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View Full Version : Video games, media and violence



nealrm
10-30-2012, 01:43 PM
We had an instance here where a couple of thugs stole a area and ending up driving it into a group of jogger. Luckily no one was severely hurt. During the drive one of the occupants was recording the event and a quote can be heard stating "this is just like a video game".

Has the violence and realism reached a point in video games and media that segments of the population are being actively desensitized to violence? I watched the new Adams family on TV. Maybe it was because I remember the original Adams family, but the remake was gory to the point of being unfit for family viewing.

fayt
10-30-2012, 01:58 PM
People blame video games for everything that happens in the world, it needs to stop. A stupid person playing a video game was a stupid person to begin with.

nealrm
10-30-2012, 02:19 PM
People blame video games for everything that happens in the world, it needs to stop. A stupid person playing a video game was a stupid person to begin with.
The effects of playing violent, realistic video games and watching realistic violent acts is a legitimate question that should be asked. While blaming a video game for them stealing a car, maybe far fetch. Did the playing a violent realistic video desensitize them to the suffering they would cause driving into a group of jogger. It clearly had some type of effect based on their own comments.

huggytree
10-30-2012, 07:17 PM
my dad used to play sniper with his friends in the early 1940's...they'd shoot each other with bb guns....
they would shoot out their house windows or hide in bushes and attack each other

they had the 3 stooges....which is horribly violent....yea its slap stick, but if your kids immitate any of it they will kill each other

id look more into how society coddles kids to the point where they feel they can get away with anything....

i own a couple of horribly violent games and enjoy them.....i wouldnt let my kids play them....i can see your point that the games do go too far

too bad the jogger didnt have a concealed carry license and could see it coming soon enough...maybe the situation would be different and the bad guys would be dead instead

Harold Mansfield
10-30-2012, 09:57 PM
Are we desensitized to violence more than ever? Yeah. We really are. Between 24/7 news, reality and "Caught on tape" shows, Detective Dramas, and 200 channels of pretty much anything else you want. And if that's not enough you can stream an "R" rated, gory slasher, kill everyone movie instantly...and they never run out. And I haven't even mentioned the internet yet.

It's a far cry from 3 TV stations that went off after the late movie. Or the excitement of a Pong or hand held Coleco Vision chasing dots across a 4" football field.

I used to play violent video games almost exclusively. First person shooters were my thing. Hitman, Max Payne, Grand Theft Auto, Medal Of Honor (love war games), Resident Evil ...if you could blow stuff up or kill people, enemy soldiers or zombies, I played it. In 7.1 surround sound.

So yeah, I'm a little desensitized, but I still flinch when I see a head shot on NCIS, or an autopsy on CSI or Bones.

But that's video and fantasy. Real violence still scares the crap out of people and makes them wet their pants and panic. I don't think we are so far gone that we can't tell the difference. If your mind lets you confuse the 2, then you were wacked to begin with.

Violent entertainment is not the cause of kids being idiots. Idiot parents, crappy communities, bad education, lack of guidance, role models, economics and enviroment are the cause of kids being idiots. But good parenting can overcome all of that.

nealrm
10-30-2012, 11:31 PM
I not sure if violent games or TV are the cause, but I do wonder about how much it really effect us. Are those that are already prone towards violent behavior moved towards more extreme behavior? Is it restricted to those already prone or is everyone moved to some degree toward more aggressive behavior. Are we more willing to believe that we needs guns to protect us, more willing to lash out at another person that makes a mistake or more likely to believe that danger luck around every corner? We can tell the difference when we are sitting at our computer, but what happens when reactions are guided by instinct or emotion? How much has our baseline for measuring violence shifted over the years.

fayt
10-31-2012, 07:52 AM
But that's video and fantasy. Real violence still scares the crap out of people and makes them wet their pants and panic. I don't think we are so far gone that we can't tell the difference. If your mind lets you confuse the 2, then you were wacked to begin with.

Violent entertainment is not the cause of kids being idiots. Idiot parents, crappy communities, bad education, lack of guidance, role models, economics and enviroment are the cause of kids being idiots. But good parenting can overcome all of that.

I agree and that is exactly the reason. Such as when people blame the schools when they should be blaming the parents.

KristineS
10-31-2012, 12:37 PM
I also think people are getting dumber and their ability to broadcast their violent acts is getting greater. One of the consequences of social media is that we now get to see crimes being committed that we otherwise wouldn't have seen in the past. People videotape a beating and post it on YouTube or post pictures on Facebook or whatever social media platform they choose to use, as though they don't get that there are consequences to actions like these. It's entirely possibly that the same level of violence was happening in the past, we just didn't know about it because there wasn't a mechanism available to transmit the information. In the past, a bad kid in your neighborhood was known in the neighborhood, but not the next town over. Now, some idiot posts some pictures to Facebook of some stupid, violent act they committed and everyone knows about it.

