There was a song called 'Pumped Up Kicks' which was played in heavy rotation on the Top 40 stations around the U.S. last year and was even featured in some commercials.   The lyrics are about a kid shooting up his classmates but because the song had a happy, upbeat sound many people never picked up on it.   

Look at these lyrics

Robert's got a quick hand.He'll look around the room,he wont tell you his plan.

He's got a rolled cigarettehanging out his mouth.He's a cowboy kid.

Yeah! He found a six-shooter gunin his dad's closet, with the box of fun things.but he's coming for you. Yeah, He's coming for you!

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,You better run, better run, outrun my gun.All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

You better run, better run, outrun my gun.You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

It goes on from there, you get the point.   It's funny how you don't see anyone calling out this song which was played constantly for months on the radio but so many groups will point at obscure heavy metal songs and video games as the cause. 

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Originally posted by SoulSurfer

Sorry, I could not resist.

 

This picture speaks only truth.

Originally posted by fat_taddler

There was a song called 'Pumped Up Kicks' which was played in heavy rotation on the Top 40 stations around the U.S. last year and was even featured in some commercials.   The lyrics are about a kid shooting up his classmates but because the song had a happy, upbeat sound many people never picked up on it.   

Look at these lyrics

Robert's got a quick hand.He'll look around the room,he wont tell you his plan.

He's got a rolled cigarettehanging out his mouth.He's a cowboy kid.

Yeah! He found a six-shooter gunin his dad's closet, with the box of fun things.but he's coming for you. Yeah, He's coming for you!

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,You better run, better run, outrun my gun.All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

You better run, better run, outrun my gun.You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

 

It goes on from there, you get the point.   It's funny how you don't see anyone calling out this song which was played constantly for months on the radio but so many groups will point at obscure heavy metal songs and video games as the cause. 

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Isn't that the band that the dudes wear their sisters' skinny jeans?

Yeah, you made a point. Look at Jeremy by Pearl Jam. Or remember when Manson was blamed for Columbine?

Originally posted by Distopia
What pisses me off is, they want to complain about video games and other media de-sensitizing people to violence, yet they'll show off their wars on TV like it's a pay per view wrestling event.

Ding ding ding.

This explains it all. And just think, these people are in charge of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrHFB2KP8fc

I actually saw someone on a forum claiming the moron that shot those children learned to shoot from video games. This was, of course, before all the information was released... details like his mom taking him to the shooting range and all that... my thoughts on that were this: If computer games taught him how to shoot he'd still be at home trying to figure out where to plug the mouse into the assault rifle. 

BTW, after work today I'm going to play Minecraft with my son.   I have to admit... we're going to be a little more... guiding... on the games he plays when he does. No matter how you slice it, that event cut me right to the core. My kids are 12 and 10... only a few years older than those poor children. Something like that... I'd be ruined. Absolutely ruined.

Originally posted by Istavaan
well games are a lot more graphically realistic these days so the violence cuts a lot deeper with a persons psyche. I have no doubt that video games could brainwash someone into shooting or hurting someone. The shit people say to each other when playing games like call of duty would get you kill if you said it on the street.

While I doubt people are really this stupid and confused, I would be open to any research that is done on what you said. It's a possiblity you are spot on.

I think at that point though, parents should be held responsible.

Originally posted by Scot

Violence and Video games, here we go again

Video games do not put guns into their player’s hands. They do not make parents want to leave their guns accessible to teenagers.

This argument has been going on for decades. I loved GTA, remember the storm over that series? But it never made me want to steal cars, deal drugs or visit a prostitute.

Politicians always need to find a solution, even when you don't need one. They need to be seen to do the right thing, which too often does not help. This is a problem today more than ever, with the news media clammering for answers and 24hr news raising those calls to fervour pitch.

I don't know enough about the gun issue to make a comment on that, but I do know video games have been a scapegoat for years. Politicians and even more so the media have to blame someone.

As a child of the 80's and belonging to the "TV" generation i can assure you that games aren't blamed more often then tv back then. Really back then even shows as the Power Rangers where blamed for shoot outs at schools and how they learned children to fight each other.

