If you haven’t heard of Grand Theft Auto you’ve must have been living in a cave on Mars for the past few years. On the night of June 25th two teens (age 14 and 16) thought it was a good idea to take their shotgun and open fire at vehicles on I-40 in Tenn. At least one person was killed and another severly injured. The teens plead guilty to reckless homicide, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment and will be held in custody until they are 19 years of age.
Why did they do it? They said they were inspired to do so after playing Grand Theft Auto (GTA). The family of one of the victim’s has decided that the makers of GTA bear some blame for what happened. They’re lawyer, Jack Thompson, has filed suit against TAKE2interactive and said to the press.
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I don’t see how the makers of GTA are responsible for what happened. Throughout the years you can find all sorts of fictional works that have inspired people to do bad things. How much responsiblity do the producers of the media we consume have?
Well there was the imfamous case of Lizzy Borden, who spent the night listening to wax cylinders spun backwards and reading Edgar Allan Poe stories in the moonlight before killing her parents.
These kids had issues which had nothing to do with anything in the media. What they saw in the games probably shaped their actions in one way or another. But if it weren’t for that game, they would have acted on some other fantasy. After the Columbine massacre, there was a lot of hysteria over everything from The Matrix, to Rammstein and Marylin Manson. But if that didn’t exist, they would have sought possible inspiration in another movie or band. We can ban Dungeons and Dragons, the “White Album”, The Catcher in The Rye, to the Sorrows of Young Werther, and we will still have lonely or troubled people doing stupid things out of desperation. If someone is crazy enough, a Backstreet Boys song might make you feel compelled to kill your entire family.
By the way, is this the same Jack Thompson that took on the 2 Live Crew and transformed them from an obscure Miami Booty-Bass group to the most famous rap group in Amera?
If it makes you feel any better, these types of cases never get anywhere. The law is a great believer in the maxim, “If your friends told you to go jump off a cliff, would you do that too?”
It certainly makes me feel compelled to kill Backstreet Boys.
Media causes violence like the weatherman causes rain.
The reason that musicians and videogame companies make easy targets is
a) they have deep pockets
b) most people like to find other people to blame for things (certain their kids can’t be psychopaths)
I hesitate to blame ‘bad parenting’ unless these kids have been abused somehow. It seems like most psychologists think that if you don’t hug your kids enough (or maybe it was too much) they’ll turn into raving lunatics.
As frivolous as this lawsuit appears to be, dismissing the idea that media plays a role in the shaping of young, impressionable minds out of hand is also wrong. While I agree that one single videogame should not bear the blame for these actions, it is equally foolhardy to say that the saturation of violence in the United States, in video games, movies, and television does not contribute to these types of actions.
Bullshit on the idea that violent video games/movies/TV shows are a causal factor. Canadians get the same stuff at the same time as the Americans, and our crime rates are much lower.
The main difference, I feel, is that we don’t love our guns quite as much as the Yanks, or the idea that violence is a fun ‘n’ easy way to solve problems.
Feel free to do a google search for “media violence” and you can see even more.
Note I am not advocating a sole causality to the actions taken by the people in the OP, nor am I advocating a restriction on freedom of speech. I just believe that to ignore the culture of violence that pervades America and it’s role in shaping behavior is a bit short-sighted.
Now I have to cite to the exact finding in each individual studies rather than rely on the reporting from respected, credible sources? Including one cite that discusses the findings in depth isn’t enough? There are two well-respected, inpartial third parties reporting the results of studies. If it isn’t good enough for you, sorry, because I don’t have the time nor inclination to find each and every of the thousand studies. I will point out, though, that the cites I gave you contain bibliographies and a list of sources. Feel free to track those down if you don’t believe them.
My problem with this is simply that of Bryan’s, that we are all subjected to it to varying degrees yet only a small portion of us are actually violent, and in fact that seems to vary from culture to culture. I have no doubt that “showing people something about something might cause some of them to do stuff” is something we should consider in all cases. What I don’t see is the mechanism by which you or I avoid shooting sprees while still being “subjected” to the same violence. The relevance of my desensitization is not clear when, in fact, I am not a violent criminal. I’ve been in one fight in my entire life that someone else started when I was 15, yet I have played violent video games and read violent books (horror) since I was quite young (sixth grade).
From the APA link…
I’d be interested to know what other variables have been measured. I’d also be interested to know how this affects adults, who also watch television.
My favorite passage is:
Whoda thunk. Thankfully they bury that after the “Your daughter Maggie Simpson IS DEAD” line where the debate is over.
I do not see how this goes any way toward suing the makers of GTA, which of course you didn’t claim, so I suppose this is in fact tangential.
THe violence in media only provides the current cosmetic form of the violence. Violence will not be eliminated by controlling media, only its form might change.
Consider a world where only non-violent images are allowed in the media. Even if you could successfully keep such a system of censorship from affecting politcal speech, etc., do you really imagine it would be a world free of violence? In such a world, the kids that shot the students at Columbine might not have worn black trenchcoats, but they might certainly still have retaliated violently against the bullying they received.
erislover, I too have watched, read, and played (GTA Vice City is a great game) media that is steeped in violence. And I have yet to kill anybody too… Yet. And I too would be interested in how media affects full grown, mature adults. And I too think it is idiotic to blame only the media, when it is perfectly clear that good parenting is the most important factor. However, I also don’t think we can ignore the other factors, including the way violence is protrayed in America, and the desentization effect it has. It surely isn’t the only factor, and it surely isn’t a major factor. However, I believe it is a factor. It’s not a factor that can be blamed on one particular game, or one particular movie, or one particular rock album like these litigious attorneys want to do. But it also should not be ignored.
The part of this I don’t get (from a logical perspective) is how this lawsuit can be applied at all against the game makers. The video game industry has a rating system, and GTA III and Vice City are rated for adults. Either their parents were dumb enough to buy it for them, or the store where it was purchased sold it to them and shouldn’t have. There’s where this lawsuit should begin, nevermind asking the question of how a 16 and 14 year old can end up with a shotgun.
(By the way, I have played both games, and the only thing they have made me want to do is play them again. They’re pretty fun.)
Sure children and teens are influenced by images seen on TV, movies and video games. And sure they may want to act out their fantasies that seem to be very real in TV, movies and video games.
However, it is the responsibility of the parent to teach the kid the difference between reality and fiction. It is the responibility of the parent to oversee what the child is watching or what his friends are watching when their child is over at their friends.
The personal responsibility ultimately is on the parents and the child.
The child does not exist in a vacuum. It was created by his parents and the values his/her parents raised him/her by.
Unfortunately we cannot depend on the entertainment industry to be responsible. They are a business in a capitalist society that values the freedoms that are laws in our Constitution.
So because we live in a free society, where freedom of choice to watch and play what we want as adults, we have to teach that responsibility to our children. If we do not, we have to own up to it and learn from it.
It is really as simple as that.
Further, it is matter of supply and demand. Our culture sure loves violence, because the gaming industry makes hand over fist on these games and movies as well. If it’s only kids out buying these games behind they’re parent’s backs…then all I can say is the parents are to blame. They are accomplices in continuing the culture of violence.
