Expert Says Blaming Videogames for Violence is Racist

[Princess Rose]

If video-games are a race now, can I play the race card?

Racism? Really? We're going there?

That is stupid.

You hear that, Fox? You're racist!

Seriously though, how does that make any logical sense? He says himself 95 percent of boys have played violent videogames, and I'm pretty sure that would be regardless of color of skin or country of origin, so someone explain to me how this makes sense in his mind....

He isn't saying that video games players are a race - he's saying that no one plays the video game card when black people or Islamic fundamentalists go on shooting sprees - only when middle class white kids do it.

Basically, when a white kid murders people, people think: "it must be video games because middle-class white kids couldn't possibly murder people like those dirty black kids."

But when someone of another race does it, no one cares. No one blames gang violence in Detroit on video games. Even if the kids in the gang DO play video games, the explanation is clear: they did it because they're not white.

So THAT is why it's racist. Because video games = violence is basically saying that white kids can't be violent unless they played video games (but every other race can be).

Racism? Really? I mean I'm dead set against blaming video games for things, but do we really need to go there?

It smacks of bigotry and ignorance, but racism? Not really. Good, though, he pointed out that pinning violent outbursts onto videogames has the same statistical worth as blaming them onto sneakers.

Somebody should really let Fox News know that.

You too - see my explanation above. That's why it's racist - because people only say "violence is caused by video games" when it's WHITE kids doing the shooting.

 

[rickynumber24]

This was not the train wreck I was expecting when I saw the headline...

Actually, let's take this one step further: When a lower-class, inner-city person does something violent, we frequently just don't hear about it because "it just happens". When something anomalous, like some suburban white guy goes and shoots a bunch of people, we start looking for scapegoats instead of actually thinking about the situation. Then again, as he said, it's nothing new.

 

[Weaver]

Are people not reading the article and just glancing at the headline and intuiting what they think this must be about?

He's not saying balming games is racist, he's saying blaming games when middle to upper class white people commit acts of violence and not blaming games poor black and hispanic people commit violence is a double standard that is "a little bit racist". I agree with him. The implications are that white people could never stoop to such barbarism without an outside influence but shootings in the bronx happen just because black/poor people are violent by nature.

The point of the article is really just to bring to bear the absurdity of accusing video games as being the entire cause of a violent act.

 

[ASnogarD]

A rather clever way to jump onto a sensational newspiece and redirect some views to a different issue.

Rather than defending video games, the expert is implying that its only a big issue when it happens in white schools / areas / countries / population ... if the action happened in non white / majority race areas... theres no need to bother looking for a culprit, no once cares.

In other words : If video games were blamed on none white and / or minority groups as well then it wouldnt be racist according to the expert here.

 

[puffy786]

I don't think that anyone is getting the point for the whole racism part. You see for Columbine and Oslo, video games are the excuse because News Reporters and "experts" don't want to blame it on the fact that person was just troubled, or was a really big Christan terrorist. Instead they pick video games. In other cases, if someone else did it, its because of their religon/color. If he was Muslim, that apparently would be his probelm. If he was a minority, that would be his probelm. If he was a white Christan, it suddenly turns that he couldn't simply do the acts because he was a white trouble person or that he was a neo-nazi but instead something else caused it and everyone is trying to pin it on that scape goat.

 

[lacktheknack]

You hear that, Fox? You're racist!

Seriously though, how does that make any logical sense? He says himself 95 percent of boys have played violent videogames, and I'm pretty sure that would be regardless of color of skin or country of origin, so someone explain to me how this makes sense in his mind....

Did you read the article?

The point is that when non-whites commit acts of violence, it's Islam's/racism's/other's fault. When white people commit acts of violence, it's video games' fault.

He thinks that this sort of thinking is racist.

And while I see his point, pulling the race card immediately kills my enthusiasm for any argument.

 

[Alkaline]

Racism? Really? We're going there?

That is stupid.

Well, not "racism", but the principle's pretty much the same.

 

[KezzieZ]

I'm not sure about every aspect this researcher brought up about the issue but it's definitely interesting stuff to think on and there certainly is a double standard in play when it comes to where and who is responsible violent crimes and whether or not video games are brought up as far as I can tell.

 

[James Crook]

Hah, wrong word choice buddy xD
That was actually pretty funny

wrong word but beyond that its a decent point people do jump on games far too often despite being proved wrong just as often.

Yeah, you can give credit to the guy for standing up for games

 

[Thanatos5150]

You hear that, Fox? You're racist!

Seriously though, how does that make any logical sense? He says himself 95 percent of boys have played violent videogames, and I'm pretty sure that would be regardless of color of skin or country of origin, so someone explain to me how this makes sense in his mind....

BLUF:
It's racist because the topic is only brought up if the killer is white. If the killer were, say, black or Arabic, very few people would jump all over the "video games did it" boat.

It's also racist in that they hold the same roots in prejudice. If you only see, for example, a handful of black people in your life and they're all bona-fide idiots or criminals, you might be inclined to think all black people are bona-fide idiots or criminals, which is racist behaviour, pure and simple.
Likewise, if all you ever see of video games is the News telling you that some idiot who went on a shooting spree played Modern Warfare 2 you might be inclined to think two things : All video games are Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 2 causes people to go on a shooting spree.

