It’s a dark day when I can’t even momentarily peruse the headlines of my favorite science geek newsletter from physorg.com to escape the overwhelmingly putrid joke that American politics has become.
In between articles on super-hard nanomaterials and news that the Cassini probe has confirmed the old Voyager sighting of radial, spoke-like structures in the rings of Saturn, there’s all this other stuff under the heading of “Technology” that more often than not consists of nothing having to do with engineering or technological advancements and everything to do with business news or politics that somehow involves the so-called “Tech Industry”.
That is how I found a thinly disguised press release masquerading as a news story called, “California game restrictions defended“.
For those who may not be aware, legislation known as AB 1179 recently passed in California restricting sales of video games deemed violent. It awaits the signature of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In response to rumors that Schwarzenegger might be of a mind to veto it, he’s getting pressure to sign it from as far afield as the Governor of Illinois, who recently signed similar legislation in that poor state. As part of that pressure campaign, we’re seeing stuff like this press release that didn’t have the serial numbers filed off particularly well emanating from an outfit called Common Sense Media.
You see, the game industry and gamers are, rightly so, howling that this nonsense is unconstitutional. Big yawn there. The Constitution hasn’t been taken seriously by anybody in power for longer than I’ve been alive. But lest harm come to the illusion that constitutional restrictions on government power are effective, we are treated to metaphorical prostitutes with a keyboard like Jim Steyer telling us that blatantly unconstitutional legislation, well, isn’t.
“This bill (AB 1179) is not about censorship or First Amendment issues at all,” Jim Steyer of Common Sense Media said in a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “Rather, it is about protecting children.”
Yeah, and 2+2=5.
We’ve seen this sort of thing before, you know. By way of example, I have my problems with Microsoft — but those are problems for which I also have a handy solution. It was, however, a sad sight to see perhaps the most prominent company that was getting away with making very few political contributions suddenly develop problems with the Justice Department in the 90’s, and then suddenly start making contributions, and then the Justice Department problems sort of gradually faded away.
There’s no moral crusade going on here except in the minds of the gullible. It’s ironic as hell that games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are part of this controversy, because what really seems to be going on is that the gaming industry is getting a nine shoved up their left nostril and being told: “Yo! This is a jack, bitch!”
This is how the corporate state and its allied political class bring renegade business interests to heel. You know — making sure everybody is playing on the same team. I strongly suspect that’s why the Board of Directors of Common Sense Media includes two former FCC chairmen and has ties to The Carlyle Group, Proctor & Gamble, Charles Schwab and Goldman Sachs. These people appear to be far more than just concerned citizens.
Some may think I’m being to hasty in saying that’s what might be going on. I believe, though, that whenever so much misinformation on a topic is bandied about on a professional basis, someone is looking to make their nut.
An example, from the “news story” mentioned above:
“Legal scholars also agreed that the potentially harmful effects of graphic violence on young minds and emotions were compelling reasons for the state to step in and look after their welfare.”
Well, legal scholars, being basically lawyers, can and do say the damnedest things. Let’s look at facts, though. One person who has put a few facts together is one of the persecuted himself, Duke Ferris — game software developer. In the article “The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games” from circa 2002, Duke lays a stunning revelation on us.
First off, I have absolute proof that video games are not the cause of this epidemic of youth violence in America. No, really, I do. Ready?
There is no epidemic of youth violence in America.
The whole concept is a lie manufactured, distributed and perpetuated by the media. Kids are not killing each other more frequently than they used to. In fact, it turns out the opposite is true.
Check out that ugly graph on the right. It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that violent crime is at the lowest it has been in a good thirty years. For effect, I’ve also marked the release of the Playstation console, the first Grand Theft Auto game, the PS2 console, and the infamous GTA 3. Wow, look at those surges in violence!
Duke continues, making sure the data is adjusted for age:
I found the data sorted by age, and it turns out that through 2002, youth homicide actually dropped across the board, the only increase being among adults. If I may quote directly from the D.O.J. report, “Recently, the offending rates for 14-17 year-olds reached the lowest levels ever recorded.”
The lowest levels ever recorded. In other words, the Playstation era has, in fact, produced the most non-violent kids ever.
…and concludes:
The truth is that these are the most non-violent kids we have ever had, and they all own Playstations. The government is so desperate to find some youth crime to crack down on that they’re strip-searching kids for 10 bucks while locking up 11 year-old girls for throwing rocks and eating french fries. The most peaceful generation of Americans in recorded history is being shoved through metal detectors, having their civil rights violated on a daily basis, are the victims of unreasonable search and seizure, and are treated with constant suspicion.
