US parents blame games for violence as much as guns
Parents feel that the media industry can work towards changing a culture of violence in the US.
The survey of 1,050 parents with children 18 and under found that the majority believed the media industry had the power to change America's culture of violence but that the gun industry should also play its part in addressing the issue.
In addition, 88% of parents quite reasonably stated they wanted ads for violent games, films and TV shows to be kept away from airing during programs viewed by large audiences of children and 91% wanted cinemas to not run trailers for films that were a higher age rating than the film being shown.
'Parents are clearly concerned about how violence in media may be impacting their children,' said Common Sense Media chief executive James Steyer. 'Our culture of violence seems to have made it the new normal that parents who take their kids to a movie theater or gather to watch a football game are at risk of exposing them to inappropriate content that is marketing video games or films rated for more mature audiences.'
Although the blame was levelled at violent media, 75% of parents were equally concerned that easy access to guns was contributing to violence in the US.
In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook where a gunman opened fire and killed 20 children and six teachers, National Rival Association vice-president Wayne LaPierre outrageously laid the blame at the feet of the video game industry, calling it out as a 'shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people' and citing titles like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Splatterhouse and Mortal Kombat as the problem as opposed to commenting on any issues with gun control and the widespread availability of firearms in the country.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyWhat a bunch of tits.
I understand the whole 'right to bear arms' thing is constitutional, but seriously... who goes deer hunting with an AR-15?
I mean... really?
Also, I bet the above parents are the ones who buy the guns, and then buy the children the violent video games.
Of course it's easier to blame someone/something else rather than take responsibility fr your own parenting skills. But then people also whinge about the nanny state. Can't win.
Don't get me wrong, I love going shooting... one of my favorite past-times... But i was brought up to use guns properly, and to go my murderous rampages in GTA, not school..
They can generalise the games industry, so I imagine my statement being a generalisation is also OK?
Furthermore, users of these games are not knowledgeable to how to use a gun. This is due as most aspects of the gun is blocked by the figures they play with. Thus most who do use guests have learn to use it through another person.
Generally when mass murders go out they use illegal guns, from the black market.
I understand that it's a fairly big issue at the moment (although it's been in the news quite a few years now) but that's not necessarily a reason to focus on one aspect of the survey and state it as the main focus.
in todays time, the amendment did not have semi automatics in mind im sure.. or bazooka's!
Violence is in the media (Read: News, TV shows, magazines, etcetera) because it sells well. People generally seem to like the idea of being scared stupid by the horrific things that happen in the world, and the news programmes (Or channels, depending on what TV package you have access to) get viewers by showing it. Some "news" programmes should be called "What to be scared of today" rather than news, from what I've seen.
Guns are dangerous, yes. Unlimited access to violent programmes, games, books, etcetera is equally dangerous. Irresponsible parents allowing their offspring access to all of the above because it makes their lives easier are the worst.
Games can be a good influence (See the Americas Army and the people gaining basic first aid understanding through it - It crops up in the news when it happens), and they can equally be a bad influence. A kid with unlimited access to a free-roaming sandbox game with few, if any, limitations on their actions and parents that don't teach the kid a solid moral framework about what is and is not acceptable behaviour is clearly a bad, and dangerous, influence.
I had unlimited access to games such as the GTA series, but I had a good moral framework, so I've not turned out to be a violent sociopath. Can't say the same for other people in my year at school, though.
So the caveman thought "Man those violent cave paintings have triggered my psychopathic tendentcies, I need to go club a few of the neighbours to death"
Video games violence = bad
Celebrating the deaths of millions of poor, foreign ethnics = good?!!
LOL
Righty ho then.
I'd like to see what the actual question was. Did it specifically highlight games against TV/movies/books/comics etc? Or is games put in the same barrel as everything else. If they're all in the same category then I agree. ALL media influences kids. I kicked my mate in the face at school because I watched power rangers and wanted to do what they did. Granted I was a lot younger but no doubt this **** is powerfully influential.
