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Connecticut Group Wants Your Violent Videogames — To Destroy Them
DavidGilbert99 writes with this excerpt from IB Times: "The Sandy Hook shooting once again raised the debate about how much power violent videogames wield over teenagers. Following proclamations from the National Rifle Association and the establishment of a study by the National Academy of Sciences to investigate the psychological effects of violent games on children, a group in Connecticut is now having its say Southington, a town 30 miles from where the shooting took place, is offering gift tokens in exchange for violent videogames, as well as other violent media such as DVDs or videos. The group, called SouthingtonSOS, said in a statement: 'There is ample evidence that violent video games, along with violent media of all kinds, including TV and movies portraying story after story showing a continuous stream of violence and killing, has contributed to increasing aggressiveness, fear, anxiety and is desensitizing our children to acts of violence including bullying.'" And Yes, they plan to destroy the traded-in games. (Note: Beware the obnoxious auto-playing video ad with sound; adjust volume accordingly.)
Will they take all my pirated games?
I'd be willing to give up some of my old titles that I no longer play if they'd give me more value than gamestop...
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
People should play more pinball.
more boobs plz
Notice that this is purely voluntary, and is not being run by the government. Hence your "government is taking away my Halo 12!" gripe does not apply here. Those who do not want to give up their violent games are under no obligation to do so.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
They can have my violent video games when they pry them from my cold dead hands!
Clearly, the only solution is to install a violent videogame playing security guard at the entrance to each school.
Also, they can't seem to figure out how to get the bullets to fit in the clip. That helps too.
Hitler and Stalin both studied to be priests.
The latest shooter went to a Catholic private school.
Prisons are full of Christians.
The most peaceful countries are the least religious.
These are facts.
Do they provide any of this evidence?
Parents need to start parenting and teaching their children fiction from reality. If you rely on popular entertainment, the educational system or what passes for news and public discourse to inform your kids, you're ultimately a failure as a parent due to being negligent in your duties. No amount of burying ideas, hiding the taboo, and erasing the purportedly obscene is going to cleanse the system.
Culture is screwed because a large enough portion of the population allows it to be such. Lack of critical thinking can't be fixed by legislation, book burning or other such ill-advised undertakings.
Wake up already.
Oh, wait !! They do, don't they !! Lots and lots of people !! FPS RULEZ !!
Please note, ESRB ratings have labels of 17+ for violent video games.
Kids should NOT be playing these games.
1. Create a simple violent video game
2. Buy a large set of cheap DVDs and burn it on them
3. Exchange DVDs for a set of gift tokens
4. Profit!
Over the years, our kids could go see the big bang action flicks, parents buying them toys to support the marketing of the movies but heaven forbid we let them see a "nekkid" body or people making love!! Maybe, just maybe, if we'd not been so uptight about sex and a little more uptight about violence, we'd be in a different place...
I'll believe that video games result in violent behaviour the day when someone gets arrested for mass murdering pigs by hurling various birds at them.
"Human knowledge is based on stories and the human brain consists of cognitive machinery necessary to understand, remember and tell stories.[8] Humans are storytelling organisms that both individually and socially, lead storied lives.[9] Stories mirror human thought as humans think in narrative structures and most often remember facts in story form. Facts can be understood as smaller versions of a larger story thus storytelling can supplement analytical thinking. Because storytelling requires auditory and visual senses from listeners, one can learn to organize their mental representation of a story, recognize structure of language and express his/her thoughts.[10]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storytelling
If you agree with the above then it's hard for me to imagine disagreeing with the idea that TV, movies, and video games have poisoned our society.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Violence and realism are what sells these days. Gamers aren't going to go back to playing Pac-Man or Pong. The article doesn't mention what the gift tokens are good for, but if there are no restrictions, I can see people abusing this system and turning in a bunch of crappy old games towards a purchase of GTA V or Borderlands 2.
I was an avid gamer and still do play when I have time. I have played some of the most violent games out there and gibbed (and been gibbed by) many an enemy. However, my gaming experiences have never instilled in me a desire to go into a public place and empty a magazine. I'm sure that many other gamers will feel this way as well. Most sane people have a solid mental distinction between action on an LCD panel and reality.
Bottom line is: Neither guns nor violent games are the root cause of the problem. Proper care of people with serious mental health and/or societal issues is key to solving this.
I'd trust some football-playing hothead who says what's on his mind and cools down minutes after a rage much more than some silent, coddled, brooding nerd-loser who chooses to mass-murder out of anger at their own weakness and defeatism.
The problem is the mental wiring. A nerd-loser isn't wired to like sports, in the same way a jock isn't wired to like Dungeons and Dragons. A jock *enjoys* sports, a nerd-loser doesn't - So it's much harder to get them into it.
After a few rounds of Flower (by thatgamecompany) I know I'm ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.
Huh? Is TFS trying to come up with a new, hipper, way of saying 'anyway'?
Why don't they give all their violent videogames to me?
Any Yes, how is everyone today?
I have long thought attempts to do this kind of thing were stupid and intrusive.
But think, those of you with kids, how many times have you refused your kids desire to watch a program because it is too violent? If you are any kind of parent, then that happens often. Desensitization is a long time practice in the military and kids watching/playing violent shows/games is very similar to the process the military goes through.
I think it's time that this subject is given a hard look. Unfortunately, any solution I can think of (in the five minutes I've been writing this post) would be a big legal mess, running afoul of any number of existing rights and freedoms.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
i really REALLY don't get this obsession with linking violent video games to violent behavior. Take yours truly:
Born in 1980, I played all the big titles: From Wolfenstein, Doom, Solider of Fortune, to whatever latest titles are out (I can't remember what all the Call of Duty flavors are called, but you get the idea). Hell, I even designed Doom and Half-Life levels based on my old high school (shit, don't tell anyone or they'll come after me next!!!)
At some point in my 20s, I joined the Marines for 4 years, so I know how to use a rifle.
Neither before nor after my service have i EVER had violent tendencies that made me go on a shooting spree. I deal with stress every day (Hello IT, working for an international liquor company that needs to be up 24/7) yet I still score normal blood pressure numbers.
I just don't get this obsession. There are always a few nuts. The rest of us are fairly well-adjusted.
Stupid media. Stupid fear-mongering. Stupid people.
done ranting now.
S/F
This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
then violent books. Then Historical books and movies. Then sad books and movies. Then books and movies that don't follow Dear Leader's philosophy. Each of those steps can be done by different groups, and the results are the same.
After all, they are asking people to voluntarily turn in their video games which people are free to do -- or not. This stands in stark contrast to those who would ban violent video games entirely and who would most likely support video game confiscation and for those who really want to play violent video games, background checks and registration. By requiring registration, it ensures that some newspaper will publish a map as to who owns violent video games or not so that violent video game owner's friends and neighbors may demonize them.
Meanwhile, I'll burn a stack of CD's that I can turn in for a stack of coupons.
Volume of cable news coverage != mortality risk
Total up the number of other people those "dumb louts" took out in rage/testosterone/ethanol related car crashes. I'd wager it's a lot more than 20 every few years.
I'd like to see a video game where you control the fate of disaffected parents. You would navigate your avatars to go vote on things like bicycle helmets, closing mental health care facilities, building new prisons, raising taxes, and giving up/taking away their inalienable rights.
Softcore porn scans and molesting should also obviously be required of your avatar before travel. Also don't even think about making your avatars leave their simulated homes without their virtual papers.