My generation grew up with how bad TV was. My parents grew up with how bad Rock music and long hair was, how that was the cause of all violence and drug abuse, in my grand parents time it where the books that where the cause of all violence (yes even the book been the great violence maker once). These days it are games.  It is easy to shout any form of media/entertainment is the blame. Why? Cause it makes you less bad to say a game causes all the shoot outs then admiting your gun law is a huge epic fail (yeah what ever, im from Europe and frankly all EU countries together have less shoot outs in 10 years then 1 year in the states so go think about that, we play the same games, watch the same movies, listen to the same music and read the same books). Also lets trow in a fact shall we? 80% of the males between 16 - 30 years old plays video games. Most shoot outs are done by guys between the age of 16 - 30. So the changes that someone who caused a shoot out is a gamer is very high. But lets look at America, as that is the country with the most shoot outs and the loudest politicians and media (fox im looking at you) shouting its the blame of the games. As i understand about 90% of the population is religous in America. So the changes that one of the shooters is a gamer is just as high as the shooter being religous. So perhaps it was the bible that drove him to shoot people? Do i blame religion now? No, i'm just stating numbers and changes.

The shoot outs only happen cause we humans don't seem to accept that we are a violent race. Having easy acces to weapons is asking for trouble with out kind. We got many phsycos in this world. No mather where you are from. We are a race that always has the need for war and to kill. We been doing nothing else since we excist. It's why we have no natural enemy. Why we are ontop of the food chain. We can do great things for each other and other races on this world. But we as well can be very destructive. Is that the blame of games? No, cause video games did not excists 2000 years ago and then we also killed each other because we felt like doing so.

In ten years it will be icecream that is the blame of all violence. Mark my words!

The shoot outs only happen cause we humans don't seem to accept that we are a violent race. Having easy acces to weapons is asking for trouble with out kind. We got many phsycos in this world. No mather where you are from. We are a race that always has the need for war and to kill. We been doing nothing else since we excist. It's why we have no natural enemy. Why we are ontop of the food chain. We can do great things for each other and other races on this world. But we as well can be very destructive. Is that the blame of games? No, cause video games did not excists 2000 years ago and then we also killed each other because we felt like doing so.

 

In ten years it will be icecream that is the blame of all violence. Mark my words!

You mean species. You don't want to bring up race and crime here.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Americas odd, the general violence seems lower there than over here.

I've had American colleagues over and they were genuinely shocked at the drunken brawls and what have you when I took them out. But to me is the norm. If anything was worse in the 80s when I was a kid, my city nowadays feels a lot safer than other UK cities.

Where as when I've been over there I'm shocked at how quiet and well mannered your sort of general lower middle class / working working class neighborhoods are. (i mean your inner city ghetto areas are way scarrier than ours, but your average working guy areas seem milder.

I wonder if there's a cultural thing of having this mannered, calm, well behaving attitude and bottling things up until they explode.

That's because the police over here beat the shit out of you, tazer you, and sometimes murder you for any little offense. They are mostly steroid freaks who just wnat an excuse ot beat on a civilian. You can find tons of videos of our police shooting people for absolutely no justifiable reason, but then it's found justified because "they were in fear for their safety".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaF9nbLo8as

Penn and Teller Bullshit - Videogames.

Originally posted by Scot

Violence and Video games, here we go again

Video games do not put guns into their player’s hands. They do not make parents want to leave their guns accessible to teenagers.

This argument has been going on for decades. I loved GTA, remember the storm over that series? But it never made me want to steal cars, deal drugs or visit a prostitute.

Politicians always need to find a solution, even when you don't need one. They need to be seen to do the right thing, which too often does not help. This is a problem today more than ever, with the news media clammering for answers and 24hr news raising those calls to fervour pitch.

I don't know enough about the gun issue to make a comment on that, but I do know video games have been a scapegoat for years. Politicians and even more so the media have to blame someone.

