Violence and Pop Culture

Finally! I have to thank the author for sharing with everyone that media is not to blame for the teen's violent actions. The attention should be focused with what children are doing with the media. Why has it taken so long to acknowledge this? From time to time, browsing through ign.com, gamespot or gamepro, there would be an article about a teenager who killed his sister over a wrestling move he saw in a game or random shooting because the kid thought it was cool to see that in a video game. Rockstar company has dealt with this situation several times with one lawsuit after another being the blame for the kids violent actions from their GTA games. Stories like these upset me because society needs someone to blame and they point fingers at game developers. Hey genius! Point the fingers at the kid and their parents. I have worked at Gamestop myself and you have no idea how often I would have an underage kid ask me to sell him an "M" rated game or parents purchasing a game that is not appropriate for this child. And I would inform them exactly what the game contains and how it's not suited for young children. Yet, seeing their lack of knowledge to potential consequences left me surprised.

The article states that students draw into their world the darkest, most brutal, antisocial images available to them and turn those symbols into vehicles for their personal demons, their self-destructive impulses, their desires to hurt those who have hurt them. This statement is almost genius because THIS is what children, who go out commiting stupid crimes, are doing with the media. This is how they interpret the games they interact with. It's not the game developers fault. They have a clear targeted audience for their product. They have no control as to who plays their game. The parents need to have a better disciplinary system for their child and video games. Game designers dont advertise their violent game to children with signs that say "Shooting people is cool. It's fun commiting crimes in video games so go out and apply it to the real world!"

Society needs to wake up and smell the coffee.