Wait... this isn't a video game I'm describing... is it?
I need some target practice with that new assault weapon Santa gave me for Christmas.
The causes behind any school shooting tend to be complex and involve mental health issues and problems with the shooter's personal experiences and upbringing, and other issues far more complex than just consuming violent mass media. If anything I'd say that the violence glorified in certain video games is a symptom of problems within society, and human nature itself. It is unlikely that there would be any significant(I know: wiggle word, define your terms AC!) positive change from just burning all our violent media.
They'll be prying my copy of Battle Toads from my cold, dead fingers.
Violent crime is sharply down-down-down in the US since it peaked in 1995: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#Crime_over_time
Folks might want to check the crime stats before making blanket statements about "increasing" levels of violent crime due to video games or access to computers. The Internet era has turned into the safest era since violent crimes shot up in the mid-70's, and rates of homicides and property crimes are at their lowest point since the 60's.
Of course I said the above in jest, but there is a very real point to be made :
When the highest levels of US government are engaged in state-sponsored violence
against people who have never attacked the US, it is not realistic to presume that
the ordinary citizen might not be affected by such conduct on the part of his or her
government.
The US is a violent country, and is engaged in wanton acts of aggression all over the
world.
Support the troops ? Only an idiot does that. The troops are murderers.
Will they accept my copy of the Bible?
Someone needs to set up and publicize an NRA-branded parody site offering a guns-for-games exchange where the site offers free firearms in exchange for violent video games.
Log in or piss off.
Whatever the generation in power didn't grow up with becomes the Bogeyman. In the 60s through the 80s it was that Devil music Rock And Roll. In the 90s it was Rap. Now it's Violent video games. After violent video games I'm sure it'll be something else to blame for the problems in society.
People just have bad memories and think when They Grew Up, it was some golden age. Nope.. no societal problems in the 50s or 60s. No Sirrr-ee.
Good luck destroying my games in the cloud!
Yep because Japan with all those violent video games kids are playing, and strict gun laws making sure that good, law abiding citizens don't have guns to protect themselves, and their unChristian government is a horrid violent place with all those gun deaths.
Oh, wait...
It may be an unpopular stance, but if they want to blame video games they better blame TV and Movies too. I am guessing people are VASTLY more exposed to violence in TV and Movies than they are to violence in video games. For instance, TV makes up 2.8 hours a day for the average American (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm) versus Video Games which make up less than a half hour a day for the average American (http://www.statista.com/statistics/186960/time-spent-with-videogames-in-the-us-since-2002/). That is a hell of a lot more exposure to TV than video games.
Frankly, I hate watching violent movies or TV, because they toss around guns and gun violence like it is no big deal. I'd like it if we toned down the violence in TV/Movies. As it is, I don't watch those programs (or try not to). But TV has a way of changing opinions (hence why TV advertising works).
We don't need to get rid of violence or guns in media, but just tone it down. Clean up our act across ALL media, not just video games.
But what about the millions of gamers who enjoy FPS and never entertained the thought of mass murder?
Its one fruit loop in a bowl, your not going to fix it by regulating games, guns, or anything else. Now get off your high-horse and quit looking for answers where there are none.
The best anyone could do in a situation like this is be better PROTECTED and prepared for the next fruit loop.
Look for the witch trials and burnings to commence there soon.
It's been my experience that when kids can work out tension playing these games they tend to be better off in real life than the kids whose parents won't even let them play cops and robbers, let alone have a toy gun.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
So what of all those children in other Western countries who watch the same movies and TV shows and play the same video games and have nearly the same access to weapons as do Americans, yet they don't go on violent rampages with the frequency of Americans?
IF VIDEO GAMES influenced people then the majority of Facebook users would be farmers by now. MAYBE.. I'm about to blow your mind here.. MAYBE the type of person to do bad things, gravitates to those kinds of video games.. and MAYBE the game doesn't really influence anything
http://www.mafiasecurity.com maf
Maybe the temperature needs to be a bit higher than 451.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
Not sure about student athletes, but there was the recent case of Jovan Belcher, a professional football player who killed his girlfriend, drove to the team headquarters, and killed himself in front of his head coach and GM. Also relevant is that the jocks are much more likely to be involved in assaults, rapes, vehicular homicides, and other violent acts other than shooting up a school.
George Carlin had this one right: ""They say it's the quiet ones you have to watch. Yeah, and while you're watching a quiet one, a noisy one will kill ya!"
I am officially gone from
Violent crime is sharply down-down-down in the US since it peaked in 1995: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#Crime_over_time
Folks might want to check the crime stats before making blanket statements about "increasing" levels of violent crime due to video games or access to computers. The Internet era has turned into the safest era since violent crimes shot up in the mid-70's, and rates of homicides and property crimes are at their lowest point since the 60's.
You are conflating all crime with (theoretical) video-game induced crime. The two are not the same. There may be no link, but submitting evidence that overall crime trends are down to refute the notion that video-game related crime does nothing to prove your point.
Posting anon since you slashdotters love to destroy anyone who dares criticize videogames. It's almost like some sort of obsession with you people. Lol.
Feeding into the political frenzy, the most precious Freedoms we have a the Bill of rights. Amendment 1 and 2 seem to be fighting it out recently. This small town is allowed their freedom to peaceful protest and their own opinions. It is when they try to enforce their opinions upon others is when they cross the line and no longer practice free speech and peaceful protest. While I personally don't agree with their linking violence to video games it is their right to this form of protest and opinion sharing. Because it is their opinions. It would be like linking Porn to sex offenders, or Romantic comedy to stalking and obsessive behaviors. I've grown up with the like of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom and the whole lineage. I've never owned a gun, never killed a person, though there have been many times I wanted to, but knowing it is wrong, and that this is real life, made the choice to not do it. That is in the end what these actions are. These violent individuals live sheltered lives as just another nobody. So they decided to end their own life and to be remembered. Since our society puts so much value on the evils, of man, instead of people who've had a positive influence or contribution. These people have made the choice to go out with the biggest, most gruesome killing spree possible. The Movie theater guy, we were lucky to catch him alive. But he planned it for months on end. It wasn't just a random freak out grab a gun and murder. As a point to the above, most people you talk to would know quite a bit about Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan, Musolini, or several other famously cruel leaders. But most would barely know a thing about Nikoli Tesla, Marconi and so many others who have given us the modern life we live today. So they chose to be in history as evil, because we remember and put a higher price on evil deeds. In closing, we need to change the paradigm of evil remembrance. We need to cherish those who have contributed to society, celebrate these members, not as a footnote, or an honorable mention, but as great contributors to the life we live. Hitler and the rest should be shoved in a closet, to be remembered for their actions so we may learn from history, but not memorialized, and almost celebrated through movies, video games and the likes. Though to be honest, it's far more fun to shoot Nazis in a game than to invent short wave radios.
They're all fucking mentally deranged morons. And since they are against entertainment media (and basically freedom of speech and expression) while apparently the killer wasn't, I conclude that violent video games are not the common correlation here. It's dumbasses. I'd rather see the country rid itself of them, send them away for "disposal," but that will of course never happen.
Boy youd think once I proved 100% without a doubt that video games dont cause violence that it would be the end of the discussion. But Ill do it again and anyone here is free to re-use my points all they like and copy/paste them as needed allover the internet.
