Many people tend to think that “violent video games” or games with a lot of violence tends to numb a child to violence and THEREFORE a child is much more likely to become violent.
Not ONLY is this not supported by ANY of the hundreds of studies that have been done on the subject. It has shown to have the exact opposite effect. It is lethargic. It allows a child (and adults) to take out frustrations and anger in a completely safe and controlled fashion.
In many ways it is a form of escapism, that the individual can turn to INSTEAD of taking it out on others.
The main confusion that some people have with this idea is that “some” (very, very few) children were never taught between right and wrong. Never taught about life, and that there are consequences for your actions.
This is a failure of PARENTING, and not a consequence of supposed violent games, violent lyrics, porn or anything else that authoritarians want to ban today. (Video Games can depict violence but are not violent. In the same way we do not consider a novel violent because it describes violence.)
And that is exactly what the vast majority of this is all about.
Authoritarians trying to exert control over what you can and cannot do, can or cannot say, and what you can or cannot THINK.
2 replies on “Political beliefs (Violence & Rock Music & Video Games)”
I agree with your view though I think when you said “lethargic” you meant “cathartic”. Close enough, I got your point.
Video games serve the same function as all proxy violence. Which is what organized sports are. It’s My Country (the ____, name your team) against Your Country. The only real difference is a matter of personal participation.
That said, video games are addicting too. That has been proven in quite a few studies. Like any other addiction, if you are prone you are in greater danger.
There are an awful lot of people who waste away their lives moving pixels around on a screen of one sort or another. Almost every young boy I have known since realistic gaming came along thought he was going to be either a professional gamer or a professional game creator.
To be fair, those people would find some other way to waste away their lives if it were not for gaming. Gaming just makes it more rewarding than a lot of other ways, or gets combined with other ways (like drug abuse or alcoholism) and that’s all part of the human condition. So it’s mostly a wash.
No inanimate object is more evil than the person using it. That goes for video game guns as well as real ones.
Great way of putting the argument. I hope that as generations that grew up playing video games age that this terrible argument will slowly fade away.