Now I know that Dr. Phil is a nutsac...
But blaming the VT massacre on Video Games?
" LARRY KING: Why, though - OK, you want to kill someone, you’re crazed, you’re a little nuts, girlfriend drops you, why do you kill innocent people?… Dr. McGraw, are they treatable?
DR. PHIL: Well, Larry, every situation is different… 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. 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.
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."
source: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/16/lkl.01.html
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Just so folks know... the study... in the 1980s which concluded the US Marine core used violent video games to "desensitize" recruits was made up. It was referenced in another study on violence on television, which also had faulty data.
There has not yet been a causal correlation linked between violence on television, movies, video games, etc. and actual violence enacted in the community. There has been correlation to show that combatitive sports training tends to decrease violence. Which is actually contrary to the implied argument in Dr. Phil's claim - that violent imagery begets violent thought, and then begets violent action.
Violent thought begets violent action. So to does living in a violent society.
Caligula did not play any video games. Niether did Adolf Hitler, Goering, Gobbles, Pol Pot, or Gengis freaking Khan.
What bothers me the most about the claim that violent video games make people violent is that it removes personal responsibility from the equation. Simply put, the asshole who murdered 31 people chose to. That choice made him evil. He chose his actions. I know that folks are scared about "it happening again" or to "their kids". If people actually got involved with their communities and did something about making sure that everyone has an ear, this'd probably happen less.
Just my $.02
" LARRY KING: Why, though - OK, you want to kill someone, you’re crazed, you’re a little nuts, girlfriend drops you, why do you kill innocent people?… Dr. McGraw, are they treatable?
DR. PHIL: Well, Larry, every situation is different… 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. 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.
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."
source: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/16/lkl.01.html
---------
Just so folks know... the study... in the 1980s which concluded the US Marine core used violent video games to "desensitize" recruits was made up. It was referenced in another study on violence on television, which also had faulty data.
There has not yet been a causal correlation linked between violence on television, movies, video games, etc. and actual violence enacted in the community. There has been correlation to show that combatitive sports training tends to decrease violence. Which is actually contrary to the implied argument in Dr. Phil's claim - that violent imagery begets violent thought, and then begets violent action.
Violent thought begets violent action. So to does living in a violent society.
Caligula did not play any video games. Niether did Adolf Hitler, Goering, Gobbles, Pol Pot, or Gengis freaking Khan.
What bothers me the most about the claim that violent video games make people violent is that it removes personal responsibility from the equation. Simply put, the asshole who murdered 31 people chose to. That choice made him evil. He chose his actions. I know that folks are scared about "it happening again" or to "their kids". If people actually got involved with their communities and did something about making sure that everyone has an ear, this'd probably happen less.
Just my $.02