1- If video games cause violent behavior, I mean truly caused violent behavior then every person who ever played a violent video game would be going out and commiting shootings right now. Considering that call of duty black ops 2 released not long ago and sold 11.22 million copies in 7 days, so that would mean there would be 11.22 million out there commiting violent crimes right now, but guess what? There arent over 11 million shootings going on right now and why is that? Because games dont cause violence if they did then every single person who played a violent game would become violent, but that isnt the case at all.
2- If violent games are the source of school shootings and violent behavior then someone please tell me this. Which call of duty game was it hitler played when he exterminated millions of people? Was it Doom that charles whitman played when he got a rifle and shot all those people at the texas college in the 60s? Or what game was played by the man who killed his wife, set fire to his home, then went to a school and blew up like 50 little kids in the year 1927 in bath township michigan? You see, violent behavior and school shootings/bombings have been around WAYYYYY before video games ever existed, hell violent behavior has existed since long before even electricity.
So there you have it, 2 simple statements that prove video games do not cause violent behavior.
As an added bonus I will also say this. Get rid of religion. If you get rid of religion thousands of lives will be saved every year and people will generally be much happier. Hitler, the crusades, all the senseless killing in the middle east for hundreds of years, planes flown into the twin towers, the fact that stem cell research is doing amazing things now but christians cock blocked it for decades and if they hadnt imagine how much further we would be now if they didnt hold it back, and well I could go on and on and on and on about all the negative things religion has brought into our lives. So I say, religion causes more violent behavior than video ever could. I say religion causes more violence, hatred, judgemental mentalities, sadness, ignorance, pain, suffering and death than anything ever has in the entire history of mankind. So if you want to single out one paticullar thing to get rid I say religion would make the most positive impact on our society and the world.
You should see sCUNThorpe (Lincolnshire, UK)
No, the jocks don't do they actual shooting themselves. But they are likely the ones who bullied the nerd into the rage that triggered the nerd's violent actions, so they are also responsible to some degree.
I played hockey since I was 5, and also played for my high school for a year. But I had to quit - because of all the idiot jocks and their homophobia, misogyny, and general distaste for anything they couldn't understand or was slightly different from them. You should have heard the shit that was talked about in the locker room. Yeah, those dumb louts sure had a firm grip on their emotions all right.
"But this one goes to 11!"
The "or" means it could contribute only to a single one of them and the entire statement would still be true, but totally meaningless. Furthermore, "aggressiveness, fear, anxiety and desensitization" aren't the same as school violence or mass murder.
They are trying to push a political agenda by innuendo and guilt-by-association. Even if these people had a reasonable cause, such deliberate deception is unacceptable.
All the crappy FPS shooters and worthless ancient violent games that I have filling up my bookcase since 1992, I can give to these guys and I'll get CREDIT that I can use toward some other game that I might actually want??
(No I didn't read TFA, I'm not going to that site, thanks.)
LOL, let the great shovelware crap-pile commence!
-Styopa
They want to put a book that contains graphic deceptions of violence and death and has been the influence for hundreds of thousands of deaths for 2000 years into the hands of every grade school child.
Jocks go on to become executives, lawyers, and politicians. Social outcasts might shoot up a movie theater every year or so, but it was jocks who got us into Iraq and caused civilian casualties in the hundreds of thousands.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I can destroy any such games myself - eg, while videoing the happy process - without paying any postage.
but it turns out that the dumb louts actually manage their emotions better than you do.
But I've never shot up a school. Most people haven't, in fact.
Put more effort into your trolling.
Game companies like this because it takes traded in games off the market and so they'll sell more new games. This only serves as an inducement to make more violent games.
So, giant failure.
Even bigger failure is that there is no correlation between video games and violence. There are countless studies, but I like this fact: Japan has 0.6% as many gun deaths as the US.* I wonder if they play video games over there?
* 10.2 per 100,000 per year in the US vs 0.07 for Japan according to Wikipedia.
Is there any evidence whatsoever that the recent shooter even played video games at all? I hate these people. Bunch of fucking reactionary idiots. We have these shootings because we've created gun-free target practice zones for anybody who wants to ignore the sign and shoot up the place. There have always been and will always be crazy people willing to kill a lot of innocents. This shit just happens now because we've given them ample opportunity to cause an extreme amount of damage without any hindrance whatsoever.
Interesting correlation to that drop in violent crime...
Leaded gas, known to mess with development, was banned in 1978. Roughly 20 years later, about the time it takes for a new born to fully mature, violent crime begins to suddenly drop.
Not saying it's the cause, but it might be a factor.
When's the last time you saw somebody who was a student athlete shoot up a school or movie theater?
Sports are charged with testosterone, true, but they also teach people how to lose gracefully and that losing is a part of life. I'd trust some football-playing hothead who says what's on his mind and cools down minutes after a rage much more than some silent, coddled, brooding nerd-loser who chooses to mass-murder out of anger at their own weakness and defeatism.
So in short, you accuse athletes of being bullies and brutes, but it turns out that the dumb louts actually manage their emotions better than you do.
-- Ethanol-fueled
No, student athletes don't shoot up movie theaters, they just rape girls and brag about it to their friends. Then the school community covers it up for them because in redneck America highschool football "stars" are the darlings of town.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Simply responded to the statement in TFS that violent crime is increasing in the US. In fact, violent crime, property crime, and homicide have all dramatically decreased since they peaked in America in the 70's. Us fraud examiners pay attention to criminology stats.
We also know that increasing the drinking age is a big factor. Most violent crimes are committed by young males aged 17-25, and a huge percentage of violent crimes are associated with alcohol use. Alcohol + high-testosterone is obviously a recipe for a fight in many cases. If you recall, the drinking ages started increasing rapidly from 18 years old to 21 in the early 1980's as part of a nationwide reform.
I think this is a phenomenon we see again and again in the modern world; We deprive a natural system of natural random shocks it had in its ancestral environment and it does not build the strength it needs to sustain heavier shocks when they come. Plenty of literature on this- consider the Hygiene Hypothesis, Financial Fragility, The body's need for exercise, Forest Fire Management (killing small fires make the biggest fires bigger), Epidemiology, etc. Every psychological conflict is swept under the carpet under the pretense of etiquette, morality and so-called civilized behaviour. We need some conflict! We need some Volatility and Randomness in Life!
I think there is a very important insight here, made by Nassim Taleb amongst others. Its easier to manage the Fragility (or Anti-Fragility) then it is to predict specific time and place of blowup events. There is something terribly wrong with the way we approach sciences in the domains of Complex Systems as if its Particle Physics. Its time for a new scientific revolution - where we move from Know What to .
And anyone using "video-game induced crime" figures are just manipulating data to cherry pick the results they desire. It's not bashing video games I have a problem with, it is manipulating data to achieve the pre-determined results they had decided long before they even considered any of the actual data. Junk science and non-scientific studies are the problem here. There is no such thing as "video game related crime" - there has never been any actual scientific studies by a non-biased research group that prove any link that I have seen. If you know of one, please provide a citation.
"But this one goes to 11!"
I will just point out that I've been through this before with the scares in the 1980's around "Dungeons and Dragons". Which was considered then a clearly dangerous game - after all, children who liked to pretend that they lived as heroes in a violent universe killing monsters would clearly grow up to be violent maniacs. As we now know, D&D is mostly dangerous in terms of "if you let it slip that you like D&D, the jocks will beat you up." and the theories that D&D would teach the children to be violent have been (largely) refuted.
