This comment is by Dan on the post “Acts of Valor and Acts of Violence“.
I think the bigger issue here is not what young men watch for entertainments sake, but the way they are taught to resolve conflict and express pain.
If male video game players were shooting up schools and then saying things like “Well the games got boring, and I had to get my kicks somehow…” then there might be an argument that violent entertainment (and video games in particular) were somehow related to real life violence.
The facts are however, that most school shootings perpetrators have been systematically hurt – socially, emotionally, or physically – and have found no protection from the systems/institutions that are suppose to (school, mentors, parents, etc.).
Simultaneously, we teach them “Big boys don’t cry”, “Don’t get mad, get even”, “Be a man and solve the problem yourself”. We teach that men solve problems with violence, that men protect themselves and their friends with violence, that men Right the Worlds Wrongs with violence.
The only link I could imagine between Act of Valor and this incident presents itself in this final category. Boys and young men watch the news, watch movies, and read newspapers; they see our countries leaders proclaiming things like “Osama attacked our country, he committed a wrong against us, for that we will kill him.” They see op-eds explaining “Saddam Hussein is a terrible dictator. He oppresses his people. And for that he will die.” They observe the death penalty and observe they same “final punishment”.
Our society reinforces the notion that transgression shall be met with punishment, and that ultimate transgression is met with death, the ultimate punishment. We glorify Seal Team 6, laude all our men and women in uniform, and then wonder why kids get the message that killing is ok sometimes, and that Bad People deserve to die.
As with every school shooting, instead of asking “what prompted this absurd act of violence?” and then externalizing it and blaming faceless constructs like Movies and Video Games I think we should ask harder questions like, “where was this child’s support structures?” or “who was there to talk with him?” or “Why does our society praise violence?”
An apt exerpt from Bowling for Columbine:
Michael Moore: “If you were to talk directly to the kids at Columbine…what would you say to them if they were here right now?
Marylin Manson: I wouldn’t say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, and that’s what no one did.
Michelle
Possible that shooter games actually use up some aggression.
Hard to tell about these things, which is why the argument goes on.
Support systems are very important. Participating in violent video games and whatnot is not without problems. Kids are influenced by music and so no doubt would be influenced by video games to a certain extent; depends on individuals.
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These same arguments were used to show how jazz music causes alcoholism and rock n’ roll lead to premarital sex.
Consider this correlation: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/watching-spongebob-makes-preschoolers-slower-thinkers-study-finds/story?id=14482447 Watching SpongeBob Squarepants Makes Preschoolers Slower Thinkers, Study Finds He may be one of the longest-running, best-loved cartoons in Nickelodeon history, but SpongeBob SquarePants is getting no love from child psychologists. According to research published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, watching fast-paced cartoons like SpongeBob, even for just a few minutes, hinders abstract thinking, short-term memory and impulse control in preschoolers. Led by University of Virginia psychologist Angeline Lillard, researchers randomly assigned 60 four-year-olds to three activities: drawing freely with markers for nine minutes; watching a slower-paced, PBS cartoon for that time; or watching SpongeBob SquarePants.… Read more »
… ok. So watching a fast paced show *may* temporarily hurt your attention span. Based on a study of 60 children.
What does this have to do with games causing violence? Do you think the colombine kids killed half of their school because they couldn’t count backwards or refrain from eating a marshmallow?
Why did you repost the entire article?
Figure out the answers to your mocking questions, yourself. I have better use of my time.
Believe whatever you want to believe, it’s your prerogative.
Perhaps instead of pointing fingers at masculinity for the violence men do, we should point fingers at the violence done to them.
Support system? Warren Farrel tried that but Obama’s feminist leanings didn’t allow it.
Damn straight.
You can’t expect to leave folks with no proper support system and then get upset when they act out in improper ways.