Children being exposed to Violent Media....

My view on it is people like blaming anyone, or anything, else for their own actions, and violent movies and video games offer the perfect scapegoat because they are accusing an industry, not an individual, and therefore there's no real way to verify or discredit their claims

Parents are the quickest to blame violent media in my opinion, because when their kids mess up or do something wrong then it's not their failure as a parent that contributed to their behavior, it's the fault of a faceless corporation

I enjoy violent video games and films and always have, I've also always enjoyed well made family films and video games like mario and tetris. I'm not a violent person, and simply watching a movie or playing game isn't going to change anyone who wasn't messed up to begin with. And if all it takes to trigger a violent episode in someone is a movie or game, than it was only a matter of time before something that wasn't make-believe had a similar effect

That's just my opinion, of course

That's an interesting angle to take to it. Parents do shoulder some blame in this. I mean, computer games and movies do come with ratings such as 18+. So, why then would a parent buy them for their kid who is under 18? Perhaps this problem is more to do with poor parenting than anything else.

Growing up playing/watching violence cannot be good for a child's development.

Adam_Maple wrote:I read an article a couple of days a go, and it suggested that children who are exposed to violent media then become violent themselves. I found this a little a disconcerning, could it really be true???

I realize that many people may not agree with me on this (as if I could really care less) but yes I think showing violent media to children, under certain circumstances, can influence violent behavior later.

I was reaised in a deeply religious home where violence was strongly taught against. Therefore even when I saw violent movies It didn't make me violent.

HOWEVER, a child not taught against violence properly (i.e. a child whose parents "don't have time" to instill proper morals) may see these violent acts on movies, Tv shows, and news media and it may desensitize them to violence or perhpas even make them think it is acceptable. Combine this with violence seen at school and childhood abuse and its very possible the child will turn into a bully, join a gang, or even become a serial killer.

Its all how you teach a child and that will influence their behavior toward violence.

I agree with you Billbob. I think that the biggest mistake people make is in thinking that babies are born 'nice' - They aren't. Children are born with no knowledge of the world at all. It is our duty to teach them how to live a good life and how to treat fellow humans with respect. If a child is raised surrounded by violence of any form, then I am certain that this can induce violent behaviour.

It is different if a person has already grown-up and then begins watching violence because they have already learned how to live a good life and are relatively 'immune' to the violence.

If there were no violent videogames or movies, I am certain that the world would be a better place.

Kevin.

I think you raise a good point billbob, my parents are deeply religious as well and also taught me since I was old enough to walk not to be violent. I'll concede that violent media can affect a young person who hasn't had parents who taught them proper morals because they lack the lens through which to view the violence, and young kids shouldn't be allowed by their parents to view anything too violent to begin with. Part of parenting is shielding your kids from certain parts of the world until they're old enough to handle it. My parents never let me see movies or play games they considered too violent when I was young, but it changed as I got older

The reason I disregard the vast majority of these claims by kids who commit crimes inspired by movies or video games is that they're usually far too old to not be responsible for their actions, and are just using it because they know the media will jump on the story as soon as they cry "video games made me do it." I just read the other day about some kid who, if I remember correctly (i searched for the story to post a link but couldn't) committed a robbery and blamed Grand Theft Auto or some game like it, and he was like 17. By that age you're able to distinguish between fantasy and reality, and while it may have an influence at a young age without proper guidance from elders, it doesn't alleviate personal responsibility as far as I'm concerned

I'm already dreading the amount of controversy that's going to surround the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. I don't even like those games much...if a game's going to cause controversy it might as well be fun!

Ah yes, Grand Theft Auto IV. I'm a big fan of the series and own every game so far, but I won't be buying this one. Since Vice City, the quality of the game has diminished. It is scary tough, just how anticipated this new version of the game is. They have literally been talking about it on a forum that I know since GTA San Andreas was released!

Do you remember Manhunt? I think it was the first game to be actually banned in certain countries.

Kevin.

Manhunt II was released a while ago, it was banned in England, they had to clean up the game a bit before they would even allow it to be sold to anyone under the age of 50. Then even after they cleaned it up it was still a battle to get it un-banned

I played the game most of the way through, it was an extremely violent game (and playing it on the wii added an extra level of immersion, because you actually had to move your hands in the motion of swinging a crowbar or a stabbing motion to kill someone). I I can easily see why someone would be offended by the game, it was rather tasteless, but I don't think it gives a government the right to ban it. There's already a rating system, and the reasons for the rating are given on the box, and it will say "extreme gore/graphic violence" (i think that's it, or something very similar)

The only measure I'd support would be if the industry cracked down on retailers who sold games to kids who weren't old enough to buy them, especially for a game like Manhunt which no one under the age of 17 should ever play, although I'm not so sure how much I like the government getting involved, the ESRB is already pretty involved.

But there are R rated films much worse than any video game. You couldn't pay me to see "Hostel"

I've always wondered why games shops get away with selling games to people who are underage. There must not be any ways of enforcing the laws that are in place, I guess.

What is Hostel about? The most gruesome movie that I have ever seen was called Braindead. However, it was so gruesome that it bordered into comedy.

DownAnd0ut wrote:But there are R rated films much worse than any video game. You couldn't pay me to see "Hostel"

With films one is passive, whereas with video games one is actively aggressive.

Hostel was about some tourists in eastern europe who get kidnapped and a good deal of the movie was showing them being tortured for the fun of it. I learned enough about the movie to know it's extremely gruesome and beyond gratuitous. I found the entire premise just a little disturbing

At least in Manhunt the people being killed were evil...and games are much less realistic than films, because they're computer generated images and really don't look like real life at all, even the very best graphics out there in games like Crysis (which isn't a graphic game as far as I know) it's easy to tell it's completely fake