My Thoughts And Opinions On: Do Video Games Make People More Violent (Part 3)
Statistics To The Rescue (Yet Again)
YouTubers
often offer great insight on various issues, and it's no exception with
this topic as well. I've watched Jim Sterling of the Jimquasition. He
examines and critiques the video game industry and put out a very
interesting video: "Blaming Games For Mass Shootings Is A Disgusting
Distraction (The Jimquisition)". I've been subscribed to his channel
for a few years now, and I'm supportive of his content. I know that many
get turned off by the shock-value that he normally includes in his
videos. Not for those easily offended. At the same time, he tackles
issues that most others shy away from and often incorporates a unique
insight that most others have. Also, I'm a sucker for shock-value.
This video echoes my sentiments. As noted in Jim Sterling's video,
he referenced several politicians that have called out video games. One
the first question that raced through my mind is: how much is the NRA
paying these politicians? A question that can actually be answered with
data collected courtesy of OpenSecrets (linked below).He suspects (as I
do) that most politicians know that video
games don't cause mass shootings. Yet, they will use them as a
convenient
scapegoat because they don't want to address the topic of gun violence.
Thus, video games is used as a distraction for people to forget that the
topic of gun violence.
Jim made a very insightful point: if video games did go away,
what would the politicians blame next when the shootings continue. It's
the ignorance that one embraces when thinking that removing one thing
from the equation will magically make the problem go away. Ignorance
that is shattered when the mass shootings continue and the issues of
political extremism and gun violence are ignored by those scratching
their heads in a dumbfound manner: I thought that removing video games
would stop the violence.
I decided to check out the IGN article that Jim Sterling
referenced. It is a very good article in its own right. It points out
that these games are played all over the world, but yet, these shootings
only really only happen in this country. Mass-shootings do occur in
other countries. However, they tend to be a statistical anomalies, and
not the mainstream as here in this country. If video games made people
prone to mass-shootings, then their would be mass-shootings all over the
world, but this isn't the case. The article references mental illness
as well. It's debated how much mental illness has on shootings. I can
easily see it as a contributing factor. With that mentioned, mental
illness is a global issue that isn't American-specific. If mental
illness was a contributing factor to violent behavior, then their would
be mass-shootings all over the world on a regular basis. This isn't the
case either. The IGN article is linked below.
One Direct Cause Of Mass Shootings: Violent Rhetoric
Phil DeFranco put out a very interesting video as well. I admit
that I'm not that familiar with his
content. The video was recommended though, and it looked interesting, so
I decided to check it out. I'm very glad I did. Many valid points are
brought up as those who blame video game soften ignored the direct
causes for many of these shootings.
The
language that
shooter used was very reminiscent to what Trump used in his speeches. I
has to be noted that the shooters manifesto that his views predated
Trump's rhetoric.
Violent political rhetoric was a thing long before Trump became
President. With that said though, if one presented the question of
whether Trump's rhetoric was responsible for the shooting, my answer
would be both yes and no simultaneously. Even if violent rhetoric was a
thing before Trump, he normalized it through empty claims without
providing evidence to support those claims. He also promoting absurd
conspiracy theories not rooted in reality. At
the start of the presidency, one could make the strong case that Trump
was much more of a symptom than a cause. However, the longer he stays
in office, the symptom turns into causation.
Even if
the shooter had a disdain for Trump though , he was able to operate
under a low
profile by administration that largely ignored white-supremacist.
Despite statistics showing that white-supremacy is a very massive
problem, it's ignored by a Administration believed that the only people
capable of
terrorism is Radical Muslims and Antifa. The actions of extremism itself
is the same, regardless of the group.
However, they haven't been treated equally. White-supremacy has been
largely ignored. Many see it as a valid political movement, despite the
contrary. This is also despite white-supremacist committing the vast
majority of the extremist crimes in thus country (78%) in the past 15
years (according to the ADL). Radical Islam accounted for 26% while
extreme leftist groups accounted for 3% of extremist crimes in this
country.
ESA, Failing Crime Rates, Immigration, And The Media
Shortly after the
shooting, the ESA (Electronic Software Association) published a
statement declaring that violence in the country have been failing since
video games have become prevalent in society. Violent crimes are at a
40-50 year low. Many years ago (I'm going to say 2005/2006), I was given
a topic to research in my sociology class. The topic that I picked was
video game and it's effect on society. I went though a lot of crimes
statistics during my research, and I discovered the same thing that many
of these studies have: crime rates have fallen significantly for
various reasons since the early 90's, especially youth crimes. These
findings, made around 2005/2006, still hold up today. With how prevalent
video games are, youth crimes specifically should have continued
skyrocketing since the 1990's. They haven't. If anything, youth crimes
have fallen to all-time lows. This would be reflected in crime
statistics.
