Video games

In light of the recent media frenzy against the plague and black spot
against civilization that is Grand Theft Auto, I can't tell people what I do
in my free time without getting taught about how horrible what I do is. It's
ironic, since I don't even play that game. I've decided I should write a
rebuttal more convincing than 'We'll, you're wrong."
So, I sat down and did some research, which scared me. I didn't even
research for school projects. You may well already know that it is not in my
nature to be serious, nor probably if you're reading this, is it yours.
However, I here have proof Video games do no cause youth violence. No,
really! I do! I even have charts... with words on 'em. I spare absolutely no
expense.
Say it with me...There is no epidemic of youth violence. It is an ugly lie
created by the media. Kids are not killing people more frequently with the
mad skills they learned from Halo. In fact, the opposite is true.
You heard me. Look at chart No. 1.
Did'ja look? Doesn't take a genius to figure out. For effect, the dates of
the release of the Playstation, the PS2, Grand Theft Auto 1, and the ever
criminalized GTA3. Wow, look at those surges of violence!
Wanna know where the graph's from? Bet you do. It's from the U.S. Bureau of
Justice, department of statistic. The only alteration is the game timeline.
Now, I'm not really a conspiracy nut. I don't think there are aliens in Area
51, I know that AIDs is not a govermental superweapon, and I'm fairly
certain Bigfoot teamed up with the Loch Ness monster to assassinate Kennedy.
But am I the only one who doesn't think this jives?
Something's missing right? Okay, the first one looked at violence in
general, so I got one that sorted by age with graph 2. Go ahead, look. If
you'll notice, the youth crimes have SEVERELY DROPPED, the surge being in
adults. According to the D.O.J. report, 'recently, the offending rates of
14-17 year-olds has reached the lowest levels ever recorded.'
Blows yer mind, donnit? The Nintendo age is actually the most peaceful group
of kids around. That's certainly not what Joe Lieberman and Hilary Clinton
have been telling me!
No doubt, sceptics among you will tell me about criminals and agressive
people playing these games. However, that doesn't mean the games made them
agressive. Perhaps the agressive people were attracted to the violence. It's
like going to an opera and seeing all the rich people. Then going on to
conclude that seeing Opera makes you rich. (Classical Opera, by the way,
includes a whole bunch of lust, incest, murder, suicide, and vengence)
So, the media are lying to us? You betcha. As touched on by the
controversey-inducing Micheal Moore films, fear sells. It's how Columbine
and WTC became prime time TV. The media in particular loves to bash games
every time there was an X-box within 30 miles of a crime scene, because
every minute you spend interacting with your Gamecube is a minute you're not
drooling in front of their fear-mongering.
And the sad thing is that it's working. After Columbine, we gamers have been
painted as outcasts, willing shut-outs on the verge of violent explosion,
while not even taking the time to check the facts. A CBS report said that
GTA gave you points for killing cops, which is a flat-out lie. Do games even
use a point system anymore?
Gaming is a new medium, and a highly successful one at that. Young'uns play
them and old folks don't understand, so it's obviously bad. In 1939, a book
called 'seduction of the innocent' was written on the evil of comic books
and don't forget in the 1950s, Rock n roll was linked to violence in the
same way that gaming is now. In 1955, there was even a bill in Congress to
ban Rock n roll.
Sorta what is going on now. Sorry guys, I don't care what people say, Rock n
roll is here to stay. And so are Spider-man and Mario.
Let's make this even more clear. Grand Theft Auto is a best-selling adult
game that shouldn't be played by 12-year-olds. That's what the big 'M'
means. Most games, though, aren't like GTA. In 2004, 55% of the games were
rated 'E', 33% were rated 'T', and 12% were rated the big M.
The thing is that there's no problem from youth violence due to games or rap
music or R-rated films because THERE IS NO PROBLEM. The thing is these
tradgedies are exploited by the media, and somehow, I'm the villain.
The truth is that these are the most non-violent kids America has ever had
and most of them have a gameboy. The government is so desperate to find
youth crime that they're arresting kids for throwing rocks and eating french
fries. The most peaceful generation of Americans in recorded history is
being shoved through metal detectors, having their civil rights violated on
a daily basis, are the victims of unreasonable search and seizure, and are
treated with constant suspicion
All because of the lies of the media. If anything will incite to violence,
it will most likely be that.

Fighting (and playing) the machine,
Jerry