Games worse 'because they affect people'
Tennesse Senator Lamar Alexander (R) has become the latest in a string of American politicians to point to games as a possible cause of the nation's gun violence.
Many have jumped on board the anti-games train in the wake of the Newtown school shooting, from the NRA to Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphey (D), but this time the comments are a bit more extreme.
"I think video games is a bigger problem than guns," he said on MSNBC's The Rundown.
"Because video games affect people. But the First Amendment limits what we can do about video games and the Second Amendment to the constitution limits what we can do about guns."
Senator Alexander points out that not much more can be done about games than guns due to constitutional protections, and from his remarks it can be deduced that he plans to wait and see what sort of support bills related to these issues can drum up.
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President Obama has called on Congress to fund research into the relationship between games and violence, and a bill demanding just such a study has already been put before the House twice since the Sandy Hook massacre in December.
Regardless, it seems unlikely that any amount of research will convince many a video game has more of an effect on a human being than a 5.56mm round traveling at supersonic speeds.
For those on the recieving end, it's hard to concieve of a bigger "problem"; unless of course it's a bigger bullet.
They've done this study over and over again through the years. The only thing they found was that only people who are PREDISPOSED to violence become violent after playing a game. The same goes for movies.
The truth is there's no way to stop maniacs from being maniacs. Some people slip through the cracks because they WANT to. Some people simply act sane so they don't draw attention to themselves. So, unless you're willing to invade someone's privacy (or worse) there won't be a 'cure' for crazy.
They've done this study over and over again through the years. The only thing they found was that only people who are PREDISPOSED to violence become violent after playing a game. The same goes for movies.
The truth is there's no way to stop maniacs from being maniacs. Some people slip through the cracks because they WANT to. Some people simply act sane so they don't draw attention to themselves. So, unless you're willing to invade someone's privacy (or worse) there won't be a 'cure' for crazy.
Not exactly a shocking stance from a guy who from what I've read was all for going to war in Iraq, all for a continued and undiminished military presence, and against a minimum period between Iraq deployments for personnel.
He also seems to be against a ban on Assault Weapons.
I wonder where he stands on people with any history of mental health issues being able to own guns.
I dont see how he can claim that guns are not a cause of gun crime merely a tool and yet video games ARE a cause??? You cant expect someone who is pro guns to not want to blame something other than the gun for the problems they can cause
"Everybody is free to be stupid"
What a crazy view to have. Fiction (games, books, films, mythology) is fiction and virtual. Having access to and using a weapon against a real person is a real problem.
Somebody who can't tell the difference between games or films, for example, and reality has a fundamental problem that has nothing to do with the media they consume, be it fiction or non-fiction.
I expect the guy making the statement must be someone who feels insecure without a weapon of his own, so is trying to name any scapegoat he can so that his power sticks aren't threatened.
Because I kill so many people with my mouse, keyboard and xbox controller.
Only an American politician could come with such a stupid arguement. I really can't remember the last time the news reported about a deranged killer beating someone to death with a wiimote.
Yeah because movies aren't to blame at all Especially not ones like Terminator. I saw Terminator when I was about 6 years of age.
"Senators kill more people than smoking and knives combined"
They have to die off one day. Hopefully it doesn't take a moon sized meteor to rid the world of these short sighted buffoons. Dear God I pray that the youth adopts better logic than the selective moral outrage the older generations use to support their latest fad scapegoats in response to whatever bullshit happened recently on the news! I play the same games as the ones who shot up X school on X day and I have no desires or temptations to commit such a horrid act. Please abandon your irrational approaches to these MUCH MUCH bigger problems. The problems being with how we are raising our children and the society they grow up in....and obviously the good dose of crazy that went undiagnosed. Still I can see these lumbering ignorant Apatosauruses marching on until their dying day, screwing everything for everyone in the generations that follow.
This is just a re-run of the 1950s "comics-will-corrupt-your-children" malarkey, and the 70s/80s "D&D-will-make-you-worship-Satan-and-kill-yourself" bullshit that old people like me have seen before.
Bah. Politicians.
