Videogames & Violence

[Xenocrates]

I want to hear your most honest opinions. This is a heated discussion that is raging all over the place. The question is:

Does the mass media incite deviant behaviour in society?

Do videogames and movies which contain violent content affect our behavioural patterns?

Is the endemic proliferation of deviant sexual behaviour a result of the propagation of such via the mass media? In other words, are people only gay because they see it commonised on TV?

Are kids who take guns/knives/nuclear warheads to school influenced by what they see on their computer or television, or are parents to blame?

If this is the case, what about inner city kids who aren't rich enough to own a TV or videogame system, or visit the cinema? How is it that they become gunmen?

What about kids in first world countries who come from good homes, yet still bring it to school matrix style? Is it the rap / heavy metal music that they listen to? Is it the games that they play? Is it the movies that they watch?

Is the exponential decay of modern society to be blamed on what is perpetuated via the mass media?

Your comments and insights are welcome. Hopefully, we can have a very interesting discussion on this one.

[MiTcHiE]

People will forever say that violent video games/movies and music causes and is responsible for kids that commit violent offences. They will say this because the kid will say he heard someone say it in a song or did it in a game/movie.

Remember when this kid burnt his house down because he saw Beavis and Butthead do it???? Everyone was saying Mtv was responsible.

Mtv got a lot of bad press because of this. Mtv has a program now called Jackass, at the beginning and when they come from commercials they show a disclaimer simply because of what has taken place in the past.

The way i see it if a kid plays a game like Grand Theft Auto and then go steals a car, u cant blame the game developer. Simply because that kid shouldnt be playing that game in the first place. How did the kid purchase it?? Its rated M for mature. Secondly the parents should monitor the games in which their kids are playing.

As for movies, it also has a rating system. Are these kids dumb??? If i watch superman, i wont go into a phone booth and change my clothes and then try to fly. To blame what a small percentage do after watching a movie or playing a game or listenig to music on the movie,music,record industry is really dumb and if these people thought about it, they wouldnt think the way they did.

[mikedaregentile]

Media is not the cause, but it does offer access to concepts and images that DESENSITIZE the user/viewer to violence and deviant behaviour.

Music devalues women to the level of "B*tch" and glorifies the "Gangsta" lifestyle. Violent Videogames, which despite parental attention and producers best intentions invariably find a way into childrens hands(ever visited a warez site ). Even clothing manufacturers heavily market a half dressed Brittany Spears look to ten year olds.

But WE are responsible. WE watch the vids. WE buy the games. If we didn't it would quietly disappear.

However in some ways the media is responsible for the "perception" that things are worse than they may be. Before the global reach of the media into our livingrooms news consisted of what a neighbor shared over a fence, or what the newspaper printed about the bad section of the city. We are now bombarded with reports of violence and agression from every corner of the earth, and often in real time. Hence it may seem that things are much worse than they really are.

Parents are the answer. The items are out there and our kids will find them. WE need to be there to explain and provide a reference point for valuing life, and each other.

Peace

Mike

[deakie]

what you say sounds so sensible to me mikey. must be cuse i agree with every word of it.
i just dont like the way the media is engineered. in fact, i bet the dont like good news either but they use ratings as the excuse not to do the right thing.

lets take it to the back yard of the media moguls....anyone knows who and where they are? ???

[BlackCryptoKnight]

Each individual is ultimately responsible for his/her own actions and will be held accountable for them. Children who are not of the age to reasonably take responsibility for themselves rely on their parents/guardians for guidance.

It is up to the responsible individuals to ensure that they guard the avenues of their minds- or their children's minds. People to have to be careful about what they let influence their thoughts. Watching a violent movie may not immediately incite someone to go out and shoot people, however repeated exposure to violent images does desensitise the individual to that kind of imagery - such that over time, it is possible (and quite probable) that those actions to which they are desensitised become more plausible for them to act out. And realistically, all it takes is 1 violent incident in a person's life to take their lives way down the wrong turn (eg. killing someone in fit of emotion).

Proverbs 16:29, NIV. "A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him down a path that is not good."

This is especially true with children, who are extremely impressionable and are more likely to act out things they see in the media, or see other people around them doing.

In this world today there are many distractions. You can't say that the media is the sole cause of deviant behaviour, but it does contribute. There are plenty of other factors: poverty, affluence, selfishness, greed, etc. At the core of it is sin.

Mark 7:20-23, TLB. "And then He added, ‘It is the thought-life that pollutes. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly. All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God."

Negative influences are everywhere, it's up to us to chose the right influences and build our relationship with God so that we don't fall prey to negative influences.

[mikedaregentile]

Now a bigger question: How do the children get the guidance they need from the mom and dad who are commuting 2 hrs or better to jobs each day and often to 2nd jobs just to make ends meet coming home to the third job of maintaining a household, relieved that they have the electronic babysitters? ???

