Songwriter M.I.A. Thinks Videogames Make Violence Easier

[Mr. Grey]

What does she know? Welp, she grew up moving back and forth between Sri Lanka and an Indian diaspora while her father, the founder of the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students, a Tamil secessionist revolutionary group, fought a civil war; she was at various points subject to reprisals. I'd say she knows quite a bit about violence!

Yes, but what does she know about video games?

I mean, who are you going to take more seriously, a woman who grew up at the very centre of a civil war, or Justin Bieber?

All the more reason why I shouldn't trust either of them.

If I had to guess she's trying to find something to blame for the cause of violence instead of her father who probably did start that civil war. I also have to question her mental stability if she really did go through everything she went through as a child, or is she completely desensitized by it? Which would be rather ironic.

I know her point: she's factoring in that we can't handle the difference and we think nothing of it. That's not the fault of video games, that's the fault of poor parenting.

It's pretty ridiculous to claim that Paper Planes promotes violence placed in the context of her other music.

Like she is with video games? Television does the same thing, books do the same thing... her music does the same thing. Making it sound like no big deal does the same thing. Whether or not her music is satirical, how many people actually know it is?

I may be biased because I actually think before I act and know that my decisions have consequences, especially when it comes to violence. Which is why I am never violent. To have her lump me against the ones that don't, makes me feel quite insulted.

 

[Good morning blues]

What does she know? Welp, she grew up moving back and forth between Sri Lanka and an Indian diaspora while her father, the founder of the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students, a Tamil secessionist revolutionary group, fought a civil war; she was at various points subject to reprisals. I'd say she knows quite a bit about violence!

Yes, but what does she know about video games?

I mean, who are you going to take more seriously, a woman who grew up at the very centre of a civil war, or Justin Bieber?

All the more reason why I shouldn't trust either of them.

If I had to guess she's trying to find something to blame for the cause of violence instead of her father who probably did start that civil war. I also have to question her mental stability if she really did go through everything she went through as a child, or is she completely desensitized by it? Which would be rather ironic.

I know her point: she's factoring in that we can't handle the difference and we think nothing of it. That's not the fault of video games, that's the fault of poor parenting.

It's pretty ridiculous to claim that Paper Planes promotes violence placed in the context of her other music.

Like she is with video games? Television does the same thing, books do the same thing... her music does the same thing. Making it sound like no big deal does the same thing. Whether or not her music is satirical, how many people actually know it is?

I may be biased because I actually think before I act and know that my decisions have consequences, especially when it comes to violence. Which is why I am never violent. To have her lump me against the ones that don't, makes me feel quite insulted.

Once again, she's not claiming that violent video games cause violence, and she's not claiming that violent video games are worse than other forms of violent media. I really don't know what else I can say that I haven't said already.

 

[Danpascooch]

I think people in this thread are willfully misinterpreting her statement. She's not saying that video games make people violent; she's saying that when your only exposure to violence is through video games, you end up with a severely inaccurate and deranged mental model of violence. Does anyone here actually disagree with that?

Yes, I disagree with that.

I was always saying that senseless violence is wrong and useless.

However, concentrated violence is like a tactical missile - good for everything, everywhere, every time. Or at least in 90% of the cases.

LIKE AGAINST PEOPLE SAYING THAT!! RAAWR!

I really don't understand what you're saying here; you say that you disagree, and then start talking about something completely different. Did you misread my post, or am I just not getting what you're saying?

I play Halo, but I think I have enough real-world experience to know that a bullet rocketing through your flesh would be bad, hurt a lot, possibly kill, and is something to be avoided....

Why do I need to know more than that? Are you suggesting that if I got shot and experienced it first hand that I would be less violent?

Similar sort of thing

The problem isn't that you will commit real-world violence; the problem is that you will be more permissive of real-world violence. If we are only ever exposed to Halo, Call of Duty, Hollywood action movies, and Tom Clancy novels, that absolutely does have an impact on how willing we are to allow our governments to spend trillions on our militaries and to use political violence. If we don't understand what violence is really like, we don't have nearly as much of a problem with other people in the real world employing violence.

When we read a new Tom Clancy novel or watch a movie like Avatar, we see all of the military technology and we think "that's awesome." It is those sorts of opinions that allow our governments to justify the spending that underwrites political violence all over the world.

I know that violence is bad, and that it's wrong and that it hurts like a *****.

Seriously, why do I need to know more than that?

Her statement was pretty far removed from " If we are only ever exposed to Halo, Call of Duty, Hollywood action movies, and Tom Clancy novels" which will never be the case.

As long as I've felt considerable pain, and logically know that a bullet ripping through my flesh would be absolutely horrible, there's no need to experience it firsthand, that's like saying people aren't against rape unless they are raped.

 

[Julianking93]

MIA's first album was brilliant. Her second one, not so much. I cant stand Paper Planes.

