New Research Shows No Link Between Violent Video Games And School Shootings
from the sorry,-jack-thompson dept
Some new research has found that, despite media hype, there is no relationship between violent video games and school shootings. The report criticizes earlier reports linking violent video games to aggression, noting that their methodology was flawed -- and also points to the unfortunate trend of politicians and the mainstream media to team up to create moral panics around such things despite not having any evidence of a causal link. This is the latest in a long line of recent research that has noted similar findings. Maybe we can finally get past blaming video games for youth violence...Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: research, video games, violence
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*Big Smile!*
Shouldn't that be:
around such things despite having no evidence of a causal link.
or:
around such things despite lack of evidence of a causal link.
or:
around such things without any evidence of a causal link.
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Re: *Big Smile!*
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Re: *Big Smile!*
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Facts can always be changed on paper. Pay some other clown to come up with a study that says they are linked and viola'!
Many times, I think the answer to the study comes first - then funding to find a path to make the question fit the answer they have already decided on.
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Re: AC
I think most people can agree that his findings are actually common sense. Most (serious) researchers wouldn't research something too ridiculous. For example, who would do a paper on why smoking actually cures cancer?
I think anyone who has grown up playing games can attest that we aren't screwed adults. None of my friends/associates have any violent tendencies.
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Got Violence
It makes a lot of sense that violent people would be drawn to violent content. Which has been proven by many studies to reduce the violent tendencies in these people because the game acts as a release for their aggretion.
THERE IS ONLY ONE REASON THEY MAKE THESE ACCUSATIONS: It makes them look like they're doing something positive. They choose video games because most older adults don't know much about them and therefore makes the idea that they could be bad for kids plausible.
In the past is was music and movies and TV. In the future it will be...well, we don't know yet, but it will happen.
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violence
movies promoting violence
television shows promoting violence
music promoting violence
kids practicing violence in a violent society
You're right, there is no casual connection.
What else could explain away the violence in our society??
The availability of guns and knives??
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Re: violence
What else could explain away the violence in our society??
The availability of guns and knives??
if you rounded up all the guns and knives we would just keep killing each other with sticks and stones.
video games and violence are just the latest boogie man. in the 80's it was devil worship and cults. in the 70's it was music that made kids commit suicide. in the 50's it was rock and roll that caused interracial dating... and communism.
society has been on the verge of collapse from one evil or another for as long as there has been society, except for maybe that first 15 minutes at the beginning.
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Re: Re: violence
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Re: violence
Do you really think violence is something new? If so, perhaps you should pick up some history books. Violence existed long before any of the influences you listed. The availability of guns and knives just means that they are the weapon used. It does not mean violence would occur without them. And knives? Really? The average 8-year-old could make their own knife if they wanted to. I don't think availability is the problem as far as that goes.
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Re: Re: violence
"It does not mean violence would NOT occur without them..."
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Re: violence
>What else could explain away the violence in our society??
>The availability of guns and knives??
Sure worked out for Australia.
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SSRI link?
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Re: SSRI link?
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Don't forget
What a relief though; I was just waiting for that video game violence over the past 18 years to catch up with me and make me kill a bunch of people. That's a load off my mind!
On second thought, now I need to come up with another scapegoat.
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Research something we don't already know seems like a waste of time and money.
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Re:
OLD RESEARCH SHOWS NO LINK BETWEEN VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AND SCHOOL SHOOTINGS.
JUST OFF THE PRESS:
NEW RESEARCH SHOWS NO LINK BETWEEN VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AND SCHOOL SHOOTINGS.
How is this even news anymore, we were well aware years ago kids will blame whatever they can to cover up teenage angst and being all around emo. I'm sure bad parenting fits in here somewhere too.
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This just in...
Violence is built into our DNA, it's how we have survived on this planet as long as we have. Up until sometime in the 19th century, deadly torturous violence was part of everyday life. They were creative about it too which demonstrates a bit of crazy. Beating and whipping slaves, burning/drowning/crushing "witches," torturing Jews, feeding Christians to lions, having people fight to the death for entertainment, Greek theater depicting horrible murders and self mutilation. We have a loooong history of violence and the one constant throughout all of it is that, for most of us, watching it happen is a release for our internal need to act violently.
There's also always the argument of Hitler. He didn't watch violent movies, listen to rock music, watch violent TV, or play violent video games. He was just crazy. Without a source of inspiration, he was forced to come up with his own twisted ways of slaughtering 6 million human beings. Maybe if he spent more time playing Grand Theft Auto and gotten some of that aggression out, history would have been a bit different don't you think?
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really
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