Devaluing Human Life?

[howeird]

Something frankwu said on spacekatgal's LJ, which she dittoed is a major point of contention for me. They say video games, especially first person shooters which exploit violence for the sake of violence, devalue human life.

Hogwash.

It's a game. You're using harmless electrons to attack harmless electrons on an electronic screen attached to an electronic box. If anything, video games are therapeutic - they allow you to take out your aggression on imaginary objects in an imaginary scenario, using imaginary weapons. It's almost as therapeutic as whacking an effigy of your boss with a baseball bat. One could argue that it takes kids off the street who might otherwise be outside with real weapons, in real scenarios, killing real people.

I hold every sharpshooting medal the NRA offers, and I'm here to tell you that first person shooter games are about as useful as a marksmanship training tool as Seinfeld is as a tutorial in nuclear physics.

The argument that video games lead to real life violence is as valid as the argument that book, TV and movie violence leads to real life violence. Yes, there are examples of people who commit crimes inspired by TV, movies and video games. But they are few and far between, nowhere near a significant number compared to the number of people who love to read violent-themed books, watch violent TV shows and movies, or play violent video games.

Comments

[frankwu.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying that playing/watching violent videogames/movies makes one into a violent killer.

I'm not saying that at all.

It's not nearly so black and white.

What I am saying that human beings deserve respect as human beings, and shouldn't be treated like cannon fodder, in reality or virtually.

I complain a lot in my writers group that I read too many stories where characters - real, breathing human beings - are killed in course of the story. AND NOBODY SEEMS TO CARE.

I guess I've had too much first hand experience with people dying - people I know, or seeing dead bodies (2) in the streets of Mexico City, with people just walking by, ignoring them.

Sure, shoot as many asteroids and spaceships as you want, but it viscerally sickens me when I see human heads exploding like cantaloupes - or perhaps red grapefruits would be a better analogy. Just as much as it sickens me to see movies on YouTube of Iraqis slicing off the heads of their screaming captives. Or to see smashed and pulped faces blown off their respective heads, lying in the streets of Baghdad.

There's a coarsening of the human spirit going on here, a growing callousness of the soul. And THAT's what I'm opposed to.

[howeird]

See my comment to our friend in Denver.

I hear what you are saying, and would agree if I saw virtuality parallel with reality. I don't. To me, virtuality is a place where we can kill characters, blow people up, depict unnatural acts, etc. without hurting anyone.

The youTube terrorists are real people, their videos show extreme violence against real people. They make me angry, and they make me want to puke. Just because something is on video doesn't make it virtual, to me a least. The people you kill in the virtual world can get up and be in the next round.

[spacekatgal.livejournal.com]

Frank: "There's a coarsening of the human spirit going on here, a growing callousness of the soul. And THAT's what I'm opposed to."

I couldn't agree more strongly.

I don't mean to light off a political discussion, but there are some things I really find disturbing as part of the American ethos at the moment. We actually have a political faction that wants to legalize torture. People are being detained by our country in secret prisons without having been charged with a crime. Atrocities like Haditha happen with barely a mention in our media.

Are videogames to blame directly? Or course not. But we live in a culture with shows like 24 that regularly justify torture. Our American military makes free first-person shooters that markets military inculcation as a videogame. We are surrounded by remarkably detailed computer simulations of horrific violence - and I can't help but feel that our society sees it more and more as a cartoon and not something that steals away our humanity.

bri

[howeird]

Been thinking about this some more, and the little light went on that you are an artist, you use your hands to create images from life, so for you the line between the two must be very thin. My art is photography, capturing images with a machine, and my job for several years has been to look at pixels and spectrum analyzers, so the wall between life and images is tall, wide and thick for me.