Posted on 04/23/2007 5:59:57 AM PDT by presidio9
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Sunday blamed the "situation ethics" of 40 years of liberalism for an increasingly vulgar and violent U.S. society. Gingrich said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that children are becoming dehumanized by years of playing violent video games, and that liberalism "has created a situation ethics, essentially, zone of not being willing to talk about any of these things."
He also blamed unfettered free speech for making it "impossible to restrict vulgar and vicious and anti-human speech and I would argue that's a major component of what's happened to our culture the last 40 years."
Gingrich said he thought the carnage at Virginia Tech last week would have been less severe if citizens were armed.
"I would just suggest to you that the professor who gave his life to save a class, who himself was a holocaust survivor, had he been in a position to stop this deranged person, would have saved an awful lot of lives, including his own," Gingrich said.
He compared checking gun-buyers for mental illness to keeping tabs on sexual predators.
I too watched the Stooges religiously, but new that if I ran a saw over my brothers’ head, it wouldn’t just bust up the saw. I watched this stuff but didn’t go practice it. These video games have kids PRACTICING violent acts daily.
The man is dead on correct. He is the best thinker in American politics.
Your voice is the one to be suppressed.
Are you going to try and tell me that murderous rampages by young shooters isn't a new occurence? If someone in school hurts your feelings, get a gun and blow them away. That's not desensitised? Our society has become "It's all about ME" and "I have a RIGHT to get even". People no longer respect one another and empathy is a thing of the past.
Conversely, if violent video games do indeed cause violence, then why was there more blood shed in the years before violent video games became mainstream (the late 1980s) than after?
What?! Violent video games don't neccesarily cause violence. They cause people to become immune to the impact. Look at 9/11. Already people are moving on. The impact of Dec 7th was much greater because people weren't bombarded by violence in games, TV and movies. Dec 7th was shocking. People still spoke of it with horror when I was a kid in the 50's. 9/11 was only shocking for a little while.
“Many more violent crimes would be avoided if scumbags who should be in prison were kept in prison.”
In California, our prisons are packed with scum. We need stiffer penalties.
You kill, you die. You sell drugs, you die. You steal, you lose a finger. Do it again, you die. You use drugs, you spend the rest of your life, rehabbing others, including the insane. You beat someone up, you receive the same treatment, tenfold.
As long as people only have to worry about whether they go to prison or not, they will continue their careers. Show them REAL justice, maybe they will think twice.
Not only situational ethics, but an outright war waged against morality.
Btw, spend a lot of time playing video games, do ya?
As a matter of fact, I do. The GTA series is one of my personal favorites.
It's not violent video games. It's the lack of strong fathers. It's the prevalence of Sin and the way it messes things up. It's many things but it's not "violent video games"....that's just another of those 1990's "Gelded Age" cliche's like the "militias" or "radical right wing extremists".
Solution, Newt?
situation ethics
vulgar
Why? You ARE what you see and hear. It does affect people. If that wasn't true, commercials would be useless.
I agree, and I SURE as hell don't ever want to become a Newt, so the less I see and hear of him and his Future Schlock the better. Now, back to Space Invaders. I'm almost up to level 4.
You are throwing up a straw man. I never said anything about people being desensitized to violence. I am simply attacking the premise that violent video games cause people to become violent.
Actually, 21st century video game manufacturers travelled back to the middle ages and instigated all that stuff JUST so they would have a premise for their games. It was diabolical, I tell you! (And it's documented on page 987 of Future Schlock, I think).
Newt Gingrich is an idiot. Nobody would even be discussing him, were it not for James Dobson’s support following Newt phony “repentance” on Dobson’s radio show. Remember when he teamed up with Hillary on healthcare? How about “agreeing” with Kerry on human-causation for global warming? That was only two weeks ago. When will Conservatives shun this vile creep once and for all?
Read what he said. that children are becoming dehumanized by years of playing violent video games, That's what I said.
You're upset because you see him as attacking something you enjoy. You're also not 10 years old.
The left?? Hell, all they have to do is wait for him to open his mouth. Video games, my ass.
I dont think that's something you need to worry about.
I am also upset because most of the responses to the idea that violent video games are evil is to simply ban these games, instead of going after the parents who fail to instill into their children proper moral values.
Some conservatives are personality cultists.
Thank God for that.
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