The games industry shouldn't be blamed entirely, neither should the NRA, neither should parents. We ALL need to step up our game to reduce crime.
I just love the name of that organisation in this context.
It is up to the parents to control what media their children are exposed to and to give them the moral ground to know right from wrong. It is something that challenges parents on a daily basis and has to be constantly reinforced every minute of the day. They need to understand early on what is fantasy and what is reality. Of course they will be exposed as it is impossible to stop. This is where the framework and understanding of reality and fantasy come in. Even I'd seen Friday the 13th and Halloween before I was 10 (showing my age here).
You will not stop violence in the media. It sells far to well so it is never going to stop. Agree with the point about the new. It is all sensationalism.
The parents can only do what they can and not give in. That is where control is lost and their childrens respect for anything disappears. Thats where it all goes wrong. If you do not fear punishment there there is nothing to stop you.
Just in case you wonder I have 4 children 7,5,3 and 1.
Violent movies and games have been around for decades, so they should ask themselves, why they themselve didn't run amok.
There's only one to blame for the kids running amok... the parents themselve and the society they live in.
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Inb4 our American cousins wake up and have their say ;)
While it (luckily) doesn't blame games it does nicely show that some kids these days even with non violent alternatives available do prefer violence.
Or in central Africa where entertainment doesn't exist?
Some people are inherently bad, but the majority are made bad by a society which doesn't understand/nurture them. A society in which it is a touch too easy to get hold of firepower and kill everyone in the immediate vicinity at the drop of a hat.
It's easier to blame it on video-games than thinking of changing the society into a more peaceful one.
But there are things that make sense to be done with the media and specifically the advertising industry also....
when adverts are played and so forth...
But I admit, I am also in the same mindset as you on this one. There are people out there who probably have more guns in their house than I have old games consoles. Some of which are definitely not for hunting. (can't remember the last time I shot a deer with a pistol for instance, or a duck with a M16.... or needed to go out with an assault rifle. My parents have licensed firearms for hunting. One rifle and two shotguns.)
One of the things that still amuses me most is the amount of kids playing games that they are not old enough to play. So 18 rated games in the hands of 11 year olds. That really makes me laugh... there is an irony there to suit the gun problems of certain countries.
"I have educated my children to know better. They have been brought up with Guns and are perfectly safe."
Fact is, those teenage years are ****ed up. I did some pretty hairy things, some that I'm greatly ashamed of, in those years. At the time, they were just things in my universe. They didn't effect others. Despite a large capacity for empathy; testosterone and selfishness fuelled by the irrational exuberance of youth made me do some weird things. Let alone adding drugs and peer pressure into the equation.
My point being that even the right circumstances cannot prevent the course of nature in the young.
If left unqualified - such as mentioning the complexities of an assault rifle versus a handgun - this is a pretty ridiculous statement. Considering there have been instances of children bringing guns to school and opening fire, it can't be that hard to figure out pointing the business end of a gun and pulling the trigger nets the result you're looking for.
Except that the vast majority of guns and ammunition used in mass shootings here in the 'States were purchased legally. Handguns also tend to be the weapon of choice by a 3:1 ratio to assault rifles. Murders committed by illegal weapons tend to be one-off and specifically targeted, and are often connected to other illegal activities (e.g.: theft, drugs, gang-related activities).
In the 2nd Amendment is a phrase that essentially reads, "For the purposes of a well-regulated militia..." people have the right to keep and bear arms. Few people today recall the laws of yesteryear when laws were employed that kept rifles, powder, and ammunition in separate locations. (I can't imagine what would happen if I told an American gun owner, "You can keep your gun under your pillow if you'd like, but you have to keep your clip of bullets in a locked safe in a different room.") Banning weapons is perfectly allowable by the Constitution if followed explicitly to the letter, yet gun industry lobbyists will tell you that is not the 'spirit' of the Constitution. A US Supreme Court justice will go either way with little predictability.
