Video Games and violence...
Video games even since their dawn have been accused of "attributing to the moral decline of our culture" and more recently, "causes" of violence in people.
Anyone living in the States I'm sure is quite aware of the shooting at Virginia Tech yesterday. A tragedy like that is hard to not hear about. It's absolutely horrifying what went on there, the amount of people that were killed and wounded.
I'm sitting in an office at work (one of the things I do is prepare a magazine) and my office mate of the moment is listening to a talk show. I don't know what radio talk show it is (though from what I can hear, the host is almost certainly conservative...which doesn't narrow it down in the least. :P). Anyway, the officials have released no information on the shooter other than the very basics. I haven't seen a single report that says he played video games all day. Yet this host is blaming it (at least in part) on video games. He has even said "Games like Doom and Resident Evil 4 are "morally corrupt", are promoting violence such as Columbine and Virginia Tech, and are as bad as child pornography.
Several have come on arguing his point, but he hasn't changed his mind at all. He "can't wrap his head" around games and what their appeal is.
I don't want to go into it, or debate. Honestly, in relation to the Virginia Tech massacre it's not something that should even be discussed unless there is proof the shooter DID play video games. Even then it's sketchy.
This was something that just upset me, someone using it to further their political viewpoints, using fear and ignorance to promote their views. It's most certainly not the first time it's happened, and it won't be the last. That doesn't make it any less upsetting.
Anyone living in the States I'm sure is quite aware of the shooting at Virginia Tech yesterday. A tragedy like that is hard to not hear about. It's absolutely horrifying what went on there, the amount of people that were killed and wounded.
I'm sitting in an office at work (one of the things I do is prepare a magazine) and my office mate of the moment is listening to a talk show. I don't know what radio talk show it is (though from what I can hear, the host is almost certainly conservative...which doesn't narrow it down in the least. :P). Anyway, the officials have released no information on the shooter other than the very basics. I haven't seen a single report that says he played video games all day. Yet this host is blaming it (at least in part) on video games. He has even said "Games like Doom and Resident Evil 4 are "morally corrupt", are promoting violence such as Columbine and Virginia Tech, and are as bad as child pornography.
Several have come on arguing his point, but he hasn't changed his mind at all. He "can't wrap his head" around games and what their appeal is.
I don't want to go into it, or debate. Honestly, in relation to the Virginia Tech massacre it's not something that should even be discussed unless there is proof the shooter DID play video games. Even then it's sketchy.
This was something that just upset me, someone using it to further their political viewpoints, using fear and ignorance to promote their views. It's most certainly not the first time it's happened, and it won't be the last. That doesn't make it any less upsetting.