Trump is still pushing for strong immigration reform. It's ironic that this issue is being used to promote strict immigration legislation in response to the shooting. This action implies that undocumented immigrants were responsible for the El Paso shooting because of their existence, and not because of the white-nationalist that was mowing down innocent people with a fully-loaded assault rifle.
As noted in DeFranco's video, Trump is using various scapegoats for the shooting over than the actual causes for the shooting. Main-Stream media is largely responsible as well in Trump's eye, with them spreading "fake news". Misinformation is a massive issue. At the same time, Trump operates on a different definition of fake news than most operate on. With most people, fake news means exactly that; news that's fabricated. With Trump, fake news is anything that cast him or his administration in a negative light, regardless of the validity of the information.
He is right that news has to be fair and unbiased. At the same time, his definition of fair and unbiased news is sources like TheBlaze, Fox News, and Brieitbart; sources that have a very biased political slant and not objective. TheBlaze and Brietbart in particular are known for passing off party propaganda as news that caters to the extreme light. They also have credibility issues as these sources have had a low accuracy scores due to them post fake news content on a regular basis. Unfortunately, many elevate these junk news outlets to sources that actually are objective or mostly objective, like the AP, NPR, or the BBC (I wanted to list USA Today, which is also mostly unbiased, as I really liked their print content, but their site has so many ads that my computer starts screaming in pain and goes as slow as molasses)
Trump is still pushing for strong immigration reform. It's ironic that this issue is being used to promote strict immigration legislation in response to the shooting. This action implies that undocumented immigrants were responsible for the El Paso shooting because of their existence, and not because of the white-nationalist that was mowing down innocent people with a fully-loaded assault rifle.
As noted in DeFranco's video, Trump is using various scapegoats for the shooting over than the actual causes for the shooting. Main-Stream media is largely responsible as well in Trump's eye, with them spreading "fake news". Misinformation is a massive issue. At the same time, Trump operates on a different definition of fake news than most operate on. With most people, fake news means exactly that; news that's fabricated. With Trump, fake news is anything that cast him or his administration in a negative light, regardless of the validity of the information.
He is right that news has to be fair and unbiased. At the same time, his definition of fair and unbiased news is sources like TheBlaze, Fox News, and Brieitbart; sources that have a very biased political slant and not objective. TheBlaze and Brietbart in particular are known for passing off party propaganda as news that caters to the extreme light. They also have credibility issues as these sources have had a low accuracy scores due to them post fake news content on a regular basis. Unfortunately, many elevate these junk news outlets to sources that actually are objective or mostly objective, like the AP, NPR, or the BBC (I wanted to list USA Today, which is also mostly unbiased, as I really liked their print content, but their site has so many ads that my computer starts screaming in pain and goes as slow as molasses)
Whataboutism
DeFranco's video referenced Senator McCollister of Iowa. I think this tidbit is
interesting because it reflects the attitudes of some showing
Whataboutism memes. His twitter posted stated "I of course am not
suggesting that all Republicans are white supremacist nor am I saying
that the average Republican is even racist". I've echoed sentiments like
this exactly. At the same time, I've seen Whataboutisms posted on
Facebook from those that felt that their "white-hood" (for a lack of a
better phrase) was threaten. This meme showing non-white shooters have
been flooding on my feed.
The vast
majority of politicians have condemned white-nationalism, and rightfully
so. White-nationalism, embraced by the shooter
is a horrible form of extremism that inspired the El Paso shooting.
