Video Games A Scapegoat for Youth Violence Essay examples

Americans have been blaming violent forms of entertainment since colonial times. From dime novels to music, to movies to television shows. The most recent medium are video games. Aided by crime-saturated news reports, a lot of people are convinced that video game violence transfers to real-life youth crimes like the school massacres. They think that violent video games make people violent, but that is not the case. Violent people play violent video games. Not everyone who plays video games are violent, but those who already are violent will play them as an outlet for their frustration and rage. If anything, video games keep violent people from going out and killing people in real life because they can vent in the virtual world. People†¦show more content†¦If schools could establish programs that would help identify and refer depression and suicidal tendencies in minors, more would get the help they need (Olson). There is no proof that youth violence has been on the rise. On the contrary, juvenile crime and violence has gone down since 1990 while video game sales have soared, as seen in the graph below. Juvenile Violent Crime Index Compared to U.S. Game Software Sales 1990-2008 ï ¿ ¼ (â€Å"Video Game and Violence: The Myth versus the Reality†) So how is it that it is the fault of video game violence that makes juveniles violent? As much as media coverage will have people think the â€Å"wave of violence gripping America’s youth† (Grossman), the truth is violent attacks in America’s schools are â€Å"extremely rare events. The odds that a child will die in school through murder or suicide are less than one in one million† (Olson). Increase in news reports about crime just end up raising viewers’ perception of risk, whether or not there is actual danger (Olson). â€Å"Experts† like to over dramatize things. Retired Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, is convinced that video games not only make youths violent, they also teach them to shoot accurately. His evidence for that is the Michael Carneal’s shooting of a prayer group in Heath High School in Paducah, Kentuck in 1999. He states that Carneal â€Å"landed eight out of eight shots on eight different targets. Five of those were head shot s† (Hoerrner). He says not even trained FBI agentsShow MoreRelatedSociety’s Most Recent Scapegoat: Video Gaming1637 Words   |  7 PagesRebellious, violent behavior in youth is often treated simplistically – whether Elvis Presley’s latest hits, the programs airing on Saturday night television, or the newest film playing in theaters were popular amongst children and young adults, the blame for unfavorable behavior has always had its scapegoat. One of the most recent additions to society’s scapegoats is video gaming. 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