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[NYCrooner]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/video-games-sandy-hook_n_2330741.html

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has introduced one of Congress' first pieces of legislation related to the tragedy in Newtown, Conn.: a bill to study the impact of violent video games on children.

"The myth that video games cause violent behavior is undermined by scientific research and common sense," said Michael Gallagher, president of ESA, in 2010. "According to FBI statistics, youth violence has declined in recent years as computer and video game popularity soared. We do not claim that the increased popularity of games caused the decline, but the evidence makes a mockery of the suggestion that video games cause violent behavior."

Investigating the violent content of media is not without precedent. In the 1950s, for example, Congress looked at whether "crime and horror" comic books were impacting juvenile delinquency.

Not sure if has already been posted but this shit is so pathetic already. Pass the buck why don't ya??!

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

They should study blue shell garbage if they really want to see a correlation between video games and violence.

 

[VeryGooster]

That's how bad ME3's ending was.

 

[Orca]

Start with this one.

 

[guek]

That's how bad ME3's ending was.

Terrible joke about terrible ending causing a terrible tragedy makes me feel like a terrible person for laughing.

Terrible.

 

[Like the hat?]

I wish a federal study would just be done already so there would actually be some sort of conclusion either way for once.

 

[Dark Octave]

They should study how guns work instead.

 

[Revolutionary]

I guess that Senator didn't watch Nightline last night.

 

[Dylan]

I'm sure the National Academy of Science is thrilled.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

The more studies proving they don't cause violent behavior, the better. I'm for this bill at face value. Please read the OP before knee-jerking.

 

[Guevara]

Late entrant for the Video Games Fail of the Year thread.

 

[NYCrooner]

If you investigate how many kids go out a shoot people after playing video games then its only fair you research how many kids run around in green leotards killing giant spiders after playing video games (not counting Comic Con). What's fair is fair.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

They should study how guns work instead.

Please, guns didn't kill little Timmy. Clearly it was the work of the Zerg.

 

[HueyFreeman]

Why is this such a bad thing that they want to study it? At least they want to actually generate data and respond to research as opposed to having knee jerk reactions.

Honestly, kids shouldn't be playing violent video games - when I have kids, they're def not gonna be playing GTAs/CODs of the gaming world. Figuring out how to deliver content to the public is different than censoring what's created entirely - as long as they regulate it like the movie industry, it shouldn't affect you one way or the other.

 

[The perfect Dark]

We should all play violent videogames to be prepared...

 

[bumpkin]

Yeah, they dug up this dead horse and started wailing on its lifeless, mushy corpse on ABC Nightline last night for about 10 minutes. They called out games like Call of Duty and said how the player is playing the role of "murderers" that go on killing sprees.

Pen & Teller did an episode of Bullshit! on the whole bit about video games turning kids into trained killers. It was hilarious watching the kid start crying after shooting a real gun once and hours later was still crying his eyes out in his mother's arms.

 

[Ravidrath]

The Washington Post had a piece on this yesterday, once again reinforcing that this is a ridiculous myth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparison-suggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/

Link this shit around, please.

 

[kliklik]

For the people who were saying this is a Republican thing to distract from calls for gun control...see? There are idiots on both red and blue teams parties.

 

[VariantX]

Instead of wasting money on a pointless study trying to score political points with ignorant people, why not just send the message to parents to be more involved in what their children see and do around the house? You know, pay attention to what the little black letter says on the game box for example?

 

[HueyFreeman]

The Washington Post had a piece on this yesterday, once again reinforcing that this is a ridiculous myth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparison-suggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/

Link this shit around, please.

Wow, incredible image. Much obliged, I'll def pass it on.

 

[NYCrooner]

Why is this such a bad thing that they want to study it? At least they want to actually generate data and respond to research as opposed to having knee jerk reactions.

Honestly, kids shouldn't be playing violent video games - when I have kids, they're def not gonna be playing GTAs/CODs of the gaming world. Figuring out how to deliver content to the public is different than censoring what's created entirely - as long as they regulate it like the movie industry, it shouldn't affect you one way or the other.

Regulation is great but blaming such horrible events as Sandy Hook on gaming is what stings. I agree this study could vindicate gaming but I highly doubt that Joe Public will see the results of this study.

