21st October 2005, 10:53 PM
Here's a quandry about yo laundry, what of movies? No, not how they affect the audience, how they affect the actors. Those guys have to get "into" the role pretty much as far as they can, and a lot of those roles have been pure unadulterated evil beings (for example, dark lord of the sith). With video games being "murder sims", what of acting? Should all school acting clubs be shut down, as it is not only training some of them to become horrible people, but also is applauding this? Or, should we realize that when an actor plays a part, it is fantasy, and only someone who is already unstable would change their real world behavior based on this.
But there's more. Under the prediction that kids who play violent games will turn violent themselves, the reverse should be true. Should not the people who consider games evil for that reason also consider games that seem to teach positive values a blessing?
And further, it seems to me that this should be testable. Verifiable in the reverse. That is, you should be able to look at someone's behavior and conclude with that evidence whether or not that person has played violent video games in the past.
It seems to me we should let the scientists keep up on their work and not run around crying about how the games are corrupting the kids until we have the evidence that shows it to be the case.
But there's more. Under the prediction that kids who play violent games will turn violent themselves, the reverse should be true. Should not the people who consider games evil for that reason also consider games that seem to teach positive values a blessing?
And further, it seems to me that this should be testable. Verifiable in the reverse. That is, you should be able to look at someone's behavior and conclude with that evidence whether or not that person has played violent video games in the past.
It seems to me we should let the scientists keep up on their work and not run around crying about how the games are corrupting the kids until we have the evidence that shows it to be the case.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)