-Peter
The athletes are the ones that cause the "silent, coddled, brooding nerd-loser" to go off an commit mas-murder. Get with the program, fucktard.
--
BMO
I don't blame them for thinking as such, but that's because they are desperately in need of doing something to somehow make sense of the terrible tragedy of Newtown. But taking away violent video games will not solve the problem. Heck, define violences to begin with? some of the old disney and warner bros cartoons at some point were deemed to violent to be on TV. No, the solution isn't avoidance of violence, but rather, guidance. Educate our kids what is fiction and what is reality. Nobody wants to admit it, but when we leave our kids to their own device, at the expense of monitoring their activities, spending time with them, etc.. well, we are to blame. Also, I know, single parent families, yes, they exist, but you the parent are still the boss.. Be creative, allow them access when you can supervise. If you can't educate your kid(s), then stop making kids. But last thing you need is to try and curb violence via gaming. Teach kids right from wrong, give them an outlet to vent their frustrations and educate them. Not easy, nope, but, that's the solution. Violence is out there and that's the truth. You don't shield your kids if you love them, you prepare them for life. You make them want peace. But you don't hide the violence, because whenever it will hit them, if they aren't ready, the horrors of it will make it that much worse.
the solid, obvious line between voluntary association and coercion
Apparently, this line between voluntary mind control and coercive mind control is not obvious to everyone. For example, on which side do religious movements such as Jehovah's Witnesses fall, especially considering their practice of shunning those who have left their religion?
That surely is something that kid watched, right?
And it has the hero shooting the bad guys ALL THE BLOODY TIME, right?
So it must be the cowboy movies.
Round 'em up, put 'em in a field, and BLOW THEM TO SMITHAREENS!!!
thats very american... gotta have an excuse for everything ... amd since nra doesnt want to get blamed they are pointing the finger at violent games and violent movies... i'm just waiting for somebody to say he was arabic so they start with the usual terrorist bullshit....
And of course they wont do anything gun control related, half of the states loves guns, and that would be political suicide (not that anything needs to be done, guns are not the problem people are)
New law:
Minimum age for males to play video games: 30
Minimum age for males to play non-violent video games: 30
Minimum age for females to play violent video games: 15
Minimum age for females to play non-violent video games: 0
Simple!
Will they be happy if I send them 300 copies of Planetside2? There's a lot of shooting in that one.
1) Collect Chuck Norris/Charlton Heston DVDs from yard sales
2) Collect gift tokens for said DVDs
3) Profit!
Ehh... in most western country's (Europe) the possession of weapons is absolutely in no way as widespread as in America. An overwhelming majority of people do not posses any weapon, and really actively do not want to poses an weapon. Most people think having a weapon is asking for trouble and in general a very bad idea. In the Netherlands only some enthusiasts and the police have a weapon, and those enthusiasts are only allowed to use their weapon at a controlled place, and have to disarm the weapon completely if they leave that place. All other use is illegal. Sure - criminals have weapons, nothing can stop that. But 99,9% of the citizens have no weapon and do not want a weapon.
In fact - most people in Europe in this respect think most Americans are crazy gun hunger idiots, and those shootouts are just a result of this crazy hunger to posses a weapon.
Yes - we had our shootouts too. Unfortunately there is no way to stop a idiot...
The majority of humans, including the educated ones, do not engage their critical thinking skills. They decide primarily on emotion and forgone conclusion, rather than reason and evidence, and so their decisions on issues like this are ineffective and harmful.
I admit to being jaded on this issue, largely because I can't figure out how to do anything about it. It isn't a matter of simple awareness-raising or fact-distribution. The trend of anti-intellectualism runs deep, produces harm, and has proven extremely resilient.
The student athlete would be protected by the community, after all he is a good kid who made a few mistakes, besides he just could make it into the big leagues. While the straight A student caught with Aspirin is kicked out of school because he worthless druggy. We need more Baby Ruths not Einsteins.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I would recommend reading "On Killing" by Lt. Colonel Grossmen. I think there is a disconnect between the violence we see and the reality of actual violence.
In the beginning of the book he makes on interesting point. I would ask how many of you have ever really killed an animal for food? We did some on the farm, but mostly I witnessed the result of coyote attacks on our sheep. Later, between my eight and ninth grade year, I worked putting in a large scale freezer unit for a rural meat packing plant. The reality and the gravity of being around actual slaughter brings about a sense of revulsion and guilt. It is not something done lightly. I threw up the first time I shot a bird when I was a kid and that put me off hunting for a long while.
I haven't finished the book yet, and there are parts that I am unsure about, but regardless, it's worth the effort to read.
Either give it away or get top dollar, but never sell yourself cheap.
People who focus on censoring (whether it's video games, books, the internet or whatever) seem to completely miss the point that all forms of expression are reflections of a society, but not all reflections shape society. Our culture is fixated on violence, and burning or even banning violent video games entirely won't do anything to change that. There are three options: Learn to love it, embrace the inevitable collapse and rebuild a society like Demolition Man (which will also eventually decay), or teeter-totter between the other two until one or the other is forced on you. We seem to be stuck in option 3 for now.
'There is ample evidence that violent video games, along with violent media of all kinds, including TV and movies portraying story after story showing a continuous stream of violence and killing, has contributed to increasing aggressiveness, fear, anxiety and is desensitizing our children to acts of violence including bullying.'
Show me.
Will they be using guns to destroy the violent media?
Beating up people in little rooms, if you do it for a good reason you do it for a bad one.
Call of duty black ops 2 sold over 11 million copies and that is just one violent video game. There are literally millions of copies of violent video games and millions of video game players but you only have a handful of crazies. 1 out of 11 million does not sound like very good odds that they have found out underling cause of the problem. The number just don't add up to blame violent games for these issues.
There is evidence that violent video games make violent people more violent, but on average, makes people less violent.
Who cares about the average, when a corner case proves out point!
If these folks put this kind of effort into actually trying to solve problems, rather than randomly assigning blame on things they don't understand, then perhaps we might be a better people.
As it stands, unfortunately, all we have are people fear-mongering and scapegoating the current popular forms of entertainment just like their great-grandpappies did. It didn't solve the problem.
Presuming that an open-source violent video game exists
Xonotic anyone?
Violence and realism are what sells these days
Tell that to the developers of VVVVVV and Minecraft.
However, my gaming experiences have never instilled in me a desire to go into a public place and empty a magazine.
As opposed to going into a private place and filling a magazine?
Millions of people play violent video games. If they had any sort of significant effect, don't you think violent crime rates would be higher than they are?
I recommend they (and all of us):
1. promote awareness of the suffering and needs of others, and
2. promote compassion, kindness, consideration, gratitude and charity,
3. promote awareness of own behavior, the outcomes of our own actions.
"Sow A Compassionate Thought, Reap A Compassionate World
Sow A Compassionate Thought, Reap A Compassionate Action;
Sow A Compassionate Action, Reap A Compassionate Habit;
Sow A Compassionate Habit, Reap A Compassionate Example;
Sow A Compassionate Example, Reap A Compassionate World."
~Randall D.
The authors of Freakonomics raised a correlation with abortion legalization after Roe vs. Wade in 1973.
The most likely answer is that there is no single cause for the reduction in crime, but my bet would be in some cultural influence, not anything related to the physical environment.
