Games and Violence?!

Video Games vs Violence in American Society

            School shootings and violence in the United States have come to the forefront of our attention, most notably with mass school shootings by either one or two individuals.  In the past twenty years or so with the advent of social media, instant news sources and media commentators Americans have tried to explain how such violent and senseless acts occur in our modern society.  Video games such as the ‘Call of Duty’ series, ‘Battlefield’, and MMORPGs have drawn the most attention from those who wish to do something about this perceived pandemic that is currently plaguing our utopic society.  American culture uses video games as a scapegoat in an attempt to explain away a fundamental element to human nature.

            Kristin Bezio compares this habit of deflecting blame to the invention of Rock & Roll in the 1950’s and 60’s.  As with today’s video games intellectuals attempted to blame the promiscuity, drug abuse, and general disregard for society on this new kind of music as if there were an underlying plot to destabilize the United States.

            Violence in human culture is written throughout our history, from roving bands of humans trying to secure food and resources to nations fighting over their right to existence.  During the Punic Wars in 200 B.C.E. there were no electronic sources of entertainment but still the Carthaginians managed to slaughter over 80,000 Roman legionnaires. How can these actions be rationalized if not for an underlying barbarity that we all possess but choose to ignore.

            21^st Century video games have become a multi-billion dollar industry throughout the world and programming companies take advantage of our quest for blood.  This notion of blood for millions of people stops once the console has turned off, but for singular individuals in a sea of millions if not billions this artificial reality is not enough.  Their acts violence time and again are linked not to video games but their deep seeded need for attention and fame that they would not normally achieve in their current daily lives.  American media then fulfills their quest for fame by analyzing every aspect of their life and plastering their names and pictures for all to see.

            American society as a whole has lust for violence and blood; this is readily apparent as motorists tend to slow down and impede traffic after an accident in the slim chance that they will be able to see the blood, broken body, and viscera of an unlucky individual.  By blaming video games societal critics attempt to solve a greater issue or aspect of human culture but are in fact attacking a symptom and not the true underlying cause or why our human nature precludes us to violence.

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Bezio, Kristin M.S.. “Stop blaming video games for America’s gun violence.” 13 February 2013. Web. <www.csmonitor.com> 27 August 2014.