What he's saying with that 95% statistic is pointing out how ludicrous the connection is. Ninety-five per cent of males are not murderers. The reason so many murderers play video games is because of a completely unrelated role correlation. You may as well say "Shooting Sprees are caused by boys wearing sneakers" (To use his example). Yes, boys who go on shooting sprees tend to wear sneakers, but so does every other young male. Sneakers constitute the primary type of footwear in the modern world. The facts are unrelated. As a matter of fact, you might look at a chart and see something like most of the people who wear sneakers/play video games do not, in fact, go on shooting sprees. Of course, sneakers are not a relatively new media, so they don't get examined like this.

Read the article before you say it's illogical.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Jesus H. Christ!

Reading Comprehension... a lot of you sorely lack it.

You hear that, Fox? You're racist!

Seriously though, how does that make any logical sense? He says himself 95 percent of boys have played violent videogames, and I'm pretty sure that would be regardless of color of skin or country of origin, so someone explain to me how this makes sense in his mind....

BLUF:
It's racist because the topic is only brought up if the killer is white. If the killer were, say, black or Arabic, very few people would jump all over the "video games did it" boat.

It's also racist in that they hold the same roots in prejudice. If you only see, for example, a handful of black people in your life and they're all bona-fide idiots or criminals, you might be inclined to think all black people are bona-fide idiots or criminals, which is racist behaviour, pure and simple.
Likewise, if all you ever see of video games is the News telling you that some idiot who went on a shooting spree played Modern Warfare 2 you might be inclined to think two things : All video games are Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 2 causes people to go on a shooting spree.

What he's saying with that 95% statistic is pointing out how ludicrous the connection is. Ninety-five per cent of males are not murderers. The reason so many murderers play video games is because of a completely unrelated role correlation. You may as well say "Shooting Sprees are caused by boys wearing sneakers" (To use his example). Yes, boys who go on shooting sprees tend to wear sneakers, but so does every other young male. Sneakers constitute the primary type of footwear in the modern world. The facts are unrelated. As a matter of fact, you might look at a chart and see something like most of the people who wear sneakers/play video games do not, in fact, go on shooting sprees. Of course, sneakers are not a relatively new media, so they don't get examined like this.

Read the article before you say it's illogical.

^This

 

[bootz]

I see the point
"Assumed" Reasons for shooting by race
Middle Eastern = "Terrorism
African American ="Gang/Drug Related"
Caucasian = "Video Games"
Japanese = "Whaling" or "Bad sushi"


Orc = "Griefing noob Gnome mage"

 

[imnot]

He does have a very good point.

 

[kyoodle]

Clearly he's never heard of Virginia Tech. Games are blamed for mass killings, not whenever a white person shoots someone else.

 

[shogunblade]

Racism? Really? We're going there?

That is stupid.

He actually makes a good point on it.

OT: I wish people would just get their heads out of their asses and clean the shit from their ears in order to listen to people who know way more about these types of things than they ever will.

It kinda reminds of the Hypochondriac vs. Professional Doctor sort of scenario.

I'm only putting you in a quote because your .gif scares the ever-loving shit out of me. Just thought you should know, It's funny, but it freaks me out.

OT: Now That I've read the story, the "racism" thing comes out a little easier to take in. As far as the whole "Video games kill people" argument, no, they don't. Video Games are what made me a little less lonely in Elementary school, and probably prevented me from having the kind of depressing high school experience that I should have had. This is a case of someone (this Oslo Killer) using Modern Warfare as a scapegoat and less about trying to realize that this person is/was a particularly sick individual.
No video game in the world should be branded as a "Murder Simulator", and people should realize how silly it really sounds.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

As much as I WANT to support this guy.....yeah I don't see how that has to do with Racism.

Is he talking about how inner-city gang/turf shootouts aren't connected with Video games but school shootings in "peaceful" neighborhoods are? If so....yeah that doesn't make sense since, school shootouts are WHOLLY different from acts of gang violence. In the case of the latter, there's are easy-to-spot socio-economic factors that can be connected to the motivations of the criminals.

In the case of shootouts, the reasons are obscure personal, social reasons that are just too difficult to scratch, so people just start scraping for the nearest scapegoat instead. But hell, what the fuck do I know?

 

[Alrocsmash]

Slightly off topic but slightly related as well; games do not train anyone for ANYTHING. Take a standard M16 rifle in a game. You mouse click a button and it fires. You hit R and you reload your mag. It jammed? Smash the space bar. The firing sound is loud, Im going to turn my speakers down.

Fast forward to real life. Hey this M16 is heavy. And the recoil actually exists when I fire it. My aim is off woooooo. Hey my iron sights are not adjusted right, I cant hit anything! I have to reload? Man these 335 rounds in steel mags are heavy. My gun jammed? I dont have a space bar in real life? GOD DAMN IT. Shoot all your rounds, man this barrel just burned my hand because its 200 degrees. My rifle now jams every mag I put in because I never had to clean it in my game and my receiver is loaded with cordite. Whats gun solvent? Man this rig is heavy.

This argument is so god damn moronic I can't even believe people accept it as a possibility.

 

[AmaterasuGrim]

Video games now a race, people better stop hate crime on us.

I don't really see racism in it sure most shootings involving white kids are usually blamed upon games but that's more parents & law looking for something to blame instead of just saying that they are mentally unstable.