Belonging to gangs stopped being "cool".
also wrestler Chris Benoit
In any case, the NRA argument is ridiculous; the FBI already did a study, and found
violent writings (books, blog posts, etc) and movies have more influence on youth than video games
as sales of video games have gone up, youth violent crime has gone down (as one shoots exponentially up, the other goes exponentially down)
Other countries have violent video games, why don't they have school shootings? My guess is the media doesn't go into a hype about the killer like they do in America, giving the bastard 15 minutes of post-mortem fame.
The problem we as a culture are getting too afraid of everything! Thus making things worse.
When faced with fear the natural instinct is Fight or Flight.
Flight creates Lazy Bums who leech off of others take drugs to escape life and never accomplish anything in life aka the Republican favorite target to cut social security.
Fight creates people who are violent and will kill others and end up in trouble. The Democrats favorite target to create new regulations.
For most social situations neither natural response to fear is appropriate nor will help anything. So the fear lingers.
Causing problems like, Obesity, Addictive behaviors, joining groups who offer easy fixes to complex problems (Political, Religious, Social...) who are more often than not radical in their behavior.
Video Games are just a type of escapism, not the cause of fear, but a temporary reprieve from it. So people who live in a lot of Fear may tend to gravitate towards addictive level of video games.
Many of the more successful people recognize their fear and work to fix it (the self made man)_, or live in a world that stuff to fear has been isolated (born from a wealthy family). But a lot of us is pounded with so much stuff to be afraid of.
I have seen Slashdot Posts like, I want to start a business but I am Afraid of Software Patents. There is no point in trying to make my own cell phone, it will never sell. I don't want to waste my money to get a degree... There are many factors that create fear and our culture has changed as to support fear as the correct response to many problems.
Oh know some guy says by some insane logic the world will end, Will I hide in a bunker, or go out killing a bunch of children to save them the fate of what could be worse. Or not fear the comment, and either go back and rationally figure out his logic is insane, or at least bravely go on with life like normal and go whatever happens happens, Ill deal with the problem later.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Will they destroy violent books next?
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Have gnu, will travel.
If 30 second spots had no effect on anyone then they would not exist. Think about that for a minute. Now if short spots can have an emotional effect on you or affect your perception of a product or service, how can any of you say that violent video games and movies have zero effect on the perceptions of adults towards violence let alone an impressionable child. Movies and computer games can alter how we perceive violence and sexual content. We become desensitized to it and disconnected from our humanity and how we view other human beings.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
They want the worst of the worst off the street, huh? Fine. They can have my copy of Passion of the Christ, and America's Army.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
Disco still SUCKS!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
video games has been the new rock and roll for the past 20 years. The video game generation is just finally becoming old enough to run for office and win. Until the previous generation gets replaced it will be a scapegoat for all the modern problems of the world while ignoring the more obvious but difficult to fix issues. The main issue is that the older generation can't live up to their failures of fixing problems that have existed since the dawn of time, shifts the blame on things they don't understand that they deem subversive, then circle jerks each other trying to be a hero that provides a solution that fails in almost every way, then they jump over themselves trying to out do themselves.
The problems are clear: mental health issues have taken a huge backseat and that needs to be addresses. Fear of guns is out of control when banning weapons leads to more violence. Social inequality and income disparity leads to crime. School systems are broken, jails are broken, justice is broken. Fear rules our world now, media plays into this for ratings and we spend so much on pointless junk instead of the things we really need (both personal and on the government side of things). No one is fixing anything.
This is my hometown, and I gotta say...I'm rather ashamed. I thought the town in general was more forward-thinking than that. Though I do agree with this point, at least:
Polygon also spoke with Joe Erardi, Southington School superintendent and a member of SouthingtonSOS:
"There are youngsters who appear to be consumed with violent video games," Erardi said. "I'm not certain if that's a good thing. If this encourages one courageous conversation with a parent and their child, then it's a success. We're suggesting that for parents who have a child or children who play violent video games, to first of all view the games. We're asking parents to better understand what their child is doing. Have a conversation about next steps."
I'm all for parents to be involved with what their kids are doing, especially videogames. They should better understand what their kids are into, and be there to tell them, "No, this game is not appropriate for you right now, but I'm happy to let you play it when you're older." The thing is, you don't need to have a drive where M-rated games are turned in in order to have these conversations. I have them with my eight-year-old son already. I explain things to him, and give him appropriate games to play as an alternative. Problem solved.
In good speaking, should not the mind of the speaker know the truth of the matter about which he is to speak? - Plato
Also in most first world countries it is much harder to get access to firearms, especially if you are mentally disturbed. Anders Behring Breivik certainly had no shortage of media coverage.
I read the internet for the articles.
but taking away games will fix that?
APA!? arn't those the same assholes that at one time also preached that "homosexuality as a mental disorder"
No you won't...
I don't care if people criticize video games - I'm opposed to people demonizing video games, when the facts seem to say otherwise. In regards to video game related crime, from http://www.theeca.com/video_games_violence website:
Incidentally, something like 2 days later a guy kills a couple of firemen with the same gun (a Bushmaster .223) and the guy is obviously not a video game player, but we won't mention that anywhere. Another guy shoots up a shopping mall and also is not known to be a video game player, so no talk of what caused his craziness. Suddenly the media hears "the shooter is a video game player" and Jesus is on the fucking cross and video games are to blame.
The blaming game in the U.S, and it usually starts with women blaming things. First it was literature, than alcohol and pot, than comics, than movies/tv, and now video games. What's next? Why not blame our hands which does the killing so have them cut off, why not our legs which takes us to places where we commit the killings so cut those off, why not our eyes which we use to choose a victim and than kill them so have eyes gouged out, finally why not our brains which is the consciousness or soul of the body which causes the pains and miseries in this world so scoop everybody's brains out of the skull.
People can't come to realization that some people on this planet are a bunch of fucking psychotic assholes, period.
turn in your bibles everyone, they cause more violence than any video game or movie
Yes, this is anecdotal evidence, so feel free to take with with a grain of salt, but here is the story of how I became desensitized to real-world violence.
It starts, but not ends, with violent video games. As a teen, I can't even count the number of heads I ripped off and hearts I tore out in Mortal Kombat, nor the number of aliens or Nazis I killed in Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. Several years after I started playing these violent games, my Dad started coming home from work earlier and putting on the evening news while my family ate dinner. Despite all of the violent video games I had been playing, I was horrified at the graphic scenes that were being described as my family and I attempted to enjoy our meal. Tales of people being stabbed more than a hundred times, parents murdering their spouses and children before turning a gun on themselves, and children killed in the crossfire of gang shootouts were told on a daily basis by a pair of attractive news anchors. Despite all of my years of video game violence, the accounts delivered by the evening news were by far the most horrific and violent things I have experienced in my life (and I am fortunate that for me, these are just the accounts and that I was not the actual victim).
However, after a while of hearing the same horror stories night after night, I remember one evening in which a husband had killed his wife and children. I also remember my mom's reaction of horror, yet I was so jaded that I found myself saying, "big deal, this sort of thing happens every night." I immediately felt shame at what I had said and I realized that that moment was the most desensitized to violence I have ever been and it had nothing to do with the video games I had been playing. So if people feel the need to ban something because they hold the irrational fear that it makes children and teenagers desensitized to violence, start with the evening news. Either that, or realize that we are a species with members who have still not transcended past our urge to force our own turmoil onto an innocent group of people. Horrible things happen and in some cases, such as the shootings in Connecticut, we will never understand why they happen, but banning violent video games or music or movies would not have changed a single thing about the situation. For once, let's blame the assailant and not the assailant's hobbies.
