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

[Blind Sight]

My God, when is it that all these people are going to realize that games are just games? People don't seem to give much credit to kids nowadays, they must think they're all amazingly stupid and easy to influence.

Put it this way, I was playing a violent game at my parents' house awhile back when my ten-year-old brother walked into the room. He saw me kill someone on screen in a very gory way, and he just kind of looked at it curiously. I asked him what he thought about it and he said he thought it was really gross. I then asked him whether he thought I was doing a bad thing by playing the game in this way. Almost instantly he said no. I asked him why. "Because it's just pretend." was his answer. "What if I did this in real life?" was my response. "Then you'd be a bad person."

Children pick this stuff up pretty quickly, my brother already knows the difference between fantasy and reality, it seems M.I.A. doesn't.

 

[IxionIndustries]

Does M.I.A. stand for Missing In Action? Because I haven't heard jack shit about her. She's probably trying to get attention because she says "Oh! Videogames are baaaad!". So edgy of you, M.I.A..

"I don't know which is worse," she said. "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."

Really? So is my theory that if you get a high score on America's Army, you'll get shoved into a crate, and be gunned down by terrorists true?

"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."

Then maybe your kids should wear one of these.

"Killing in a game is like shooting at a picture of a soldier: Nothing really happens. Killing someone in real life affects that person's family, those around them, and can have much deeper consequences."

Then maybe each time I kill a zombie in Left 4 Dead, I should have a flashback throughout that zombie's entire fucking life.

"I personally grew up on games like Doom II, even adding the extra-gory monster deaths patch, yet would have trouble aiming a gun at another human being even in self defense."

Wait.. What? That totally counter-acted your whole "Games are too fake" statement.

You were whining about how violent videogames made people violent, yet here you are saying that you can't even fire a gun? So you say games make violence easier, yet it's hard to pull a gun trigger.. I.. I just...

Spoiler

 

[fulano]

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?

Sorry, but what does she know? She's probably just diverting the attention away from herself by blaming things she doesn't fully understand. Someone should shoot her in the face with a railspike gun! That'll prove her wrong.

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!

I don't think someone who was unknown until Pineapple Express came along has anything worthwhile to say.

Really? MIA was a huge underground figure for a couple of years before Pineapple Express came along ? just because she only had one mainstream-friendly hit doesn't mean her opinions are worthless. 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 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.

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

I think her credablitity was launched our of the country with a cannon on the matter when she said "Paper airplanes cause violence."

You just don't know how to read apparently

This whole idea of "People forgot what pain really is, pinch them hard and they'll remember that violence hurts, and stop" is idiotic and naive.

It's not the videogames, we all know hitting people and bullets and such hurts. A lot.

You're right! Something like Call of Duty, Halo, or Splinter Cell totally does not sanitize or excuse violence (particularly political violence) in the slightest, and even if it did, everyone playing such games has enough real-world experience to be able to identify exactly where and how these depictions are inaccurate.

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?

Only decent post in this thread gone to hell.

People now are getting offended for the sake of entitlement. Sad that gamers fall on that pattern too.

What she's saying is exactly accurate, and watching tools trying to discredit her oppinion just because of what she does for a living is pathetic. She's not saying videogames make people violent. She's saying videogames give people a warped view on violence. It's not about not understanding the difference about what is real and what is not. It is about understanding the impact of fictional imput into the real world. Everyone with half an ounce of working brain cells and their grand mother knows this, even the U.S Army knows this and has been using videogames as training sims for soldiers for years now; the only people who apparently don't seem to be aware are the majority of people posting on this thread.

Beyong the petty concerns of those that do not use their braincelss properly and concoct an argument where there is none (Do videogames make people violent? No, but that's off topic), the actual issue here is whether or not it is acceptable for videogames to desensitize society in the roundabout, massive way that they do (yes, they do).

I'd argue that yes, that it is acceptable and in many cases needed, if only to give some vague understanding as to what violence somewhat is, even if it is presented with fanfare and exaggerations. In the kind of society that we live in, it's much better to have a splinter of an idea than not. At the same time, it's more of a responsibility on our shoulders as we have to move beyond that initial splinter and acquire some real information through education, etc., and we may not be able to.

Give or take, I'm sticking with keeping violent games around, warts and all.

 

[Moromillas]

This is obviously some kind of joke or prank. Cmon, you guys seriously believe someone is that stupid?

 

[Brotherofwill]

Only decent post in this thread gone to hell.

People now are getting offended for the sake of entitlement. Sad that gamers fall on that pattern too.

What she's saying is exactly accurate, and watching tools trying to discredit her oppinion just because of what she does for a living is pathetic. She's not saying videogames make people violent. She's saying videogames give people a warped view on violence. It's not about not understanding the difference about what is real and what is not. It is about understanding the impact of fictional imput into the real world. Everyone with half an ounce of working brain cells and their grand mother knows this, even the U.S Army knows this and has been using videogames as training sims for soldiers for years now; the only people who apparently don't seem to be aware are the majority of people posting on this thread.

Beyong the petty concerns of those that do not use their braincelss properly and concoct an argument where there is none (Do videogames make people violent? No, but that's off topic), the actual issue here is whether or not it is acceptable for videogames to desensitize society in the roundabout, massive way that they do (yes, they do).

