How much longer do you think video games will be a scapegoat for everything?

[Frotality]

well someone's always going to use technology as a scapegoat when some psycho stabs his mom and it turns out he was an avid starcraft player or some s**t, thats just how it works. as for how much longer gaming will be the go-to excuse, until the next niche product turned popular come around or until everyone who didnt grow up with video games is dead.

 

[Something Amyss]

Heck, before that comic books were seen as evil.

And before that, dime novels. And before that, novels in general.

I give it another generation or so. Once people who grew up on games are the mainstay, it'll die off.

 

[redmoretrout]

Until the next popular form of media comes around.

 

[BrotherRool]

When it's our turn to call what the young uns are into the bane of everything. And we're not going to even remember that's ironic

 

[TAGM]

The way I see it, one of two things is going to have to happen before we get even close to video gaming not being a scapegoat.

The first option is that the media - newspapers, news shows, etc - actually start doing their job properly, putting research into the stories they put out and presenting facts rather then possibilities, and not slanting the story to make it seem more scary. This would solve some other problems as well (Vaccine = autism scare, anyone?)

The second is that gaming actually starts getting from respect from the majority of people. The news media and everything stop seeing it as just a toy to be used for education, or worse a killer-making device, and start to see it as something with the potential to be an artistic masterpiece.

Given the way the world seems to be going, though, I'm not holding out hope that either of these changes are coming anytime soon. If it happens within the next 5 or 10 years, I'll be impressed. Hell, if it happens before the previous generation dies off, I'll be impressed.

 

[Reyold]

People can't accept that society has some pretty fucked up notions.
People can't accept that society is sometimes blatantly wrong and holds the wrong principles.
People find it easier to point their fingers at the symptoms rather than the cause.
People can't accept responsibility.

That's why, in short.
Scapegoats in general will continue as long as the above continues.
The underlying issue isn't with games, movies, books, film, hobbies or what have you.
It's something deeper that requires more or less a societal reform to correct.
But alas, we're lazy so let us deem a few people crazy and damn whatever it is they enjoy.

Hear, hear! Well said, friend.

This snippet at the end of the article caught my attention:

This is the actual endgame. Not compassion, not harm reduction, but blame.

You guys ever wonder how much we could accomplish if both sides had compassion?

Holy crap, my mind was just blown thinking about it.

 

[NeutralDrow]

How long did it take comic books to stop being scapegoated? I'd say video games have another thirty years...

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Well, heavy metal still gets this shit and that's been around since the '70s. Clearly it will only stop when video games stop corrupting our youth!

 

[Stryc9]

Give it another fifteen years.

That might sound like a lot, but bear in mind this has been happening at least since the Columbine massacre and shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, it's gotten more frequent in recent years.

More like 25-35 years, people are living longer and keeping their positions of power longer as a result. On top of that there's still a few politicians out there that are still in that age range before playing video games was a hobby that most people did but not quite old enough to die in the next 15-20 years and unless a congressman really fucks up politically they pretty much have a lifetime appointment because they keep getting re-elected.

 

[Zeraki]

Considering music, TV and movies are still to this day being used as scapegoats as well... never.

There will never be shortage of people who don't want to accept reality, and search out "evil" where none exists.

 

[MiskWisk]

Video games will be the main scapegoat until a new form of media appears to take its place. This happened with books and movies to. Trains as well for some reason. Point is, until something else comes along, video games will be the scapegoat.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'd say about as long as it takes to get people that understand video games in more positions of power.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Presumably until they find something else to blame everything on. Which could be anytime between now and doomsday.

 

[Gameguy20100]

I would say when People stop being Idiots.

So Never.

Games may not always be a scapegoat but there always will be a scapegoat eventually we will have a new media that people will claim is corrupting the youth.

Then we will all have a difficult decision to make my fellow Gamers do we decide to learn from our experience and support it? Or do we give the youth of tomorrow the same shit we had to deal with at their age?

I don't know I'm only 18 so I probably don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

 

[LordLundar]

Presumably until they find something else to blame everything on. Which could be anytime between now and doomsday.

Beat me to it.

You can look back as far as you'd like and the only time something has stopped being flagged as a scapegoat is when something else takes it place.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Until Bill O'Rielly actually picks up a controller and plays a video game.

Fat chance of that happening,you would have more luck getting him and Fox News to tell the truth for once.

Yes, mock the most popular channel in America. That isn't horribly offensive at all. Want to make fun of George Washington, while you're at it?

Let me ask you an honest question, what evidence do you have that Fox News tells lies? Answer: there is none. That's just baseless conjecture. All this Fox News hate is completely braindead. They are the BEST news channel in the world. This is coming from someone who no longer watches it, but I know it because I can grasp the blatantly obvious.

Wrong wrong wrong wrong...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-21-2011/fox-news-false-statements

They earned politifact's lie of the year in 2011, 2010, and 2009 for "Health Care Death Panels", "Health Care Reform is a government takeover of healthcare" and "90% of homosexuals have AIDS". Their viewers are regularly the third most misinformed about political issues, ahead of only The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, two comedy shows.

They have also been proven to edit photos to create political discord, and manipulate video footage to create quotes that did not happen.

Does anyone remember when they said Mass Effect let you rape womens?

Edit:
almost forgot the topic at hand. I used that Jim Sterling video on violent video games in an online ethics class I took (most people in the seemed to be adults) and I was surprised when a lot of people agreed with me. In fact, they complained about parents throwing blame where it doesn't belong rather than properly taking care of their kids. Other people were annoyed that scapegoats like video games take people's attention and resources away from treating real problems. So, if I may be so bold as to provide a little hope, we might not have to wait so long before video games are accepted. After all, some of these older people remember back when rock music made you a serial killer

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Presumably until they find something else to blame everything on. Which could be anytime between now and doomsday.

Beat me to it.

You can look back as far as you'd like and the only time something has stopped being flagged as a scapegoat is when something else takes it place.

Yes, before video games it was TV/Movies, before TV/movies it was D'n'D I think, before D'n'D it was comic books I think, and before comic books it was communists. Point is there will always be a scapegoat, it's just a question of what unfortunate thing the collective idiot masses are pointing their fingers at. It's just nothing has come along to relieve video games yet.

 

[kypsilon]

I don't believe it ever won't be used as a scapegoat. People need things to blame when their world goes wrong and things like television, video games, and good ol' D&D will forever be the welcome distraction that people can trot out to avoid actually dealing with the real issues and, god forbid, make real progress.

 

[freaper]

Until our generation is old enough to crap on the next, which is about 10 years from now.

 

[CriticalMiss]

When we get personal jetpacks. They will cause mass shootings, drug addiction, underage pregnancy, racism, sexism, lack of respect for elders, cancer and poverty. Those fucking jetpacks will be an affront to Nuggan!

Or maybe when all the out of touch old people die. Anything more technologically advanced than a gramophone is akin to the devil, including the whippersnappers who use such black magic.