I have to question the neutrality of any article that includes something like this line: Some include cut scenes (i.e., brief movie clips supposedly designed to move the story forward) of strippers.
Really? Do they? And is the author trying to make a point about the violence of games in some sort of actual scientific manner, or is just trying to convince people games are 'bad' so threw in a line about strippers, which has nothing at all to do with violence?
And then there's this hilarious paragraph, speaking of climate change deniers: One frequently overlooked factor in this debate is the role of scientific theory. Pure empirical facts often have relatively little meaning and are seldom convincing. When those same facts fit a broader theory, especially one that has been tested in other contexts, those facts become more understandable and convincing.
Yeah, those empirical facts have no meaning at all! They only have meaning once we've invented a theories and forced the facts into it.
Please note this isn't some Wikipedia article about the scientific method, this is a scientific paper that is attempting to explain why other scientists who take issue with their 'empirical facts' should be ignored.
Pro-tip: If a 'scientist' starts explaining how the scientific method doesn't 'really' work very well for whatever they are researching...THEY ARE A CRANK.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
So what of all those children in other Western countries who watch the same movies and TV shows and play the same video games and have nearly the same access to weapons as do Americans, yet they don't go on violent rampages with the frequency of Americans?
We play violent video games WAY fucking better than they do, that's why. Well, maybe not better than those Koreans. Maybe you should look up the tendency for violence in that culture if you want to make a comparison?
As a scientist, most sociological studies seem to be lacking a common-sense factor:
"Is this real or just a coincidence?" ( reference pirate activity correlation to global warming ).
I believe that teaching youngsters the meaning of "NO" goes further than anything in
school, movies, games or books - with the possible exception of those who are mentally tainted,
to stoppping future violence. The "old biddies" who started the Temperance Union were
responsible for more violence and crime than the distilleries. THEY weren't taught "NO".
I make my moral and ethical chioces for myself, and refuse to let someone else dictate my choices,
as well as refuse to try to force choices for someone else.
This book contains a lot of violence.
My only hope is they will destroy them in a non-violent manner.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Leaded gas, known to mess with development, was banned in 1978. Roughly 20 years later, about the time it takes for a new born to fully mature, violent crime begins to suddenly drop.
No, it's the lack of pirates. That's why crime is down and global warming is up.
Also http://boingboing.net/2013/01/01/correlation-between-autism-dia.html
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
On one side, yes; its plain dumb to suggest a game will brain-program / hipnotize someone to commit murder or other crimes. Just look around the world and see how many people are suffering from this. That's right, none.
On the other hand, considering all aspects such as mental illnes, careless storage, violence shown in every media and the like, it is obvious some of that will leak into weaker minds in the form of killing sprees. The world was shocked at first, then sad in the next ones. Killing kids and firemans just got USA into plain stupid and sick.
As usual USA thinks inside the box. If you really want to run stats and analyze human nature and guns you must think outside the box. Compare yourselves with other cultures, other countries. I won't be surprised when you find the most gun-obsessive country in the world is also the one with most serial killers, mass killers, gun accidents, etc.
When I read this submission the first thing that came to my mind was "Hey it's the 21st century version of burning knowledge and media!" in comparison to how books were burned in germany in the 20th century when hitler was in power. And it may not even stop at books and media this time around it may go a lot further.
You must master your joystick like a fisherman masters bait! - Gimpy
Wow, umm this is beyond ridiculous. If violent video games cause people to act violently then by reason fantasy video games should cause people to fall into a pure fantasy world. You never hear about kids on fantasy sprees or kids who think they can jump and destroy bricks that give coins. The only real fact is that violent people are violent from birth, a video game does not cause violence. Some of the most evil and violent and outrageous people in history never had video games and yet caused acts like the holocaust or mass killing or rapes, now if video games cause violence when why does violence exist in the first place.
Kids that play too many video games are negatively affected. They become fat.
I do think that kids are schooled in violence pretty young these days. Even if there's no blood, there's always a battle, or conflict, and we're conditioned from a very young age to cheer when the good guy kills the bad guy. Gun violence is but a small part of the problem that our culture faces as a result of entertainment forms being so ensconced in the need for a decisive ending. We all know that if the good guy merely catches the bad guy, then he's going to come back and cause a lot more damage later--so the best way to solve the problem is to kill the bad guy. There's almost a relief when the show kills off the bad guy who keeps coming back, often from the brink of death. Nowadays some of the most popular channels on youtube are simply shoot-out scenes, one after another, of the most action packed sections of movies... with splatterfest special effects and no access control on the content or consideration on who's watching what.
Never been a fan of banning much of anything, but when you mix that with guns and perhaps a little mental illness to boot...
I do wonder what if there were some regulation on gun owners to prove they didn't consumer a certain quota of such media, and prove a certain level of civic responsibility through firearms training and gun care...
http://www.beanleafpress.com
Are you an idiot?
Sorry, that was rhetorical, obviously you are.
Being sullen and withdrawn is not being a nerd, it's a sign of mental illness; espcially if it is a change in personality; which often seems to be the case.
Being social inept and smart is being a nerd.
How does Charles Starkweather fit into your little stupid idea? Charles Whitman?
Jocks are bullies and brute, and becasue of that they are allowed to be at the top. When something is wrong, there is a bunch of people that will help them, becasue god forbid a football game suffer.
Anyone else? good fucking luck.
" but they also teach people how to lose gracefully and that losing is a part of life. "
HAHAHA. Not in any sport I have seen. Ever go to a middle school football game and listen to the parent of the loosing team? nothing gracefull there. The winning team? nope.
".. but it turns out that the dumb louts actually manage their emotions better than you do."
yelling, cursing, and lashing out at the weak is better control of emotions now?
You're attitude is exactly what is wrong with this conversation. You are applying a piss ass belief as away to explain everything away, when in fact it's far more complex then that.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
They also don't know the difference between a clip and a magazine.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
o it isn't, and I protest the word loser in the sentence.
"he problem is the mental wiring..."
please sight the peer reviewed neurological paper the shows that.
Nerd doesn't equal DnD; DnD doesn't equal nerd.
And there is no correlation between DnD and school rampage killings. I mean, the press loves to spread that lie, but it simply isn't true.
When someone become despondent, they need correct health care.
DnD is a social activity. Just so you know.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The problem is the mental wiring. A nerd-loser isn't wired to like sports, in the same way a jock isn't wired to like Dungeons and Dragons. A jock *enjoys* sports, a nerd-loser doesn't - So it's much harder to get them into it.
I laugh. I really do. It's not "wired to like sports" or "wired to like pen and paper games". I can get my jock friends to play Paranoia easy. I can get my jock friends to play Dungeons and Dragons if I have them play a campaign where they compete against each other and my antagonist. I can't get them to play Dungeons and Dragons when I don't have them compete against the antagonist. I'm possibly a nerd-loser. I like sports. I like the strategy that is involved with professional football regarding clock and time management, and deciding on whether to run or pass to try to get the 1st down.
It has nothing to do with whether something is A or B. It has everything to do with how A or B is presented and viewed by the subject. If you present D&D to a jock in a way they connect with, they will play it, if they have fun. You might have to "bro it up" or do some other unusual angles to make it work, but it will work.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Actually there is strong evidence that that is a factor.