I'd argue that yes, that it is acceptable and in many cases needed, if only to give some vague understanding as to what violence somewhat is, even if it is presented with fanfare and exaggerations. In the kind of society that we live in, it's much better to have a splinter of an idea than not. At the same time, it's more of a responsibility on our shoulders as we have to move beyond that initial splinter and acquire some real information through education, etc., and we may not be able to.

Give or take, I'm sticking with keeping violent games around, warts and all.

Thanks so much for this post. I was beginning to think not a single person on this site had some brains left.

It's very alarming how quickly 'gamers' bunch together and scream at anything even slightly challenging their medium like a pack of dogs. The reading comprehension is also alarmingly low in here.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Some parents (like mine) let their kids play stuff like this if they know they can handle it. If you give a kid who gets nightmares a lot or has anger issues Quake 3, then that's stupid. But if you have a kid who definitely knows the difference between fantasy or reality and doesn't get scared about stuff like that a copy of Quake 3 (like my parents did) then that's okay. I loved Quake 3. I had to get the PS2 version, but I loved playing it, and I don't have any noticeable mental issues or violent tendencies.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Who the hell is she?

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

This is the first time I've heard this song, and I can say without a doubt that my head started hurting 43 seconds in.
This means that her statement is invalid!

 

[fulano]

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?

Sorry, but what does she know? She's probably just diverting the attention away from herself by blaming things she doesn't fully understand. Someone should shoot her in the face with a railspike gun! That'll prove her wrong.

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!

I don't think someone who was unknown until Pineapple Express came along has anything worthwhile to say.

Really? MIA was a huge underground figure for a couple of years before Pineapple Express came along ? just because she only had one mainstream-friendly hit doesn't mean her opinions are worthless. 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 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.

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

I think her credablitity was launched our of the country with a cannon on the matter when she said "Paper airplanes cause violence."

You just don't know how to read apparently

This whole idea of "People forgot what pain really is, pinch them hard and they'll remember that violence hurts, and stop" is idiotic and naive.

It's not the videogames, we all know hitting people and bullets and such hurts. A lot.

You're right! Something like Call of Duty, Halo, or Splinter Cell totally does not sanitize or excuse violence (particularly political violence) in the slightest, and even if it did, everyone playing such games has enough real-world experience to be able to identify exactly where and how these depictions are inaccurate.

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?

Only decent post in this thread gone to hell.

People now are getting offended for the sake of entitlement. Sad that gamers fall on that pattern too.

What she's saying is exactly accurate, and watching tools trying to discredit her oppinion just because of what she does for a living is pathetic. She's not saying videogames make people violent. She's saying videogames give people a warped view on violence. It's not about not understanding the difference about what is real and what is not. It is about understanding the impact of fictional imput into the real world. Everyone with half an ounce of working brain cells and their grand mother knows this, even the U.S Army knows this and has been using videogames as training sims for soldiers for years now; the only people who apparently don't seem to be aware are the majority of people posting on this thread.

Beyong the petty concerns of those that do not use their braincelss properly and concoct an argument where there is none (Do videogames make people violent? No, but that's off topic), the actual issue here is whether or not it is acceptable for videogames to desensitize society in the roundabout, massive way that they do (yes, they do).

I'd argue that yes, that it is acceptable and in many cases needed, if only to give some vague understanding as to what violence somewhat is, even if it is presented with fanfare and exaggerations. In the kind of society that we live in, it's much better to have a splinter of an idea than not. At the same time, it's more of a responsibility on our shoulders as we have to move beyond that initial splinter and acquire some real information through education, etc., and we may not be able to.

Give or take, I'm sticking with keeping violent games around, warts and all.

No you are wrong

Video games usually even give a satirical version of what violence does

People Know it's fake and that its for fun but they are well aware that if you'd do something like that in real life nobody respawns anymore and you will die a swift death if you go rampaging like in Saints row

Games like Gears of war actually heightened this awareness by just cutting you out of the game once you died

You didn't understand one bit of what I wrote. It's cool. Thanks for taking your time and answering, though.

 

[fulano]

SNIP!

Therein lies what you didn't understand. You say they don't, I say they do; so much in fact that it's already been proven and taken into consideration for possible uses and applications (actual lifelike sims to prevent traffic accidents or realistic military sims). I believe your problem lies with the word warped itself.

Partaking in actions, albeit fictitious, fully knowing they are fantasy does not mean they do not affect us.

For example: combat drills geared towards focusing your mind by replicating field situations, the case of english soldiers watching that gross movie with The Scorpions' 'Winds of Change' playing in the background (look it up), med students opening cadavers, or gamers playing fictious simulated murders over and over again, etc. It would be irrational to say that those things do not warp your mind if ever so slightly. Kind of like saying that partaking in a simulation has no effect whatsoever just because you know it is not real.

Videogames no less simulators than any of those things I described before.

 

[Sevre]

Yeah she makes a good point. Not going to stop me from tearing through hordes of undead in video games but yeah this is nothing like real violence. Anyway, let natural selection sort it out, that's my saying.

 

[Pegghead]

So she writes and performs paper planes, a (great) song that glorifies gang violence and drug trade but oh no, the kiddies playing Halo is far worse than that. I smell an attention seeking scapegoat.

 

[BonsaiTreee]

"Unity holds no allure for Maya - she thrives on conflict, real or imagined. "I kind of want to be an outsider," she said, eating a truffle-flavored French fry."

http://tigerbeatdown.com/2010/06/07/m-i-a-is-a-fake-some-thoughts-on-gender-politics-and-truffle-oil/

great read on M.I.A.