Harold Mansfield
10-31-2012, 12:51 PM
The violence in the past was worse. If we had video of all of the slaughters, lynchings, beat downs, domestic violence killings and the old west alone, we'd throw up. Sure we get a guy in a movie theater or mall and that makes national news, but that used to happen everyday because of a poker game. No pictures. Posse's of regular citizens used to hunt people down. We called women witches and burned them for pete's sake. We used to be barbaric. Now we're just crazy and paranoid.

Not to mention WWI and WWII. Those were horrible carnages that took millions of lives. Mustard gas alone in WWI was a horrible death.

So you are correct, it's always been this way and worse. We just have more pictures now. Before you had to read about it days later, if it was covered at all.

billbenson
10-31-2012, 01:13 PM
I also think people are getting dumber and their ability to broadcast their violent acts is getting greater. One of the consequences of social media is that we now get to see crimes being committed that we otherwise wouldn't have seen in the past. People videotape a beating and post it on YouTube or post pictures on Facebook or whatever social media platform they choose to use, as though they don't get that there are consequences to actions like these. It's entirely possibly that the same level of violence was happening in the past, we just didn't know about it because there wasn't a mechanism available to transmit the information. In the past, a bad kid in your neighborhood was known in the neighborhood, but not the next town over. Now, some idiot posts some pictures to Facebook of some stupid, violent act they committed and everyone knows about it.

I would submit that the postings on youtube decrease the level or at least the manner violence occurs. A lot of criminals have been caught or convicted because of youtube videos.

Harold Mansfield
10-31-2012, 02:21 PM
A lot of media people say that the televised coverage of the Vietnam war was the turning point. It was the first time Americans saw violence and death up close. Until then war was glorified. Film edited. Even in the movies fake blood splashed on a shower curtain was considered gore.

billbenson
10-31-2012, 02:39 PM
I tend to put it back on parents, education, and environment as well. I take several martial arts. We teach a lot of kids classes. My 89 y/o mother has never approved of my involvement in martial because she doesn't approve of the violence. Sorry mom!

The creed, at least at the school I'm in is walk away from any type of confrontation that you can. The kids are pretty much taught how to kick, punch, and block. They are also taught kata's (forms) which are choreographed movements of a fight or attack. The forms contain some very lethal movements, but what that movement is actually doing is taught until they are adult black belts.

You would think learning how to punch etc would make kids more aggressive. I've seen just the opposite. The other day one kid interfered in a bullying incident protecting the kid being bullied. The classes are also a very structured environment where no talking or acting out is tolerated. This could potentially make up for a lack of discipline at home.

As a footnote, we have a student that was from a very bad environment. Poor, lived in a very bad part of town, dad was a bad alcoholic. He rode his bike 10 miles each way to the dojo (school) since he was 11. He's now 17 and a second degree adult black belt. He worked in the dojo for his tuition. In his free time he would practice at the dojo or in his back yard for at least 4 hours a day 7 days a week. It kept him away from the gang activity that was common where he lived. I'm sure without karate he would be in jail.

For anyone considering this for their kid, research the school and instructor heavily. Watch some classes. There are good schools and instructors and there are bad ones.

I know this is a little off track of the thread, but...

nealrm
10-31-2012, 03:12 PM
I don't think that martial art training is the same as violent media and video. Part of it is the discipline that goes along with the training. Part is that you see the results of the actions, not only when you do it to others but when it is done to you. There is a difference between doing a kick in the game and getting a reward for that action. Training to do a kick where you feel the impact, see the results and have other preforming the kick on you is different.


A lot of media people say that the televised coverage of the Vietnam war was the turning point. It was the first time Americans saw violence and death up close. Until then war was glorified. Film edited. Even in the movies fake blood splashed on a shower curtain was considered gore. Interesting point. War was glorified in the media (books, films, stories...). So people were conditioned to think of war as glorious, honorable... Now video games are showing violence as a means to accomplished a goal or getting a reward. Isn't this just conditioning of a different sort???

billbenson
10-31-2012, 05:09 PM
I don't think that martial art training is the same as violent media and video. Part of it is the discipline that goes along with the training. Part is that you see the results of the actions, not only when you do it to others but when it is done to you. There is a difference between doing a kick in the game and getting a reward for that action. Training to do a kick where you feel the impact, see the results and have other preforming the kick on you is different.


I tend to agree with you Neal, with the exception that when someone gets punched in a video game, the kid may know what a punch really feels like. It might make him less likely to duplicate it in his personal life.

Same is true for movie violence. He may have a better concept that fights just don't work like that. It's been a long time since I've seen a realistically choreographed fight scene in a movie.