Other factors seem to include:
Home video games and computers. This has cause a drop in the amount of 16-21 year olds doing crime out of boredom.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The NRA is full of memeber who ahve no wish to actual confront this issue.
With respect to firearms you have things absolutely backwards. Unlike with video games, the NRA is well informed and has the facts on their side regarding firearms.
... and a serious look at the that data about gun control. Something they stop wanting about 15 years ago when the data very clearly shows a decrease in killing when guns are severly restricted.
You are mistaken. The data actually shows no correlation. There are regions in the US with severe restrictions where the murder rate is low and there are regions with lax firearms regulations where the murder rate is low. Its not the presence or absence of firearms itself that leads to a low murder rate, there are some other factors that do so. More likely it has something to do with education and poverty. Lets look at Switzerland where many households have real assault rifles (fully automatic), high capacity magazines and 300 rounds of ammunition in their home. One difference between the Swiss and the US is that the Swiss did receive proper training and keep the weapon and ammunition locked up.
.22 calibre, basically anything with a full or partial copper jacket. The NRA helped rewrite the legislation so it applied only to the teflon coated ammunition notorious for penetrating body armor. Again naive gun control types got all hysterical over plastic guns and drafted legislation to outlaw everything without some number of ounces of steel. The problem here is that many firearms that are perfectly detectable in metal detectors are using metal alloys that are not technically steel. The NRA helped rewrite this legislation so that it only banned firearms that were not detectable in the metal detectors of the day.
You want more real data? Hunting related accidents dropped dramatically after hunter safety classes became required in the US in order to get a hunting license. Anyone who has had such a class can testify that the majority of the class is basic firearms safety. 1/3 of firearms deaths are accidents. Many of these deaths could probably be prevented by requiring firearms owners to take a safety class before they get their first gun, much like hunters are required to take their safety class before they get their first license.
As far as the NRA goes with respect to reasonable legislation. They have helped write some. When naive gun control types got all hysterical over cop-killer bullets these folks drafted legislation that would outlaw all ammunition with some sort of coating. This would have outlawed nearly all ammunition over
Similarly the "assault weapon" bans are also largely hysteria. There is no difference in capability between the so called "assault weapons" and normal semiauto hunting rifles. Both fire the same ammunition and when a hunting magazine (5 round max) is inserted into the "assault weapon" it fire no more rounds and no faster than the hunting rifle. On the flip side when a military magazine (say 30 round capacity) is put into the hunting rifle it has the same capability as the "assault weapon" with such a magazine. The only differences between the "assault weapon" and the semiauto hunting rifle are cosmetic, appearance not function.
NRA members and many firearms owners understand this. That is why the last time an "assault weapon" ban was passed firearms owning republicans, democrats and independents who had no interest in buying an "assault weapon" threw out many of the politicians who voted for the ban. They rightfully feared that their regular semiauto hunting and sporting rifles and shotguns were in danger of being banned next. It happened in various European countries. The original "assault weapon" ban legislation in the US specifically listed certain firearms designs that did not include regular hunting and sporting firearms but this legislation also allowed the Secretary of the Treasury (oversees Alcohol Tobacco
"nearly the same access to weapons as do Americans, "
what western country is that?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
...is it okay if I come along and burn some books, too?
I instantly thought about what movies I have on DVD. I have very few but one I own is Apocalypto. It's extremely violent and there is killing and butchery on a massive scale but not a single gun exists in the movie.
How would they approach that?
First: The argument is Violent video games, however I will address you specific point:
Take a look at all the home gardens and 'organic' farming that has popped up over the last 5 years. So there is your correlation right there~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The shooters were not nerd-losers. The shooters were just losers. From what I read about him, Adam Lanza couldn't have been a straight A student or interested in anything intellectual, nor were many of the other shooters.
We need more Baby Ruths not Einsteins.
Ruthlessness is not going to help with that.
There are 3 types of gun-owners imo.
1. Hunters. I am not worried about them. I've confronted armed hunters in the woods. They have actually killed and eaten living things and understand death.
2. Video-gamers. They point and click and pretend-kill things. I am not worried about them even if they own a gun because real life shooting is not anything like gaming. (I suspect most don't own a gun at all which is why I don't count them in this list)
3. Sport shooters who frequent ranges. These assholes scare the shit out of me. They have never killed anything at all so aren't actually familiar with the destructive capability of their weapon. In addition, they are intimately trained in its use and they _like_ to shoot.
4. Scared citizens who buy a gun for protection. These guys aren't too bad but do cause most of the gun destruction in the US, either simply by having a gun int he house to make it easy for suicide and accident or by having it in reach of some angry guy whose girlfriend just broke up with him and now he's gonna make her pay along with anyone else who happens to be in the vicinity.
As far as the NRA proposal, if we suggested putting an armed guard at every single school in Afghanistan, would that be a sign we are winning the war there or losing it?
In fact, young men (age 17-24) play a lot of video games, and at the same time young men (age 17-24) have ALWAYS committed most of the violent acts in a society. It's a function of testosterone fueled aggressive emotions, and in Western culture it is particularly exacerbated by high levels of alcohol and drug abuse. Take away the booze and drugs from younger men, and you will find that the video games and heavy metal music and gore movies and other factors probably wouldn't have much effect at all. And keep in mind, in Western culture prescription drugs are also abused with tremendous frequency (in some cases even more frequently than popular illegal drugs), and those can have a profound effect on inciting violence. So we aren't just talking about abuse of illegal drugs.
They'll pry that digital download from my cold, dead hands...
-Bob-
They may not shoot up a theater or such, but if their ex is cross with them they sure don't mind beating the ever loving snot out of them. The jock just enjoys using their hands more than a weapon. He sees using a weapon as being weak. With all the football players either beating their exes or shooting them that is occuring lately you can not say they can handle their emotions better than a nerd.
Legal drinking age, rate of alcohol consumption, and crime statistics have been widely studied, and the correlation is very clear. Here is one article of many, many which support this point: http://people.ucsc.edu/~cdobkin/Papers/Alcohol_Crime.htm.
Now that Slashdot crowd has been hoisted upon their own petard over the CT shooting. The fanatics are certain that they're going to get the Second Amendment and have now started on the First.
We told you so. We told you so. We told you so.
You know, somehow, "I told you so" just doesn't quite say it.
I find that hard to believe. Most kids these days don't read. Some Athletes reading comprehension is very low. Look at Dexter Manley, got a 4 year degee and couldn't even read. How did he get through 12 years of schooling and 4 years of college. I can understand high school teachers passing him for his football gifts, but how did he get through elementary school without being able to read.
It's hard to get weapons in the the US as well if you are a felon or mentally disturbed. Both of the recent mass shooting suspects got their weapons from friends or family members. The fire fighter killer actually was at the store with a friend, who knew he was a felon, and they bought the weapons for him. Even the Columbine kids got their weapons from their parents.
Even if it is voluntary, we should still rail against the very notion of a campaign like this. They are influencing the public towards which are factually incorrect. There hasn't been single reliable scientific study showing significant correlation and causation between violent games and violent behaviour, while there have been some that cautiously suggested insignificant effects or even the opposite result.
Campaigns like these (plural) might eventually, if given the chance, influence the public opinion in such a way that sooner or later banning games will be the politically correct thing to do. By then games and gamers will have been demonised so much that any rational argument becomes impossible.
We'll have the same situation as obscenity on tv and the war on pot, topics which are basically taboo in politics right now. Also don't forget prohibition.