I agree with what you said...but with one caviat.  Personal responsiblity & a grounded sense of reality is REQUIRED if things like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and TV shows like Dexter, Breaking Bad, etc. have a place in our society.

Those qualities aren't something people are born with....its something that is learned as a person matures.....and more times than not, it comes from responsible parents, that also have a grounded sense of reality.  Unfortunately, the trend seems to look like more & more parents are doing less of the parenting, and allowing the TV & Video games do more of the baby sitting.

I don't think removing viloent games & other media are the answer....as responsible people are capable of interacting with these things without having negative effects on their life.  Instead, people who decide to bring other people into this world need to do a better job at being parents.

As for the gun issue....it's just as much of a scapegoat as the Movies / TV & Video Games.  All this attention on gun & ammo bans are primarily focused on semi-auto rifles, when they account for like 1% of gun deaths.  There are more gun related deaths from gang related violence with handguns than with psychopathts with semi-auto rifles...like WAY more.  Yet you don't hear much about erradicating gang / thug culture.

Point being, society needs to start heading in the direction of personal responsibility, else laws will take care of it for us....both the good & the bad.

Originally posted by TruthXHurts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CmbtnFYtMxU - I think kids today are just fucked up on psychotropic drugs. I mean this is the kind of shit I listened too as a teen, I snorted my Ritalin on the weekends instead of taking it as prescribed, and I never thought of shooting up a mall or a classroom. Let's put the blame where it's due. If you feed your kid a pill that's side effects include homicidal and suicidal thoughts then you blame video games... Well maybe you deserve to get shot in your bed.

Yep. But big pharma will do what they can to deflect anything that comes up. They contribute to politicians, so fat chance they ever raise questions either.

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by superniceguy

I think TV has more influence than Videogames. There is just way too much of it these days, and backstapping, and even the good guys of the show are at each others throats.

i think both mediums de-sensitize people

but i agree tv / film is more impressionable than video games

 

example

-  teen killer from columbine massacre was supposedly inspired by Neo of the Matrix

 

what have video games inspired?  cosplayers?

the only videogame violence ive read about is people taking game disputes to real life

Agreed, but there is a trend for new games being more realistic & mainstreamed.

When we start getting in the realm of Virtual Reality, i think you will start seeing games having a similar effect as TV / Movies.

Again, if a person plays any of these games responsibly; regulated by responsible parents...all is good.

I agree with what you said...but with one caviat.  Personal responsiblity & a grounded sense of reality is REQUIRED if things like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and TV shows like Dexter, Breaking Bad, etc. have a place in our society.

 

Those qualities aren't something people are born with....its something that is learned as a person matures.....and more times than not, it comes from responsible parents, that also have a grounded sense of reality.  Unfortunately, the trend seems to look like more & more parents are doing less of the parenting, and allowing the TV & Video games do more of the baby sitting.

 

I don't think removing viloent games & other media are the answer....as responsible people are capable of interacting with these things without having negative effects on their life.  Instead, people who decide to bring other people into this world need to do a better job at being parents.

 

As for the gun issue....it's just as much of a scapegoat as the Movies / TV & Video Games.  All this attention on gun & ammo bans are primarily focused on semi-auto rifles, when they account for like 1% of gun deaths.  There are more gun related deaths from gang related violence with handguns than with psychopathts with semi-auto rifles...like WAY more.  Yet you don't hear much about erradicating gang / thug culture.

 

Point being, society needs to start heading in the direction of personal responsibility, else laws will take care of it for us....both the good & the bad.

Well said.

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Seems to me the problem is adult children 18 plus, under grads, grad students living in there mother and father's basement and off there health insurance. Or am i being crule too Mentaly challenged young people, who there whole life probaly have not fit in.

Again....the kids involved in these mass shootings are either on anti-psychotics or are otherwise not grounded in reality.

Secondly, there are FAR more perpertraitors of gun crimes that are under 21, highschool drop-outs, running the streets, with no stable home environment.....aka Gangsters / Thugs.  In terms of gun related deaths, there has been the equivalent 20 Sandy Hooks in Chicago alone, during 2012.  Coincidently, in a city with one of the most strict gun laws.

