Posted on 05/08/2008 11:45:55 AM PDT by AreaMan
I think not, as well. But you can choose to not partake even of things that are legal.
Again, I'll point to Ephesians 4 as a good read if you want a guide to whether to partake of something.
The parents of the children who are influenced by things such as GTA should be good parents and teach their children to be selective of what they partake in.
This whole mess perpetually comes full-circle back to the parents' responsibilities to their children every time...
I find it amusing that you smugly claim I'm adopting liberal tactics, when of course, it is the liberals who are in power throughout the west that you agree with. You see, unlike many arguments, this is one we shall know the answer to, because those who believe as you do are remaking society as we speak. So wait a few decades, and see how confident you are in your assertions. I suspect even you will begin to see evidence.
Deck chair. Titanic. Enjoy.
Deck chair. Titanic. Enjoy.
Frederic Wertham, 1954.
He was wrong. The Elizabethan critics of the theatres were wrong then, too. There's your "wait a few decades."
I don’t intend to defend anyone like Frederic Wertham. But tell me, is the society of today healthier than that of 1954. Tell me, I would like to know?
Here’s what you asked:
Should one feel embarrased about watching TV? reading fiction? playing board games?
The answer is that there is a difference between watching t.v. and playing video games and reading books and playing board games. Yes. Do you think this kid is more likely to have been reading Harry Potter and playing board games with his friends for free time, or playing Grand Theft Auto and watching t.v.?
Boy, 7, Says He Stole SUV To Do “Hood Rat Stuff” (Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009175/posts
If you think playing video games is a good way to spend your time, that’s your personal decision. But let’s not pretend that it is on par with reading a book or even playing a board game with other people.
This is one video game I didn't let my son play. The theme of mugging people and stealing their vehicle to win the game just didn't go over well with me. There are plenty of other race games for him to play.
after quake1 ctf, there is no other game!
In a timely coincidence, another thread is exploring the alleged social horror of COMIC BOOKS in the early/mid 1900s: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013465/posts
Same basic arguments: “Society-destroying crud!” vs. “Harmless entertainment!”, comparable content, different medium.
Somehow I don’t think GTA was much of an influence on him beyond maybe his ultimate choice of terminology & crimes. Most likely he was well on his way to being a hoodlum anyway, and unlikely to have been saved by Harry Potter and Parchisi.
Wanton thuggery has been a popular path for teens for the whole of human existence. There has always been some kind of objectionable content, transferred by some medium, which such delinquents marginally molded their delinquencies to.
You did avoid my last question, rhetorically worded to answer your premise “let’s not pretend that it is on par with reading a book or even playing a board game with other people”. There are plenty of trashy/horrific books which have inspired thuggery; literature has a long history of censorship for such works for the exact same reasons you give for dissing video games. There are even plenty of board games (D&D in particular) broadly attributed to children acting out horrors.
Not all books are Jane Austin.
Not all games are Monopoly.
And not all video games are less worthy of one’s time than, broadly speaking, reading or board games.
So you need to find the most base possible reading material in order to make a comparison to Grand Theft Auto? On average do you believe that children who spend their time reading and playing board games are as likely to be as successful and emotionally balanced as children who spend their time watching t.v. and playing video games? On average. Does the fact that the latter is what hoodlums are more likely to do illustrate anything to you? You can continue to defend this activity if you like, but I don’t think any facts or studies will support you.
Of course! GTA is among the most base possible video games, so to be fair the suitable comparison should be The Unbearable Lightness of Being and a really graphic session of AD&D. If you're talking Jane Austin, then surely a fair comparison would be Myst and Portal - quality games that really do exercise one's cognitive reasoning. I'd far rather my daughter play Riven than read Madam Bovary.
Your hoodlum in question was playing GTA, not Daxter; before computers, he would have been reading Tales From The Crypt; millenia ago, he'd have been attending performances of Aristophanies' The Frogs (crude bawdy humor, remembered only because it survived that long), and if he read at all in the meantime, there were plenty of other trashy novels you would have been criticizing just as much as GTA. Again I recall the opening scene of Anne Of Green Gables, where Anne is roundly chastized for reading so much. Jazz (performing or enjoying) was derided as corrupting the young, as was most forms of music when first introduced.
That you THINK any facts or studies won't support me belies your ignorance of history, where your very arguments have been repeated virtually verbatum for centuries regarding the activities you commend as leading one to be "successful and emotionally balanced".
It's the message, not the medium.
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