco use wasn't bad for our health.
Although the verdict is still out on this one, I put more weight in the opinions of the Dr. Phils and the Jack Thompsons out there who are suggesting that, at the very least, violent video games desensitize already disturbed players to violence. But after all is said and done, video games do not kill people any more than guns kill people. Only disturbed people and those that subscribe to some violent ideology of one kind or another kill people. If we are to look for who or what's to blame for the VT killing spree, let's use a little less emotion and a lot more common sense. Let's think about what causes nutcases like Seung Hui to escape deeper scrutiny and how mechanisms can be put in place to give authorities a greater ability to intervene when strong warnings signal potential problems like those existent in the case of Cho Seung Hui. And if we really want to begin to understand how Columbines and VTs happen, we might consider taking a close look at the very fabric of our society and the decline of the importance of faith and values therein, juxtaposed with increased secular progressive relativism. There are indeed rights and wrongs, and somehow many of our youth are missing this boat entirely.
Related:
Cho's Madness - The Virginia Tech massacre, guns and pop sociology.
Wanted: A Culture of Self-Defense
Posted by Richard at April 18, 2007 9:27 AM
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