Terrible.....

[kat_monroe]

Ok last night I heard the worst thing ever on the Daily Show. They were showing a House debate about violence and video games and how it influences kids and what they should do about the rating systems. A senator preceeded to say that kids that live in the suburbs are not as easily influenced by video games like GTA and are not at risk compared

Comments

[the211reserve]

well, it is sociologically proven that violent crime is more prominent in urban areas, and while drug use is pretty much constant everywhere, drug sales are more prominent in urban areas as well.

however, i don't see the correlation between being in that environment and playing violent video games contributing to violent behavior. if anything, those kids would be dulled to the effects of violence in video games because they witness it first hand.

i doubt that the video games play a major role in these kids following a life of violence. that's like that one fact everyone keeps saying - kids in bands are more likely to do well in school. well, duh, nerds are more likely to be in bands and nerds are smart. kids in urban areas already have so many things against them - they are in a lower socioeconomic class, they have less chance to get a good education, they are less likely to have proper supervision and good role models, and they witness violence first hand. the video game, if anything, is a minute factor.

the question, i think, if how you summarized it is all the representative (or senator, you said it was a house debate, but then you said senator) said, then how did *you* make the jump to it being a racist comment? just because he said "poorer districts"? the movement of black families to the suburbs has risen dramatically in the past 15 years. it is also sociologically proven that there are more white people below the poverty line than black people in the US.

while what he said might not have been the most eloquent, or the most tactful, especially considering it made it onto the daily show, you can't deny facts. it is proven that minorities are more likely to commit a crime than white people in the US. it is proven that socioeconomic class and education are a factor in who commits a crime. stating facts does not make you racist, its what you do with them.