Postby Jason Toddman » Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:46 pm
Videogames are an obvious target because the player gets to kill fake people (and/or animals, monsters, demons, evil aliens, and anything else that moves) in droves with NO legal repercussions. However, to blame videogames is overly simplistic, since movies and television have glorified violence for decades (even in cartoons - those Bugs Bunny cartoons are often pretty violent you know!), and certain radio programs and books have done so longer than that. Even before you had any of these though, you had Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, Peter Kurten (aka the 'vampire of Dusseldorf), Billy the Kid (and a literal army of other 'bad men' in the Old West), Blackbeard (and a literal navy or other pirates), Bluebeard (a wife murderer, not a pirate), Torquemada, the Marquis de Sade, Vlad the Impaler (inspiration for Count Dracula), and a whole bunch of others... none of whom had ever even heard of a videogame!
Videogames are imo a therapeutic way for people to relieve aggressive feelings harmlessly. People who become more aggressive rather than less playing videogames or watching movies more likely had serious mental health / anti-social issues to begin with, like that bastard who shot up several firemen and policemen after burning down his house and setting fire to his whole neighborhood before killing himself. If HE was into videogames, I've yet to hear of it... but of course no one notices THAT!
I myself have killed God knows how many people in videogames like Fallout 3 and Skyrim, but I've never so much as struck a person unless they hit me first! I'm willing to bet most others who play videogames have no greater tendencies to violence either. Aggression stems from within, not from videogames!
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