Mike

[MiTcHiE]

[quote author=numeroveinticinco link=board=29;threadid=2274;start=0#msg22118 date=1068401184]
Now a bigger question: How do the children get the guidance they need from the mom and dad who are commuting 2 hrs or better to jobs each day and often to 2nd jobs just to make ends meet coming home to the third job of maintaining a household, relieved that they have the electronic babysitters? ???

Mike
[/quote]

Ok since society and a country's economy is to blame y people have to work 2 jobs - -- -- - - R u saying that when, children who have no other option but to use a pc or video game, or watch tv and then committ a crime should be blamed on the simple fact that the parents have to work 2 jobs?????????????????


Think about this guys, how many kids right now are raised on a daily basis who rarely see their parents???

And then think about how many commit crimes?????

Then see if the number adds up and can be blamed on video games, music or tv.

[GodKid]

Dudes.. i think we should all just be real with ourselves and give the answer to this question that we know is true.... YES the media DOES incite behaviourial changes... whether positively or negatively... EVERYONE that has responded to this post has agreed with this explicitly or implicity..

for no.25 it's desensitization... which is the weaknening of inhibitions.. which is simply sayin it creates a greater propensity to commit aberrant behaviour, but from the flip side (a glass half full is a glass half empty), ..and deakie agrees wit no.25 so that takes care of that

for BCK, preventative measures have to be put in place by the individual... BUT if media DID NOT affect you what are you trying to prevent?!

for Mitchie... well Mitchie is saying you can't blame the distributor cause it's the individauls choice.. which is pretty much a different angle on what BCK is saying so once again... or better yet.. why do you think they NEED to put a disclaimer?!

It's long proven that our worl affects our behaviour... Mead and Cooley started it with their ideas of self and more specifically their ideas that define the social human being in the thesis of a "Looking Glass Self" - we see ourself as others see us - if you in ANY way subscribe to the precepts of society and the idea of a social human then there is NO way that yo can deny the behaviour changing effects of the media.

Now... I'm not discounting everything you guys have said... but we must come to a point where we can realize the enemy for who/what he is.. THEN we can appropriately battle against him/it ... what you guys have offered are battle stratgies, whilst at the same time almost trying to deny that you have an opponent :-[

So my view - YES the media DOES affect violent behaviour and thus...
YES society must try to enforce some control (rating scheme etc.)
YES parents have a LARGE part to play not in eforcement BUT
YES in the the formation of the individual from early on


PS: Psychologists did a study using 10 toddlers (the one dem dat walk an talk), a Power Rangers episode, and a presentation which showed similar conflict between good and evil with the solution being found through discussion. 5 were shown Power Rangers, 5 show conflict resolution. In the weeks that followed there were increased reports of violence in 4 out the 5 children who saw the Power Rangers. This simply proves, that violence.. even within a schema of GOOD is still dangerous.

PS2No.25... how would you respond to the following:

Guns don't kill people... People kill people

Strongly Agree / Agree / Neutral / Disagree / Strongly Disagree

[owen]

It's pretty hard to determine what has a strong effect on an individual especially young children.

Without being able to determine which individuals will exibit illegal activities.

Basically commercial media does have an effect on people (that's why people advertise) but it is

not the sole factor in all cases of illegal behaviour.

society DOES enforce control (rating scheme etc.)

People kill people.

[Xenocrates]

People definitely kill people. Guns have no sentience, and hence lack the ability to go out and commit murder on their own.

Mike raised a very important point - Society seems to be a victim of its own self. The whole decay seems to be a recursive equation with a multiplicity of contributing elements. Since parents leave the computer and TV to watch the kids, lemme ask a question: Why bother having kids if you don't have the time to properly mind them? In middle America where the most bizarre things happen at school (Colombine shootings etc.) we see a clear case of parental neglect. And instead of blaming themselves for their incompetence, they blame VIDEO GAME developers! How much more idiotic can these people get?

But that raises another question:

Why would videogame developers see the need to create violent videogames in the first place? What influenced them to iconify such imagery? How did they first find out that violence sells?

Videogames are evolving into very crass adult oriented material nowadays. Grand Theft Auto glorifies the criminal element and cashes in on the innate desire of people to be evil. But the game takes the content issue several steps further by allowing your character to sexually assault women on the street, or have wanton sex with a whore at will. Now videogames have been downgraded to the extent where characters employ the excessive use of foul language. Where are videogame developers getting their inspiration?

What's the point of making these videogames if they will ultimately fall into the hands of children?

Let's face reality: Rating Schemes DO NOT STOP material with disturbing content from falling into the hands of children.

Furthermore, as Mike and Deakie expanded, the media DOES deliberately blow stories out of context for ratings. But WHY would they choose to highlight the negativity in society more than the positive to get higher ratings?