Sure. This scenario seems quite unrealistic right now, but there's no way to predict how the world will look in 10, 20 or even 40 years. There's no reason to rest on our laurels.
That's what I've observed in my own neighborhood.
Any would-be hero needs to be able to keep his or her wits about them in order to stop somebody like what happened in Connecticut.
Those that are de-sensitized by video games or videos, are the people most likely to be capable of responding to such an event and have a chance of success. Police are de-sensitized in their training.
This is just another knee jerk reaction that was not thought out.
So maybe make the gun's owner responsible for what happens with his firearms? If you own a gun it is your responsibility to keep it locked up safely and out of other people's hands. If your gun is stolen then you must report it to the police. If you have too many guns stolen, then the police might investigate you as well (selling the guns out the back door and reporting them stolen). If you buy or sell a gun at a gun show, then you have to submit a transfer of ownership to the government the same way you do with a car.
This might not have stopped the kindergarten shooting, but it might convince people to keep their firearms secured better, especially if they think that they could be liable for what their mentally disturbed teenager does with them.
I read the internet for the articles.
I think they burn better. Most books can't fit into my DVD burner.
APA!? arn't those the same assholes that at one time also preached that "homosexuality as a mental disorder"
Right up until 1979. Which is actually kind of progressive when you put it in context with things like Don't Ask Don't Tell, the Defense of Marriage Act, etc.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
Nearly every state changed their drinking age in the 1980's due to The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which withheld federal highway funds from states that did not set their drinking age at 21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age#Americas.
"There is ample evidence [...] including TV and movies portraying story after story showing a continuous stream of violence and killing, has contributed to increasing aggressiveness, fear, anxiety and is desensitizing our children to acts of violence including bullying.'"
Hmm... sounds like the example the government sets to me. A story a couple years ago had the police doing a "raid" on a house, getting the address wrong and shooting a nine year old girl sitting on her couch to death. The person they were after? A petty burglar. Not a terrorist or a murder mind you, a burglar.
It turns out it's exceedingly difficult to kill another person through a computer monitor ....
Haha, every time sports is mentioned in /. it gets modded down. EF had a point.
Do you know the 100% correlation between school shootings? They ALL had guns.
Ergo, destroy all guns.
Simples.
That will ensure that those who are violent and would play games to show it will have no method of doing it.
Shouting "pew pew pew" won't kill anyone.
Unless they die laughing.
You were saying..?
Drunk young men who are drunks because they are prone to violence will remain prone to violence when unable to drink.
By this logic we should also destroy the history books that tell the horrible, violent tales of Americas rise. Every kid in this country has to sit through years of this. Same goes for the Bible. There is enough bad behavior in there to pervert the pliable minds of impressionable youth. Naive comes to mind. Lets sue the movie theater in Aurora for negligence too. That's going to solve things. The school district didn't do enough to stop this. They should pay out the ass. REVENGA!!!!
Leaded gasoline is still widely used in the world of piston-engined small aircraft, yet people who've been exposed to elevated lead levels all their lives in the piston aircraft field (even children of pilots and A&P mechanics who grow up around a small airport), are historically among the least violent and most level-headed people of the entire population. They do tend to have slightly higher incidence of other lead-related physical health problems caused by the lifelong exposure to leaded aviation gasoline.
But just remember, "prone to violence" or not, they are still far more likely to commit a violent crime while boozed up. These stats don't lie, no matter which direction you view them from.
You could start with "When to Withdraw Fellowship" and "How to Treat a Disfellowshipped Person" from the Watchtower publication Keep Yourselves in God's Love, which is the second study book that new JWs are led through. JWs are supposed to "quit mixing in company" and "never [...] say a greeting" to anyone who 1. has been baptized into the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, 2. has been disfellowshipped or has disassociated himself from the Congregation, and 3. does not live in the same household.--1 Corinthians 5:11-13; 2 John 9-11.
is instituting a new violent video game buyback program. You turn in your violent video games for shells.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
encourages people to adopt lots of cats. how healthy can that be ?
Nullius in verba
It's hilarious that some people look down on DnD but they thoroughly enjoy their fantasy football leagues. hmmmmm.
This is the sig that says NI (again)
Maybe we could burn a few books while we're at it? I'm sure there are some violent novels that they could add to the collection.
Of course, the probable first recorded murder was Cain and Abel. I don't believe a firearm was involved, neither did the perp watch violent video games before committing the crime! The fact is, MOST species are violent, and things will get out of hand at times. What alarms me with the current "let's ban guns" crowd, is they are trying to prevent folks from being able to defend themselves. In other words, they are not "pro-gun-control" but rather "anti-self-defense."
Rusty
Riots over Air Jordans? Ban them immediately!
Oh yes. Lets get rid of the video games and kids can go back to running around the woods with home-made slingshots and flame throwers, like the good ol' days.
I dont live there but I encourage those who do to take part, give them all your old worthless crap and spend your tokens on something new and shiny. Old comic somewhere shows a fight scene? thats violent, got maybe a ps1 copy of grand theft auto, thats violent, hell see if theyll accept a ninetendo starfox for gun violence not because its a good idea but if you start campaigns like this then bankrupcy or financial hardship is what you deserve, firstly stop folllowing the media as they will always lead you to a scapegoat ,secondly think about what the media is doing to cause these tragedys, psychologists have always said, dont make this a big deal, keep the news local , make it boring, keep the "kill count" out of it , never ever focus on the shooter or his methods and forgods sake dont make him into a anti hero, all of this news channels ignore, not because they dont know this but because these stories allways make headlines and they dont care if they cause copy cat shootings as long as they can compare stats with other shooters and make a big show of how its videogames fault, you know, that thing young viewers are doing instead of being viewers..
But really , gun violence in video games was never the cause the statistics were never there, just because someone can stand on a soapbox and shout we've found a link dont believe that one exists, they actually vilified Mass effect 3 because the shooters brother liked it, now if youve played this you know the main character is tormented by the death of a single child he couldnt save at the start, how does that translate into school shooting? Wont even go into how they tried to blame starcraft.
Fun fact americans, if given a morale choice in a game 80% of americans will find it impossible to do anything but the good outcome, another fun fact , Korea as a country treats videogames as a sport, mainstream televison broadcasts esports tournaments and news at the cost of their high rate of school shootings totallying 0 shootings in their recorded existence, you know what they do have though? good gun laws.
the bible.
It will ba cold day in hell before anyone ever gets thheir hands on any off my video games Iown about 1000 games or more and more then half of. Them are violent I do not see anything wrong with these types of games how about these ass nines go blame somthing else and leave our games alone
You're not endorsing their political cause.
You're taking advantage of them.
Go ahead take the money from them, the fewer resources they have to advance their agenda the less success they'll have.
The violence at the Connecticut School clearly has nothing to do with video games, this particular shooting is one of the most obvious setups for gun-control created to disarm the public so Fema camps can go live and arrest anyone who challenges the governments agenda's without court hearings, although this plan seems to be working.. it won't hopefully these... sorts of shootings play a major role in Government agenda's one of which is to keep people guessing and suffering at home while they kill millions in international illegal wars to secure wealth for their banking mafia criminals that puppetize them, the public has to open their eyes and stop being blinded by false media which is actually owned by the Mafia Industries, bbc actually changed this story 5 times.
Because everyone knows those have nothing to do with gun violence.