All because of a media lie. If nothing else can incite them to violence, maybe that will.
Thoughtful words, indeed.
The jihad against video games kicked into high gear after the Columbine massacre in 1999. It is, then, particularly appropriate to hear what Brooks Brown, the kid who unsuccessfully tried to warn police about Eric Harris (and was essentially ignored by them) has to say on the topic of violent video games.
I’ve spent the last 6 years of my life trying to figure out why my friends brutally murdered other friends of mine and kids at school. In this process, i’ve gone through many personal changes - some good, many bad - and i’ve also gone down many avenues of thought. One of those avenues is pop culture. Granted, i was sure videogames and movies wouldn’t be a causal factor in why kids do what they do - I play violent videogames all the time, i love violent music, and i love violent movies. And i’m a taoist. I’m a pacifist. It just didn’t seem possible to me. But, i knew i had to figure it out - so i began my journey of learning exactly how videogames do effect you, and how violent imagery has an effect on the human mind.
The first thing i did was look at my favorite violent games. Although the list has changed over time, my personal favorites are the Hitman Series, Postal 2, and naturally GTA. Each of these games depicts incredibly violent acts - from using a meathook to kill a man to taking over a town to using a cat as a silencer for your shotgun. All these moments gave me enjoyment, whether it be a cheap laugh or one of those great ‘fuck yeah’ moments (you know what i mean).
Brown continued making his point:
…I realized that nobody was looking at these games right, not even me. Hitman isn’t a game about going in balls-to-the-wall. It’s about figuring out how to do things. It is, by nature, not a shooter, but a puzzle game. GTA isn’t about fucking hookers or killing cops. It’s a story of a guy who got screwed trying to get back on top. It is, by nature, a story game. Postal 2 may let you kill anyone you want in bloody and disgusting ways - but that’s not what it is about either. It is, by nature, a tech demo in the abilities of programmers and AI.
It is WE - the gamers - who change what the game is about and determine what happens. It is the person playing who determines what the game contains.
So i went to friends houses, to game stores, and i talked to people. Even went on a few message boards. And aside from a few shitheads who claimed they play GTA only to fuck hookers and kill cops, the vast majority of people are like me. The novelty of that new experience wore off - instead, we play these games now, trying to play them perfectly. Whether that means finding every square inch of land in san andreas, or getting a perfect assassin rating on Hitman - the things in these games that are violent are only a secondary thing. i no longer turn on GTA to randomly kill and nobody turns it on anymore to fuck hookers. I turn it on now to race around, find minigames, and that type of thing.
…and concludes:
Columbine was not caused by violent videogames. Eric and Dylan (the shooters) were drawn to violent videogames because they were violent, fucked up kids. I am drawn to these violen games becaue they offer more freedom. And, it may sound naive, but i believe the vast majority of gamers play these games for the same reason as me. Do you?
Glen Reynolds also weighed in on the topic with a piece titled “Porn and Violence: Good for America’s Children?“.
When teen crime and pregnancy rates were going up, people looked at things that were going on — including increased availability of porn and violent imagery — and concluded that there might be something to that correlation. It turned out that there wasn’t. Porn and Duke Nukem took over the land, and yet teenagers became more responsible and less violent.
Maybe the porn, and the videogames, provided catharsis, serving as substitutes for the real thing. Maybe. And maybe there’s no connection at all. (Or maybe it’s a different one — research indicates that teenagers, though safer and healthier, are also fatter — so perhaps the other improvements are the result of teens sitting around looking at porn and videogames until they’re too out-of-shape and unattractive for the real thing…) Most likely, the lesson is that — once again — correlation isn’t causation, despite policy entrepreneurs’ efforts to claim otherwise.
But regardless, the fears of the doomsayers were proven wrong. People can continue to claim that psychological research suggests that videogames lead to violence and that porn leads to promiscuity, but in the real world the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. That’s an argument against regulating videogames — and it’s an argument for taking other claims of impending social doom with a grain of salt.
So, there you have it. All the hype about violent videogames is plainly false. We can succumb to lies and perpetuate the parasitism of the elite, or we can try to collectively muster up enough self-respect to yell “BULLSHIT”!
This is what governments DO. They prevent genuine institutions of law from emerging by monopolizing law and using it as a cover for a giant extortion racket. There is an alternative.
Tags: Cultural Notes, Politics by Brad Spangler
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