Especially since everyone I knew (and didn't know, for that matter) was singing that song. Fucking annoying, man...

Anywho, who cares? I mean does it really matter if people think videogames are bad at this point?

 

[Danpascooch]

What does she know? Welp, she grew up moving back and forth between Sri Lanka and an Indian diaspora while her father, the founder of the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students, a Tamil secessionist revolutionary group, fought a civil war; she was at various points subject to reprisals. I'd say she knows quite a bit about violence!

Yes, but what does she know about video games?

I mean, who are you going to take more seriously, a woman who grew up at the very centre of a civil war, or Justin Bieber?

All the more reason why I shouldn't trust either of them.

If I had to guess she's trying to find something to blame for the cause of violence instead of her father who probably did start that civil war. I also have to question her mental stability if she really did go through everything she went through as a child, or is she completely desensitized by it? Which would be rather ironic.

I know her point: she's factoring in that we can't handle the difference and we think nothing of it. That's not the fault of video games, that's the fault of poor parenting.

It's pretty ridiculous to claim that Paper Planes promotes violence placed in the context of her other music.

Like she is with video games? Television does the same thing, books do the same thing... her music does the same thing. Making it sound like no big deal does the same thing. Whether or not her music is satirical, how many people actually know it is?

I may be biased because I actually think before I act and know that my decisions have consequences, especially when it comes to violence. Which is why I am never violent. To have her lump me against the ones that don't, makes me feel quite insulted.

Once again, she's not claiming that violent video games cause violence, and she's not claiming that violent video games are worse than other forms of violent media. I really don't know what else I can say that I haven't said already.

I don't see her arguments for how the video-games are worse than her songs in causing desensitization to violence.

"Paper Planes" made it sound cool to be a drug dealer and shoot people, I see arguments for video games causing desensitization (which I don't agree with) but I see nothing for why they are specifically worse than her song.

 

[Good morning blues]

I know that violence is bad, and that it's wrong and that it hurts like a *****.

Seriously, why do I need to know more than that?

Her statement was pretty far removed from " If we are only ever exposed to Halo, Call of Duty, Hollywood action movies, and Tom Clancy novels" which will never be the case.

As long as I've felt considerable pain, and logically know that a bullet ripping through my flesh would be absolutely horrible, there's no need to experience it firsthand, that's like saying people aren't against rape unless they are raped.

I'm trying to have a serious conversation here, and I feel like people are intentionally avoiding my point, so here it is, point-blank: do you disagree that the sanitized and glorified depictions of political violence in mainstream media create a sanitized and glorified mental picture of violence in the minds of an audience that has no experience with the grim reality? Put in different words, who has a better idea of how horrible combat is ? someone who plays a lot of video games, or someone who has been in combat? Do you disagree that these differing experiences will correlate with differing views of and support for political violence?

 

[Danpascooch]

I know that violence is bad, and that it's wrong and that it hurts like a *****.

Seriously, why do I need to know more than that?

Her statement was pretty far removed from " If we are only ever exposed to Halo, Call of Duty, Hollywood action movies, and Tom Clancy novels" which will never be the case.

As long as I've felt considerable pain, and logically know that a bullet ripping through my flesh would be absolutely horrible, there's no need to experience it firsthand, that's like saying people aren't against rape unless they are raped.

I'm trying to have a serious conversation here, and I feel like people are intentionally avoiding my point, so here it is, point-blank: do you disagree that the sanitized and glorified depictions of political violence in mainstream media create a sanitized and glorified mental picture of violence in the minds of an audience that has no experience with the grim reality? Put in different words, who has a better idea of how horrible combat is ? someone who plays a lot of video games, or someone who has been in combat? Do you disagree that these differing experiences will correlate with differing views of and support for political violence?

I disagree that the media causes any sort of sanitation significant enough to cause any sort of change in behavior for a mentally stable person.

Does it cause some desensitization? Probably, everything affects us, but I believe that it is negligible and not powerful enough to cause anyone to do anything differently than they would have otherwise.

Could it have different effects on people who are mentally unstable? Maybe, but you can't blame video-games for that, that would be like blaming knives when someone is stabbed, that person was mentally unstable.

My point is, it probably has a small effect on our perceptions of violence, but I do not believe it is in any way consequential or powerful enough to have tangible repercussions, and I definitely believe that M.I.A has no place using video games as a scapegoat when fingers are pointed at her violence glorifying music.

 

[Danpascooch]

Said it before and i will say it again. I will say it 12 billion times if necessary. When it comes to Violence and games/music/T.V. Falls on 2 peoples shoulders. The parents. I know this isn't exactly about that but It looms in that area.

I challenge you to post that 11,999,999,999 more times.

 

[Mr. Grey]

Once again, she's not claiming that violent video games cause violence, and she's not claiming that violent video games are worse than other forms of violent media. I really don't know what else I can say that I haven't said already.

