Blaming Video Games (and everything else)

I am really REALLY done with the blaming of video games whenever a random act of violence happens. Millions of people play video games, yet there aren't millions of random acts of violence being reported every day.

I would love to blame the media and liberalism. Afterall they preach hatred for American culture, loathing for the rich, and contempt for the religious. But ultimately I can't because the media only speaks to you if you choose to let them.

Blaming video games for violence is absolutely lame and completely devoid of logic, just like blaming gun control, the media, movies, war, whatever. This tragedy at Virginia Tech is about personal responsibility. When we screw up the blame lies within a very small circle: ourselves--being our own inner motivations.

UPDATE: 4.26

Here's a good example of somone (in this case an LA Times columnist) making a decision he knows to be abnormal (aka "wrong"), but needing to find reasons (aka "blame") to be right:

Recent studies have shown that such physiological factors as genetics and hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy can significantly affect how our brains are "wired" at birth.

So (as usual) it is ultimately the fault of God (or science if you're an atheist) that this guy has felt compelled to be a girl. God somehow got it wrong. You know, if this person had written a simple paragraph for his column that read "I was Mike, now I am Christine. I have decided to be a woman because being a man sucks." I at least would have given the person the props for having integrity. But why print about it at all? Gays and transsexuals are constanty insisting that they are hated and persecuted for their private lifestyle. Well if it's their private lifestyle then keep it private! No, these people print it because they want persecution and they want sympathy. But when someone goes public with something like this they must be rebuked publicly lest he (perhaps unwittingly) leads someone else down his errant path.

When faced with this kind of decision we must understand just how badly we must fight our inner desires to replace God with ourselves. It is amazing how much we would rather choose to kick our own mental asses and spend thousands of dollars on unnecessary science than to simply accept God's will in our lives. And when we go public with a decision (or an act) of this nature we are even more accountable to God than if we would have kept our sin between God and ourselves.

There is a comment posted to the above article that says this:

Christians--always the first to pass judgment. I'm a Christian and I pass none, because there's none to be passed. You are an extraordinary human being, Christine. Don't ever forget it.

This is what I am talking about. This is an example of someone giving the Gospel when the sinner first needs the Law. The Law shows us our sin; the Gospel washes it away. But too many Christians want to make peace at the expense of accepting another person's sin. This is not the kind of peace Christ preaches. The peace he speaks of is the peace of the heart--the peace of knowing that God forgives anything and everything. But this can only be done when we first recognise that we have sinned against Him. And we Christians must ask for the strength to rebuke should He present us with the situation when it is required--whether it be a transsexual or a troubled mind looking to kill innocent people. I pray that Holy strength finds someone when I am in need of rebuke. My soul depends on it.

Comments

[Larry]

I will assume a few things:
... you are 20 or under
... you play violent video games
... you have no children
... you have not read a single study of the effect of violent video games, or violence in media
... you have not spoken to anyone in the military who is involved in programs that use video games to help prepare soldiers for battle situations

"Millions of people play video games, yet there aren't millions of random acts of violence being reported every day"
Of course not... although only a tiny fraction of 'acts' are reported. Is a man slapping his wife, or a guy slapping his girl, an act of violence in your mind? How about slapping a child?

"Blaming video games for violence is absolutely lame and completely devoid of logic"
No, wrong. It's not based on logic, but numerous case studies, experience, all kinds of supportive data, and the opinions of many people who have studied human behavior for their entire professional lives.
But there is plenty of simply logic.
Do you know what it means to become 'inured' to violence?
One definition is: made tough by habitual exposure
Think about that.

" just like blaming gun control..."
So, if guns were difficult to find, and AUTOMATIC weapons impossible to find, you think just as many would have died in Virginia? Your glad that seriously disturbed people can get a gun, an automatic weapon so easily?
Would you feel the same way if you lost someone you loved in Virginia? Did you know that 'death by gun' is one of the leading causes of death in people 16 and under?
Do you know how many children 10 and under are killed 'accidentally' by guns?
Do you read ANYTHING to support your statements?
Do you read ANYTHING at all (Spiderman comics don't count)

"...liberalism. After all they preach hatred for American culture.."
What... do you only read Ann Coulter?
How could you make a statement so sweepingly ignorant?
Do you know anything about history?
Just how liberal do you think our Constitution was back in 1776?
How RADICAL do you think our forefathers were... who broke away from, and fought a war with England's establishment to try and create something better. Would you call them conservative? Since 'the separation of Church and State' was one of the founding principals of our Constitution, do you believe it's was because of the framer's "contempt for the religious".
Do you even understand what 'separation of Church and State' is, and why it was, and is, such an important concept and part of the very fabric of a free Nation?

There are many, many uneducated people like you around. I accept that. But to post your ignorance on a website for public scrutiny?

Now that is lame.

[Josh]

I notice you address everything in my post EXCEPT my statement of personal responsibility. That is telling. Since we are playing the assumption game, I will assume that you believe that blame always lies with the person next to you when you do something wrong in life--assuming you believe in right and wrong.

Since you are a fan of questions, let me offer this: How many criminals sitting in jail are sports fans? How many crimes have been committed with baseball bats, cars, and golf clubs? Have you ever heard of the statement "A gun cannot kill lest the trigger is pulled."

To all other readers: Notice how the commentator first tries to destroy my credibility and that of conservatism. Notice how he accuses me of blanket statements while making his own throughout his whole response. He offers a lot of random talking points and platitudes but nothing solid. Welcome to the world of liberalism, folks.

[RT Cunningham]

No, Josh, you have it wrong. He didn't speak as a liberal. He spoke as a Democrat. Everything he stated are the Democrat's talking points. Democrats don't listen to or understand reason. They give liberals a bad name.

#1) Video games do not inspire violence any more than football or kung fu movies. What he fails to understand is that violence is increasing in every aspect of American culture, not just one segment. Coincidence does not equal correlation and correlation does not equal causation, regardless of the biased studies conducted.

#2) Gun control. People who want guns can get guns despite any laws passed to prevent it. I live in a country that allows no guns as personal possessions yet two of my brothers-in-law were shot to death and a third severely injured by neighbors who had illegal weapons. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

#3) Separation of church and state is crap. It's not in the Constitution and it's not in the Declaration of Independence. It was a single letter written by Thomas Jefferson. He was a libretarian, not a liberal. Why liberals think he represents them, I'll never understand.

So, when "Larry" who puts an email address where a website belongs in his comment header and the first part says "yourignorant" gets his facts straight and not his emotions, he'll have something to argue about.

[Josh]

Hm, and here I thought that it was the libs giving Democrats a bad name ;-) FDR and Truman were both big-government Democrats, but they were not of the liberal variety that we see in today's Democrat Party. Charlton Heston and Jimmy Stewart--both great Americans--were both Democrats.

Your other statements are all right on. I didn't find them worth making myself since he didn't offer any real points of his own (or a valid e-mail). Thanks for posting them though!