I generally go a step further by pointing out that a public execution was good entertainment up through the early 20th century. You can find newspaper archives that tell the story of how a criminal was wrangled, shot, dragged to the nearest theater, hung, and let theater patrons take shots at the body (balcony ticket holders got unlimited shots, while general audience members were allowed only one). No joke. This was a thing, and not too long ago. The problem is people normalize their perception of violence based on their temporal and physical environment. (E.g.: Most Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States don't recall a time when it was weird to be either, never mind the fact that it was only 50-60 years ago.)
It's worth pointing out that, most likely, those who were surveyed likely don't live in urban areas, have never directly witnessed actual violence themselves, and don't consider that most of the 13,000 murders in the US occur without prompting from any sort of media interaction. Just a hunch based on a life lived in a high murder rate urban area in the US.
Just sayin'.
me to, if their children are playing violent video games rated (18)(M), then they are definitely to blame for giving in to them, Just say no, followed by a short sharp slap on the arse if they continue to pester for it.
QFT, FPS games are not highly detailed weapons simulations and if it qualified as such, would we have to hand out driving licenses to anyone who clocked lets say 100 hours on Need for Speed?
Anyway, in America it isn't unheard of that parents take their kids to the shooting range, so if the kid later at home plays CoD it may very well know how to use a gun, although not from the game.
Although as the article I linked ealrier nicely shows, some kids do view real life violence as a fun activity.. but if games would be a cause, the solution would be simple:
Parents could just break the CoD disc forcing the kid to watch if it brings it home, saved up all year from your allowance for it? tough luck, next time buy something suitable for your age and I hope you learned your lesson, now off to bed without dinner and the xbox goes in the basement for 2 weeks.
But unfortunately it isn't that simple, even if you actively try to push the kids to none violent alternatives they just tell you to get lost.
You could argue that a video game lets kids think killing is ok, but on the other hand, if the kid feels the need to kill, perhaps a video game is a good way to relieve that urge.
I don't understand how some people are so narrow-minded.
Terrible analogy aside, the issue is that Americans (like almost any other culture) don't want to own up to the fact that our laws are rather absurd. Gun Control is as likely as the recent end of the world in all honesty. Too many guns have been distributed as it is. The only way to counter this is to educate people. And that's a scary prospect.
If there's anyone to blame it can't be video games, hell it can't even be the media (that much anyways), it's the education of the children or lack therof. Couple with irritating self-entitlement that runs rampant in this country and we have a rather nice concoction of factors that make it easy for everyone to point the finger at anything but themselves.
+1
^THIS. We ARE in a quick-fix society. What a such society lacks is decent education.
[rant]
As to my opinions on guns? No, you don't need 5/person, but remember: Gun control attempts to control everyone, but it ends up only affecting law-abiding citizens.
As to guns themselves? They're small, powerful, effective. You know what else is small, powerful, effective? Knives. What's next? Knife control?
[/rant]
As for the games themselves? I don't think that the violent nature is a direct cause of major incidents, but once you see a theme for long enough enough, you start to see it as normal life. Hear a lie long enough, it becomes truth in your eyes.
Computer games have got little to do with it. It's EVERYTHING to do with guns that's the problem. You have one method to prevent gun rampages.
1. Don't let anyone have a gun.
Any attempt to limit exposure to gun media won't go very far, especially not in the USA where the right to have the right to shoot things is embedded in their entire social DNA.
You can try and limit games and violent movies but you'll always get some families that ignore these rules no matter what.
I'm not saying it should be open season on gun toting media, quite the opposite in fact. I think we need to tighten up on age restrictions, by educating people and enforcing the rules a little better.
I don't think it's right that 18 / R rated movies get toys. I don't think it's right that 18 rated games get given to little kids as Christmas presents.
