Ticonderoga117 said:
Why are we even researching this? I've been playing violent video games and watching violent movies since I was 5. 17 years later after being exposed to the same, I haven't committed one violent crime. Period. I am also not desensitized to violence, or at least dead people. One time my summer job involved going to the Medical Examiner's and they had a dead guy out for an autopsy. I felt sick and I most defiantly did not want to be anywhere near that.
Now, to expand from the personal story. How many people buy violent video games? A lot. How many tragic shootings are there? Not nearly as many.
If you're actually interested in a serious answer, then I'll gladly try to field it for you.
First off, you appear to be offering anecdotal evidence against a claim that "playing violent video games
causes people to become violent". No reasonable person is making that claim, though, or believes that playing video games will suddenly transform you into a murderer, and everyone can safely ignore such unscientific, ungrounded claims.
The actual questions are more like "can/do violent video games (or other violent media) contribute to actual violence (and, if so, how/why/when)?" That's a big question and appropriately complex for the issue. If graphic, fictional violence does actual harm, it's not going to be because a psychologically healthy man or woman played a modern shooter and decided to start murdering people. That's not even a potential issue. There is a very real possibility that exposure to or interaction with violent games
PLUS several (many?) other factors (e.g., age, sex, hormones, overall mental health/specific psychiatric issues, developmental stage, family and social environment, etc.) may be harmful or, in some way, contribute to the development of someone who
may end up being violent.
There's already a fair bit of research and case studies that suggest that one's experiences during various developmental stages can have a pretty profound impact on that person's life/behavior as an adult. We're not simple creatures and we are still a long way from understanding how our own brains work and why some people end up doing horrible things. This is something worth trying to understand.
there are much bigger worries than restricting what people can buy to use and defend themselves with and researching a non-issue.
A few final things:
1) There are
always bigger worries. That's not a valid excuse for ignoring current issues, concerns, or worries. Just because we will all die and the human race may never survive beyond the Earth (and even if it does, you and I will be long dead by then) does not mean that you don't wake up in the morning or read news on the internet or talk to anyone or eat ever again. (...sorry if that's kind of grim.)
2) "what people can buy and use and defend themselves with" has always been restricted and should always be restricted (at least in a society governed by law/reason, rather than psychopaths bent on self-destruction). For American civilian self-defense, no one needs access to nuclear weapons, chemical/biological weapons, explosives/weapons that propel explosives, sniper rifles, machine guns, or assault rifles. You're welcome to think otherwise--I can't stop you from being wrong.
3) "researching a non-issue" -- I realize that this bit may simply be related to the premise you seemed to be coming in with, but it's worth repeating that (especially for the real question--see above) we don't know if something's a non-issue without actual research. That's how science works. It's slow and can seem tedious, but it's the best tool we've got for understanding the world and reality.
