“Yes,” he pointed, “I want this video game.”
From the lurid description in the sales catalog, the game seemed to be extremely violent so I asked, “Why this game?” He smiled broadly, “It’s got the very best fatalities.”
From the lurid description in the sales catalog, the game seemed to be extremely violent so I asked, “Why this game?” He smiled broadly, “It’s got the very best fatalities.”
“Excuse me?” I said. Hmm, I must have heard wrong. “This game has the very best fatalities,” he repeated. His mother wasn’t paying attention as I asked, “What does the word ‘fatalities’ mean?” He looked up and said, “That’s when people die.”
I was still puzzled, “What does ‘the very best fatalities’ mean?” He broke into a grin. “That’s when the blood spurts out and their bones show and the skin burns off while they die.”
He went back to the catalog. I motioned to his mother who gave me the look, “Boys will be boys.” I asked her if she thought it was good that a six-year-old wants a game featuring death. She told me most young kids feel exactly the same which is why there are so many violent games on the market.
Certainly when I was a kid we played cops and robbers with simulated gun violence and there was a certain satisfaction with the death scene when we were gotten. In my circles you did not just plop over, there were a few moments of acting.
Still, there has been much concern about violence in our society. Some people postulate that the escalating violence is caused by a lack of communication. I believe the reason we have so much violence in America is that many Americans like violence.
Somewhat simplistically the answer is they like to watch it and like to do it. As children they learned to like violence. The enjoyment of violence, for itself, is a product of the American entertainment industry.
Violence in America is promulgated by those people who find violence enjoyable. Much of the violence in America happens because the perpetrator simply felt like hurting someone. Guns and knives are not the cause; rather, the source of violence is the sickness of enjoyed violence within our society.
There are gentle people and violent people here in America. It is hard to spot any difference in their appearance. The lambs and lions look alike. They lay down together but only one gets up. The difference is lions enjoy violence while the lambs do not.
I was still puzzled, “What does ‘the very best fatalities’ mean?” He broke into a grin. “That’s when the blood spurts out and their bones show and the skin burns off while they die.”
He went back to the catalog. I motioned to his mother who gave me the look, “Boys will be boys.” I asked her if she thought it was good that a six-year-old wants a game featuring death. She told me most young kids feel exactly the same which is why there are so many violent games on the market.
Certainly when I was a kid we played cops and robbers with simulated gun violence and there was a certain satisfaction with the death scene when we were gotten. In my circles you did not just plop over, there were a few moments of acting.
Still, there has been much concern about violence in our society. Some people postulate that the escalating violence is caused by a lack of communication. I believe the reason we have so much violence in America is that many Americans like violence.
Somewhat simplistically the answer is they like to watch it and like to do it. As children they learned to like violence. The enjoyment of violence, for itself, is a product of the American entertainment industry.
Violence in America is promulgated by those people who find violence enjoyable. Much of the violence in America happens because the perpetrator simply felt like hurting someone. Guns and knives are not the cause; rather, the source of violence is the sickness of enjoyed violence within our society.
There are gentle people and violent people here in America. It is hard to spot any difference in their appearance. The lambs and lions look alike. They lay down together but only one gets up. The difference is lions enjoy violence while the lambs do not.
I accept that there are times in our lives when violence may be the only option. However, much of the violence in our society is not needed; it is promoted as personal enjoyment. Even after thousands of years of human intellectual advancement, the same blood lust central to the society which enjoyed going to the Roman Coliseum to watch gladiators kill each other, is alive and well in our own society.
Can we lump those who enjoy watching violence with those who enjoy doing violence? Research suggests that what is experienced abstractly in a movie theater is often repeated in life. The people who enjoy watching violence may not always commit violence, but statistics indicate that as more people watch violence, we have more violent crime.
Can we lump those who enjoy watching violence with those who enjoy doing violence? Research suggests that what is experienced abstractly in a movie theater is often repeated in life. The people who enjoy watching violence may not always commit violence, but statistics indicate that as more people watch violence, we have more violent crime.
Know this: the reason gangs all over America look and act like gangs in Los Angeles is they are copying what they have seen on television and in the movies. Do gangs kill people because they have to or they want to? I suspect it is their blood lust which drives the violence. They enjoy doing it.
In a few years the young boy who likes fatalities may move from abstract deaths in a video game to real life death on the streets. At the murder trial a lawyer may call his mother to the stand. She will have to admit that she allowed her son to devalue life by letting him learn to enjoy violence.
Society will then have to decide what to do with him once it has been established by his testimony how much he really enjoys the very best fatalities.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
In a few years the young boy who likes fatalities may move from abstract deaths in a video game to real life death on the streets. At the murder trial a lawyer may call his mother to the stand. She will have to admit that she allowed her son to devalue life by letting him learn to enjoy violence.
Society will then have to decide what to do with him once it has been established by his testimony how much he really enjoys the very best fatalities.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