Example. I have a 5yo twins (One of each) and they occasionally play games such as Star Wars Lego and Angry Birds. I don't let them play any FPS. They still get to shoot things, or get Lego Leia to slap Lego Han upside the head, and they still get to pop the heads of pigs, but they're not blasting away with a 3D photo-realistic semi-automatic as a rampaging enemy runs towards them.
I'm the same as you mate. Been gaming for as long as I've been walking and I've never felt the urge to go on a rampage killing people. Blaming games is daft. If a person snaps and goes on a rampage it is down to their own issues and could have been triggered by absolutely anything.
There is a case for putting some of the blame on society as a whole, but largely it is down to the parents to bring their kids up right. Making guns harder to obtain would also help.
We already have knife control.
You have to be 18+ to purchase, and you're not allowed to carry without 'good reason' anything but small folding knives.
https://www.gov.uk/find-out-if-i-can-buy-or-carry-a-knife
I'm fine with these rules, and I always carry a 'knife' at the bottom of my bag (A tiny multi-tool).
I have a few knives that would be illegal to carry in public, but as someone who's entire family was heavily involved in the guide / scout movement I've always had knives for bushcraft, and that's what they get used for. I also have lots of other dangerous tools for kitchen, DIY & garden work.
It's good that 'status symbol' knives such as flick knives are banned as it makes them harder to access. When I was about 10 I went to France for the day with the school and a handful of lads all came back with flick knives as they were 'cool'. Of course they all got confiscated, and I'm glad I live in a country that doesn't allow children to spend their pocket money on bladed weapons.
If you hear someone killed more than they wounded, you know they've practised. Live not virtual.
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that's pretty much the dutch law. Weapon, ammo and bolt locked away seperately
I believe gun control is a nice steady squeeze on the trigger.
But before you get to that point you need to have a proper respect for guns, and training from a responsible adult or training facility. I learned to shoot at age 7 from my grandfather. He had a collection of about 20 long guns (shot guns and rifles) and 6 or 7 hand guns, none of them were locked up and the ammo was accessible, BUT I knew I didn't mess with a gun with out an adult, I knew proper gun safety and I knew he would have done God knows what to me (insert childs respect/healthy fear if you did wrong of grandfather here) if he ever caught me playing with them!
GUN SAFETY and TRAINING are the key.
Funny how the UK has a higher violent crime rate than the US. Maybe it's not the guns after all?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196941/The-violent-country-Europe-Britain-worse-South-Africa-U-S.html
At least they're not getting shot...depends on what you count as a "Violent crime"
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/01/14/dishonored-designer-joe-houston-on-violence-in-games/
Still, any piece of (hard) metal can be sharpened and turned into a knife.
That said, it's a scary prospect in any sense because things could be very...well controlling, but it's a wash as far as a proposed solution.
Yes it is. That is how we gained our independence from Great Britain.
The issue at hand goes much deeper though. Lack of adequate parenting and their quick to blame anything but themselves mentality. These idiots have been blaming books, games, and movies for decades. In reality it is an extremely small percentage of these psychopaths that commit these mass murders. Banning guns, magazine sizes, or certain types of firearms will not prevent the violence of those extreme few that are hell-bent on killing. These degenerates will find a way. In the meantime, disarming or curtailing the rights of us legal gun owners only weakens our ability to protect ourselves from these sickos.
Violent video games=outlet to prevent actual violence
It's even more applicable now. The world is messed up and kids know it. Kids are frustrated and hurt and angry about the world they've been forced into and they need an outlet. Mortal Kombat or Call of Duty or whatever the kids are into these days are healthy ways of dealing with that, just as much as sports or karate is considered healthy.
Anyway, that aside.
For example, in the UK, violence against the person without injury also gets recorded under the banner of 'violent crimes' - that includes threats to kill, assault without injury, harassment and so on. I'm not sure if this is the case in other countries.
There is no conclusive evidence to suggest violent games cause violent behaviour, violent people may be attracted to those types of games but that does not infer a causal relationship in anyway.
Yes people can use other weapons but guns enable the unstable wielder to kill more and with greater speed.