Once again, the Game Overthinker has alerted me to an update on the Connecticut Game-Burning ceremony. It has been cancelled. And while this is good news, it bothers me that I can’t just be happy with that… not when in his next breath (and that of many others), he is to look for the next scape-goat. Guys… ok, for once, this really isn’t about video games. I wish it was, but… just click on if you are interested.
If you read his article, no sooner is he done praising the internet for shaming these people into cancelling their burning, then he immediately talks about how the “fight” is moving over to politics and how games are still in the line of fire because Obama can use that as a smoke screen to attack gun rights with stricter laws…. and this is where we part ways with him.
I’m sorry, I can not accept either guns or video games being limited by these “comprehensive talks.” This is all knee-jerk reaction with people who would rather feel then think. There is no connection between violent crime and video games that has been proven, despite the best attempts by lobbies who believe it and are now knee-jerking to Connecticut and saying “See? This is what happens!” followed by mindless people who think “well maybe….” And these people are not just the “church-going right-wing” that my fellow blogger would have you believe. In MA, where you can assume any movement is in the left since the right is virtually non-existent, we have top people in the Boston Children’s Hospital comparing violent video games to cigarettes.
“Michael Rich, director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s Center on Media and Child Health, sees parents who are so eager to be friends with their children that they do not set limits.
…
Rich believes parents should not wait for definitive evidence about a link between violent behavior and violent games.
“This is one of those situations where you can argue to the end of time [about whether violent games lead to violent behavior], as they did over tobacco and lung cancer,” he continued, “or you can take a step back and say: ‘What do I want my kid to learn? And what do I want him or her to become? How does everything I do contribute to that outcome?’ It’s not just about sucking up to kids, it’s about helping them become the kind of adults you want them to be.”
The NRA may have pointed their finger in fear of the mob, but we have people in high places who genuinely believe this shit… and they have plenty of people who would follow them… not because “video games are the devil” or whatever shit those who want to make games into an issue think it is. It’s usually because "violent video games = using guns on the screen and guns are icky” as demonstrated within the very same article.
“Elsa Oberg, a part-time math teacher from Framingham, said the tension she feels over “Call of Duty” has nothing to do with other parents, but rather herself. About a year ago, after her son’s intense lobbying efforts, she caved and bought him the game.
“I’m antigun,” Oberg said, “and I can’t stand the NRA. But then my own son is downstairs playing this extremely violent game.”
And yet, she tells herself, he’s an excellent student, an athlete, and a nice boy with clean-cut friends.
“The game depresses me,” she said, “but I guess I chalk [his enjoyment] up to him being a 15-year-old boy.””
I'm sorry, but when you have to convince yourself the game is not a problem because the guns in it make you feel bad like this, the issue is with you, not the media you are looking at. You need to recognize that and THINK, not submit to the “let’s do something NOW to feel better about ourselves and pat ourselves on the back” movement we have both in the home and in Washington. THAT is what we should be fighting against.
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