I never said she did. I said I wondered if she is mentally unstable and that she must be seeking a reason for the cause of violence that started the civil war and wasn't willing to blame her father. A long shot, but one not entirely impossible.

My other point - and response to hers - was against hers that involved us not thinking of the real life ramifications of our decisions because video games have desensitized us. I said that's not the fault of video games or any other entertainment, that's the fault of poor parenting.

As for her claiming it's not worse... which I never realised was an argument I made... then why did she single it out? She could have easily said books, movies and television along with video games... but she only said video games. To me it looks like she's trying to shoo away attention from her lyrics and doesn't take what she said seriously, but if she does... well, I feel very insulted.

Oh and then she said this:

"I don't know which is worse. The fact that I saw it in my life has maybe given me lots of issues, but there's a whole generation of American kids seeing violence on their computer screens and then getting shipped off to Afghanistan.

"They feel like they know the violence when they don't. Not having a proper understanding of violence, especially what it's like on the receiving end of it, just makes you interpret it wrong and makes inflicting violence easier."​

I see where you mean she didn't say which is worse... she still could have brought up television and movies, but that's not my point here.

I take considerable offense that she assumes that all the people joining the army are doing so because games made it look cool. That it doesn't bring up concerns and any of the sort. Which is a load of horseshit, the people that join the army are doing so for A) Money, B) Scholarships and C) To defend their country. Which I really question their reasoning behind C because that's not why we're at war in Afghanistan, we're at war there to bring stability... following the same tactics that Bush used. Or so says the official story.

I'm pretty freaking sure that video games aren't the concern here and if it was they would never pass the psyche evaluation since they can't discern fantasy from reality. Then she goes and says that it makes us interpret it wrong and that makes inflicting violence easier. Which is where I took my initial offense to as I don't do that, I always think about the ramifications.

 

[megapenguinx]

Student Abedeus thinks M.I.A. is an unknown idiot starved for attention.

Agreed.
This from a woman who's own song talks about shooting people and getting paid.....
I think music is more damaging than video games because at least video games are a lot better regulated than the music industry...

 

[Danpascooch]

Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, also known as singer/songwriter M.I.A., has been criticized in the past for interpretations that some of her works, such as "Paper Planes" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRjZoRtu0Y], encourage violence, though she has at times denied these violent meanings.

Yeah! Those gunshot noises in "Paper Planes" symbolized Unicorns, not gunshots!

What a load. She is using video games as a scapegoat for her own songs.

She says it makes it easier to be violent, does she know this from all of her experience on being violent?

 

[Billion Backs]

Well, one thing's right. The way games and movies portray violence isn't realistic.

But seeing how it's a stranger criticizing the sacred subject of gaming, I must rage and spout hate comments! Raaaaaargh!

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Wow, she's dumb. Doesn't she even know about Australia's mindset at the start of WWI. Everyone was going "This will be awesome!". I'm pretty sure that they didn't play video games. If anything, today's kids are more aware of the dangers of becoming a soldier.

 

[Zackary Yakumo]

Im not saying shes right, but im not saying shes wrong. but when your younger brother who you havent seen in two years, doesnt even look away from his Modern Warfare 2 match to say hello to you, somethings wrong. then when he hits you because you tok the thing away because hes grounded, even more. but the fact that he cusses at my mom pisses me off the most. I grew up in the '90s, and my most violent video game until halo (i was 13 then) was Goldeneye for the 64. Back then, when we heard someone getting killed and video games involved, we laughed at it. but recently there have been multiple casesw where people will kill siblings, and for what? Because he touched my playstation 3. I work at a hospital and i have seen a few kids come in with bruises, scratches, even broken limbs because someone was acting out a video game. Now I'm glad i listened to my parents.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Me thinks M.I.A.'s brain suits her "Title" quite well. I hate attention/media whores, especially when they sing/write/act the same things they demonize to fit along with the controversy crowd. (aka: morons)

 

[Johnteerules]

This just in, I don't really give a shit
because this isn't the 1st time I've heard some attention whore say something like this without backing it up with real information
...and it certainly isn't gonna be the last time

 

[Buizel91]

Who the hell is she?

This would be M.I.A...im sorry if your ear drums collapse!

 

[Caliostro]

"All I want to do is BANG BANG BANG BANG!
And KA-CHING!
And take your money"

"Some, some, some I, some I murder
Some, I some I let go
Some, some, some I, some I murder
Some, I some I let go"

And considering some of the lyrics in her songs^ she doesn't think they maybe encourage violence and what not. Hypocrite.

Yeah, I was gonna say this.

Her best known song (actually, her ONLY known song) Paper Planes is about robbery and homicide...

"Hey Kettle!"
"Yes Pot?"
"You're black!"
"..."