 

[Lkr]

All games are violent

 

[Odrion]

Did they pass any gun control legislation while they wer-pfffftt hahaha

 

[Z3M0G]

The absolute best line from that film... still relevant today.

 

[PAULINK]

The Washington Post had a piece on this yesterday, once again reinforcing that this is a ridiculous myth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparison-suggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/

Link this shit around, please.

Wow, South Korea is way up there, but I don't get it. Is that really how big the mmo industry is over there?

 

[plagiarize]

Let me bust out the supreme court ruling once again:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-06-27-supreme-court-violent-video-games_n.htm

"The state's evidence is not compelling," Scalia wrote. Studies "show at best some correlation between exposure to violent entertainment and minuscule real-world effects, such as children's feeling more aggressive or making louder noises in the few minutes after playing a violent game than after playing a nonviolent game."

waste our tax dollars on a witch hunt while we have a deficit. GREAT WORK GUYS.

 

[GillianSeed79]

Oh, Jay. (He's not the brightest bulb in the bunch if you've ever met him) Here I thought Manchin was making us not look like idiots for once and Rockefeller has to go and fuck it all up.

 

[anotherVegan]

Start with this one.

Nailed it.

 

[Guevara]

The Washington Post had a piece on this yesterday, once again reinforcing that this is a ridiculous myth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparison-suggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/

Link this shit around, please.

Awesome article. It should be titled "It's not the videogams, Stupid"

 

[Sapphire Dreams]

Because we all know pressing a button on a controller is exactly like shooting a gun IRL !

 

[speculawyer]

They should study how guns work instead.

They actually defunded money used to study guns and the GOP has been pushing an amendment that would forbid the ATF releasing gun crime statistics. Yes, they are that corrupt.

 

[Plinko]

The Washington Post had a piece on this yesterday, once again reinforcing that this is a ridiculous myth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparison-suggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/

Link this shit around, please.

Except this doesn't tell us anything about the type of video games being purchased, does it?

I mean, if FIFA is the biggest seller by far in those countries it doesn't discredit that idea at all.

I'm still up for a federal study to once and for all give an answer. That way, crazies like Jack Thompson won't have a soapbox to stand on any more if proven otherwise.

 

[The perfect Dark]

The absolute best line from that film... still relevant today.

Morgan Freeman:

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed
people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

http://www.examiner.com/article/morgan-freeman-on-adam-lanza

 

[Sojgat]

Amazing.

 

[Beckx]

Rockefeller represents a state where gun rights are very popular. He's up for re-election in two years.

It is extremely hard to avoid being cynical about his motives for focusing on games rather than guns.

 

[d1rtn4p]

I was listening to Obama's speech earlier, and I recall he said something along the lines of "we need to study the culture that glorifies gun violence", and I immediately thought about our hobby

 

[ironcreed]

They should study how guns work instead.

That is all. Show me the killer that has "GTA IS GOD" carved into his forehead. People say guns don't kill people, crazy people do, right? Well, a game sitting on the shelf next to your movie collection sure as hell can't. But a gun in the hands of a sick individual can and will every time, if it is within their grasp. End of story.

This argument does not have an ounce of weight. Leave the entertainment industry alone and pursue better mental health and stricter gun control that keeps these weapons out of the hands of unstable individuals that very well may take entertainment far too literally. In which case, the rest of us should not be punished. Don't miss the forest for the trees, dear politicians.

 

[Linkhero1]

Why not study shoes? I heard they use those as well.

 

[prwxv3]

Anyone see this yet?

Fuck Lieberman and his "sources" where he gets these rumors from.

 

[plagiarize]

Except this doesn't tell us anything about the type of video games being purchased, does it?

I mean, if FIFA is the biggest seller by far in those countries it doesn't discredit that idea at all.

I'm still up for a federal study to once and for all give an answer. That way, crazies like Jack Thompson won't have a soapbox to stand on any more if proven otherwise.

why do you expect the federal study to find anything new? numerous studies have been done. all we've ever established is that violent content makes children more aggressive, and that the nature of the violence doesn't matter (be it cartoonish fantasy violence or photo realistic).

no one has been able to establish that such an increase in aggression is harmful, which is why Justice Scalia called such studies 'not compelling'.

if watching soccer increases aggression (which it does). I'd imaging playing a soccer videogame does too.