While noting that white-extremism is dangerous, that's not a condemnation against white people in general. However, many see it as such. After the shootings at ChristChurch, New Zealand, I saw a meme that declared that "I'm not going to apologize because I'm white". My thoughts were as follow:
While noting that white-extremism is dangerous, that's not a condemnation against white people in general. However, many see it as such. After the shootings at ChristChurch, New Zealand, I saw a meme that declared that "I'm not going to apologize because I'm white". My thoughts were as follow:
a:Nobody is asking you to apologize for your skin color
b: Nobody is condemning you because your white (thus making the meme moot on arrival)
c: Attacking white nationalism/white-supremacy is not attacking race in general
d: Extremism is extremism, regardless of the group, so show sympathy and support for those killed instead of wasting time by keep "scores".
d:The very fact that one felt that this needed to be highlighted, instead of praying, showing sympathy, or highlighting the pain for those killed or suffered in the shooting means that their is a guilt factor involved (otherwise, why post the meme in question when their is no reason too?)
which then lead to the final thought:
e: stop being self-righteous
Another example of this was the meme that showed mugshots of non-white shooters. My main issue with this meme is that it's implying that white-extremism isn't a issue (when it is and I have statistics that can back up that argument) and it serves as a distraction for those that don't want to acknowledge white-extremism as a legitimate issue (even though it is).
What memes like these do is to serve as a distraction to the issue by trivializing it, implying that addressing white-supremacy is the same equivalent as condemning white people in general, which isn't the case, but yet widely perceived by many. What I find sad is that many who post these memes I know in real life and their nice people, but instead of seeing this as a cause to unite, they nit-pick at unimportant particulars that they feel threatened by, thus a opportunity to unite behind a cause is lost due to pointless finger pointing which looses the point of the narrative in general. Whataboutism are pointless distractions.
c: Attacking white nationalism/white-supremacy is not attacking race in general
d: Extremism is extremism, regardless of the group, so show sympathy and support for those killed instead of wasting time by keep "scores".
d:The very fact that one felt that this needed to be highlighted, instead of praying, showing sympathy, or highlighting the pain for those killed or suffered in the shooting means that their is a guilt factor involved (otherwise, why post the meme in question when their is no reason too?)
which then lead to the final thought:
e: stop being self-righteous
Another example of this was the meme that showed mugshots of non-white shooters. My main issue with this meme is that it's implying that white-extremism isn't a issue (when it is and I have statistics that can back up that argument) and it serves as a distraction for those that don't want to acknowledge white-extremism as a legitimate issue (even though it is).
What memes like these do is to serve as a distraction to the issue by trivializing it, implying that addressing white-supremacy is the same equivalent as condemning white people in general, which isn't the case, but yet widely perceived by many. What I find sad is that many who post these memes I know in real life and their nice people, but instead of seeing this as a cause to unite, they nit-pick at unimportant particulars that they feel threatened by, thus a opportunity to unite behind a cause is lost due to pointless finger pointing which looses the point of the narrative in general. Whataboutism are pointless distractions.
Even if the Republican Party at large
rejects racism, it's largely been a enabler to Trump's empty rhetoric.
Articles Of Interest
Violent video games and real-world violence: Rhetoric versus data. (APA PsycNet) : https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-33466-001
Violent Video Games and Real-World Violence: Rhetoric Versus Data (Psychology of Popular Media Culture) : https://nature.berkeley.edu/garbelottoat/wp-content/uploads/marky-etal-2014.pdf
El Paso shooting: Has US neglected fight against white extremism?
BBC
WWW.BBC.COM
A 'Fox & Friends' host said it's 'a fact' that
America is experiencing a Hispanic invasion, directly
echoing the El Paso shooter's manifesto
Business Insider
WWW.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM
Tucker Carlson Claims There’s No White Supremacy Problem: ‘This Is A Hoax’
Fox News host says “it’s actually not a real problem in America.”
HUFFPOST
WWW.HUFFPOST.COM
The Blaze
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
Breitbart
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
Fox News
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
Associated Press
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
NPR
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
BBC
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
USA Today
Media Bias Fact Check
WWW.MEDIABIASFACTCHECK.COM
Despite Trump remarks on El Paso and Dayton, it's a weak link between
video games, mass shootings
POLITIFACT
WWW.POLITIFACT.COM
ADL Report: White Supremacist Murders More Than Doubled in 2017
New York, NY, January 17, 2018… The number of white supremacist murders
in the United States more than doubled in 2017 compared to the previous year,
far surpassing murders committed by domestic Islamic extremists and making 2017
the fifth deadliest year on record for extremist violence since 1970.
WWW.ADL.ORG
Homicide Rates Among Persons Aged 10–24 Years — United States, 1981–2010
CDC
WWW.CDC.GOV
The Rise and Fall of American Youth Violence (PDF)
Urban Institute
WWW.URBAN.ORG
Every Country Has Video Games, Only One Has A Mass Shooter Problem
IGN
WWW.IGN.COM
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