America is sure doing something wrong! When your murder rate is similar to some third world countries, and other countries ratio of people to murder to gun crime is so much smaller, you know something is wrong, the answer is obvious, but you need those guns just incase your government decides to engage martial law and treat you all like crap, because as everyone knows, V for Vendetta is just around the corner! I don't bother to argue it anymore, just let them get on with shooting each other!

One of the worst things is how the killers get plastered all over the news, then little Jonny who figures no one notices him decides to take daddies shotgun from over the mantle piece and go get himself on the 10 oclock news.

Originally posted by Enerzeal

America is sure doing something wrong! When your murder rate is similar to some third world countries, and other countries ratio of people to murder to gun crime is so much smaller, you know something is wrong, the answer is obvious, but you need those guns just incase your government decides to engage martial law and treat you all like crap, because as everyone knows, V for Vendetta is just around the corner! I don't bother to argue it anymore, just let them get on with shooting each other!

One of the worst things is how the killers get plastered all over the news, then little Jonny who figures no one notices him decides to take daddies shotgun from over the mantle piece and go get himself on the 10 oclock news.

More people have died from baseball bats than rifles. We have a lower violent crime rate than the UK. Better go check your facts from the .gov sites.

As for "little Jonny", Most of the gun crime in the US comes from those without fathers and they are defanately not using shotguns. But, this is an issue that some are afraid to address. When you check your facts, you'll find out exactly who I'm talking about. I think you already know since you likened them to third-worlders. At least we can agree on that.

Your concern for inanimate objects is no different than the concern for the other inanimate object (video games). Both refuses to identify the real issue to solve and takes away all responsibility from the actual cause of this, which is certain people.

Originally posted by Vesavius

Originally posted by Scot

Violence and Video games, here we go again

Video games do not put guns into their player’s hands. They do not make parents want to leave their guns accessible to teenagers.

This argument has been going on for decades. I loved GTA, remember the storm over that series? But it never made me want to steal cars, deal drugs or visit a prostitute.

Politicians always need to find a solution, even when you don't need one. They need to be seen to do the right thing, which too often does not help. This is a problem today more than ever, with the news media clammering for answers and 24hr news raising those calls to fervour pitch.

I don't know enough about the gun issue to make a comment on that, but I do know video games have been a scapegoat for years. Politicians and even more so the media have to blame someone.

 

Indeed, here we go again... with both extremes polarizing the debate with undebatable declarations of 'fact'.

I have not made my mind up about the full impact of desenstisation or violent games acting as a cataclyst for those pre disposed (but otherwise might not have acted on their impulses) to violent behaviour, simply because I have neither read or been part of enough studies on it to be sure either way 100%. 

Have you? What do you base such a strong set of statements on?

Personally, I welcome the debate, as long as real information is bought to bear. Personal anecdotes and 'I play games and I am alright' from an individual do not count as valid information here... You do not represent everyone and what may be ok for you might not be for others. 

 

Look, like on most things to do with life, I tend to not trust people who want to constantly tell me 'how it is'.

If you are not asking questions and exploring truth (not just *your* truth) then you are just another blow hard really. I get the need to defend what you love, and your choices and behaviours, from outside assault but... well, you get it...

If we're only talking facts here, we need only look at the history of our species. Which is full of senseless violence, ignorance and fear beig the prime motivator. All humans carry within them both good and evil, it's the individual who decides which controls them. We've killed each other since the dawn of our existence.

Do videogames cause violent/unstable people to become desensitized enough to become mass murderers? Possibly..., however, are they anymore influential and/or guilty of that compared to other entertainment mediums? Mark David Chapman cited a book as being his motivator as an example.

How desensitizing is showing a real war played out on national TV, showcased like a primetime sports event? How about the American Army's own combat simulator? Before our goverment starts going after these markets they need to take a hard look inward at their own practices IMO. I'll stop now as I don't want to turn this into a political rant.