 

[Z3M0G]

Morgan Freeman:




http://www.examiner.com/article/morgan-freeman-on-adam-lanza

Yah... that tops it for sure. Well done, Mr. Freeman.

 

[udivision]

I was listening to Obama's speech earlier, and I recall he said something along the lines of "we need to study the culture that glorifies gun violence", and I immediately thought about our hobby

The best way to feel morally superior is to condemn something you feel that you don't take part it in.

 

[Data West]

Morgan Freeman:




http://www.examiner.com/article/morgan-freeman-on-adam-lanza

That Morgan Freeman quote is completely fabricated.

 

[Plinko]

why do you expect the federal study to find anything new? numerous studies have been done. all we've ever established is that violent content makes children more aggressive, and that the nature of the violence doesn't matter (be it cartoonish fantasy violence or photo realistic).

no one has been able to establish that such an increase in aggression is harmful, which is why Justice Scalia called such studies 'not compelling'.

if watching soccer increases aggression (which it does). I'd imaging playing a soccer videogame does too.

Because most of these studies are criticized within their own communities as having flaws. Get federal money involved and the top researchers who agree on the exact parameters of the study.

As for that chart, people are on here referring to it as if it's the be-all-end-all to this argument but it isn't unless we have sales statistics for those regions. I absolutely believe gun control should be the solution to this matter but why not see if there's anything else we can do?

 

[bumpkin]

Morgan Freeman:
http://www.examiner.com/article/morgan-freeman-on-adam-lanza

Real or not, it's the truth. Every time you turn on the news, there seems to be more crap about who this asshole was, why he did it, his fucked up family, etc. In fact, I think I heard more about him in the days following the incident than I did the children he killed and the families he hurt. It's just like when that shooting involving that congress woman happened. My favorite was when TIME Magazine put that nutjob's picture right on the cover. Way to do exactly what he wanted; give him fame and notoriety. The media is doing the same with this dead sack of shit in Newtown. Ignore him, stop talking about him, stop giving him exactly what he wanted.

And for the record on the violent video games creating violent people, I grew up playing games like DOOM and Quake, Mortal Kombat, pretty much every other violent video game in the last 25+ years. The worst I've done? Gotten a few speeding tickets. I've never assaulted or killed anyone and I never plan to. And why is that? Because my parents did their fucking jobs and parented.

And when I was a little shit as a kid, they slapped my ass. Kids nowadays aren't afraid of anything, and I think that's a big part of this generation of mal-adjusted wackos that perpetrate these acts.

 

[Sleepy]

They should study blue shell garbage if they really want to see a correlation between video games and violence.

LOL. No shit.

 

[Boudica]

Why aren't these violent video games leading to mass murders in the rest of the developed world? I don't get American logic sometimes.

 

[rvy]

The absolute best line from that film... still relevant today.

Manson is all kinds of awesome. A shame that they chopped the majority of that interview and showed about 5 minutes on film.

 

[Aaron]

When we know for a fact that the shooters didn't play these games, why are we doing this? Why waste money for something that has no connection to reality?

 

[kliklik]

Why is this such a bad thing that they want to study it? At least they want to actually generate data and respond to research as opposed to having knee jerk reactions.

It's a bad thing because:

1) using video games as the scape goat for these mass killings distracts from the real issues of gun control and treatment of mental disorders, which means that the real causes don't get adequately addressed and the problem continues. It ultimately costs more lives.

2) it's a waste of taxpayer dollars – which could surely be better used on other more pressing matters – on something that is rather irrelevant. Violent video games aren't marketed to children and children are already restricted from buying it. There are already studies in place showing very high compliance rates with ESRB ratings – higher than for movie ratings. And any studies on the effects of video games should be done impartially without government influence and should look at long-term effects. What these studies tend to do is only look at extremely short-term results of exposure in order to find the bad effects they're searching for. But short-term can't be extrapolated to long-term so it should never be the basis for legislation.