Trump shifts blame to violent video games, movies in gun violence discussion

[Neo-Scholastic]

I actually do believe that the level of violence depicted in media, including video games, is a likely contributing cause.

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I can barely watch television shows anymore because it's so gruesome. I've always thought there was value in the old Hayes code but what finally tipped the scale for me was watching "The Punisher". Never before have I seen such a positive portrayal of brutal and grisly violence. Plus, the main character is a glorified loner outcast fighting his tragic past. These types of 'heroes' perfectly parallel the personal lives of these school shooters - bullied, ostracized by their peers, misunderstood, alone, and ready to fight the "system" that traumatized them. What sucks is that the only other option is "Father Brown" which is good but gets old after a while. As for video games, its not so much that they are graphic; but rather that they socially isolate players. They aren't getting groups together to play D&D, war games, bowling, or even paintball.

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Except, there's no data to show you're right.  And, trust me, since Columbine there's been a number of studies done to see if there's a connection between video game violence and real world violence.  There's no correlation.

Also, most popular games are now multiplayer.  Not just in terms of some kid vs. other anonymous kids, but in team play.  The most popular games - CoD, PUBG, Overwatch, Fortnite, and the various MOBAs - require coordination to play at anything above scrub level.  They're the opposite of socially isolating.

That's true about studies. And I remember lots of concern about this one arcade game where you drove around in a graveyard running over zombies. Similarly, lots of people play video games without becoming social degenerates. Then again then are lots of responsible gun owners too and there's no evidence that simply owning a gun causes you to become violent. That's the difference between symptoms and causes.

At the same time, I doubt that studies can measure the general negative effect on society as a whole from such graphic sex and violence. What we consider normative and acceptable public and private behavior seems different and for the worse. Our culture is more openly shameless and vulgar than before, although I wasn't around back then. I can only guess by the difference between the artful suggestion of violence of 1950's film noir or the responsible civic courage depicted in movies like "High Noon" in which the bad guys always lost versus the graphic, casual brutality of today's violent "heroes", from Dirty Harry to the Punisher, that's only gotten worse since the 1970's.