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Oct 25, 2002 Everyone has seen or herd of the current crop of so called sniper shootings in and around Washington DC. Innocent people being killed wile pumping gas or even worse wile walking to school. But then again we’re all learning to accept that kind of violence. Why? There’s no way that kind of horrific event happens so often that most of us would get used to seeing it. Or dose it? When was the last time you watched TV? How about a nice pg13 movie? In truth everyone who watches TV sees people die everyday. Think that’s bad? Then you’re going to hate this bit of news. Some of today’s the most popular video games feature characters shooting and killing people. In the course of playing A game for a few hours you might virtually kill 100’s of people. And as if that’s not bad enough now the games are getting more realistic. Most are even Featuring pools of blood around your dead opponent. But it’s just a game you say. Now what if I told you that almost all of the high profile high school Killers loved their violent movies and video games. Don’t get me wrong I like playing horribly violent video games. Fortunately the new 3D graphics make me motion sick. So I can’t really play them that much. In a healthy adult such repeated acts of virtual violence both on TV and in video games simply desensitize the person. In a depressed tormented youth whom has been raised on virtual violence the effects can be seen at Columbine high School. Or perhaps at my local school shooting at Thurston High. In playing violent games myself I recognize that at some point the killing becomes automatic. You don’t even think twice before shooting someone. That effect has obviously carried over into real life. The shooters at columbine carefully and calmly mowed down their targets without hesitation. Actions like that are not natural to human beings they must be taught. Consider this. Police agencies all over The United States are now using video game like training machines to help train officers. These machines offer up real life scenarios that help officers discern between dangerous armed suspects and innocent by standers. The new programs also incorporate a special handgun to engage the bad guys with. If the officer fires before the assailant pulls out his gun an alarm sounds and the words (justify your actions) appear on the screen. So essentially using video games and TV we are training our youth to be mindless killers. Remember video games will never tell you to (justify your actions). Being a realist I know that violent entertainment will always abound. I’m just saying that kids and for that matter adults should minimize there exposure to virtual violence. ------------ Rick Kovarik is a 20 year old from the 90's generation. Email Rick: write-rick@yahoo.com ------------ |
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