TPTB's Assault on the our Children?

Is it possible TPTB are using the media to change a child's perception of the world?

I don't recall seeing anything extremely violent in the media when I was a boy... but sitting here listening to the TV in the background I realised that I've already heard several people killed... I happen to turn at the right time to watch one...

this made me think about the fact that I've never watched a lot of TV, but I've always been a gamer, and I know theres a ton of us kindred spirits out there... but even video games have changed.

Remember this?



That was a great game once upon a time... and I admit I still love to go back to the classics once in a while... but the games that we've seen in the past 12 years or so have changed drastically... No more will you see the happy plumber bashing bricks and running from mushrooms and koopa... These days games are about killing... and we're not talking about killing a little turtle here here...

We've come a long way from the 8 bit systems of old. The graphics these days make the game almost real... especially to a young mind...



Violence in the Media

Decades of psychological research confirms that media violence can increase aggression.

Findings



Virtually since the dawn of television, parents, teachers, legislators, and mental health professionals have been concerned about the content of television programs and its impact, particularly on children. Of special concern has been the portrayal of violence, especially given psychologist Albert Bandura's work on social learning and the tendency of children to imitate what they see. As a result of 15 years of consistently disturbing findings about the violent content of children's programs, the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior was formed in 1969 to assess the impact of violence on the attitudes, values and behavior of viewers. The resulting Surgeon General's report and a follow-up report in 1982 by the National Institute of Mental Health identify these major effects of seeing violence on television:

Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others


Children may be more fearful of the world around them


Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others


Research by psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann, Leonard Eron and others found that children who watched many hours of violence on television when they were in elementary school tended to also show a higher level of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers. By observing these youngsters into adulthood, Drs. Huesmann and Eron found that the ones who'd watched a lot of TV violence when they were eight years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults. Interestingly, being aggressive as a child did not predict watching more violent TV as a teenager, suggesting that TV watching may more often be a cause rather than a consequence of aggressive behavior.

Violent video games are a more recent phenomenon; therefore there is less research on their effects. However, research by psychologist Craig A. Anderson and others shows that playing violent video games can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in actual life. In fact, a study by Dr. Anderson in 2000 suggests that violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing and require the player to identify with the aggressor.

Dr. Anderson and other researches are also looking into how violent music lyrics affect children and adults. In a 2003 study involving college students, Anderson found that songs with violent lyrics increased aggression related thoughts and emotions and this effect was directly related to the violent content of the lyrics. "One major conclusion from this and other research on violent entertainment media is that content matters," says Anderson. "This message is important for all consumers, but especially for parents of children and adolescents."

www.apa.org...

Now considering the recent trend of shootings in the world... I'd like to suggest a possible cause...

There is a game that seemed to be presented to us at a tipping point in the world... which focused on glamorizing the life of a gangster...

Released in October 2001 a month after the world watched in terror as two of the world's largest buildings dropped like rocks falling from the sky... They captured the worlds attention and sent a sense of insecurity and fear all across the world. Then they took aim at our young with an assault on their senses...



As the game evolved and the graphics improved... the game got more real...



Now im not blaming the worlds problems on video games here... being a gamer myself of course...

Though it seems that the increase in violence in our youth directly corresponds to the games that are released... the graphics get better, which means theres more detail and reality to the violence you'll find in these kind of games... but I suppose its ironic that almost all of these school shootings that have happened in the past few years were commited by gamers... Perhaps my statistics are wrong though... a lot of the worlds population are gamers in one way or the other.

But i'll leave one final note...

Do you find it interesting that those who claim to come in peace usually have bad intentions?

I think what you're seeing is that as technology exponentially grows, so does the desire for instant gratification. Instant news alerts and such inform the people much faster than before and people eat it up when they get the latest happenings on their smartphone or tablet.

We just hear about the violence more. It sure isn't anything new.

Not to mention the money involved.....

So I would not say it is games, per se, but technology as a whole.

in GTA i love to steal cars and beat hookers to death after I rob them, its great fun!

I also love me some super mario 3 and super mario world.

its a parents responsibility to keep ur kids from violence and whatnot.. Our 11 year old daughter is not allowed to watch allot of things, we don't let her play certain games, we monitor her internet also.

These games are labeled mature and 17+ most of them, if your 10-16yr kids are playing them its because you are bad parents.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


Without this technology people wouldn't be able to practically live a gang style murder... or an "assassins" life...

Did you know the American government even got in on training todays youth to be soldiers?

www.americasarmy.com...

Get em while they're young?

reply to post by Akragon


Perhaps they are trying to tap into a multi-billion dollar industry.

All I know is that there are millions of people that play violent games.....they're not trying to kill people on a regular basis!

Gaming, just like guns, is a convenient excuse used by those who refuse to look at the emotional status of the individual, as well as the intellect.

reply to post by Akragon

Is it possible TPTB are using the media to change a child's perception of the world?

well just to answer this question and this question alone.

of course 'they' do. what do you think a drink driving ad is about? or a quit smoking campaign. more directed at adults obv but you get the point.

to the rest of your post : no doubt video games have gotten more violent but whether its a deliberate thing or not is hard to say. unfrotunately i think these companies are just giving people want they want. i say unfortunate because its unfortunate that we want violence.

reply to post by Akragon


Although the article you linked is interesting, the findings from a wider swath of studies show that while the violent stimulus created an aggressive response, this response was transient and not long lasting.

Violent and nonviolent video games produce opposing effects on aggressive and prosocial outcomes
Video Games and Youth Violence: A Prospective Analysis in Adolescents

Current research is not finding much in the way of a long term correlations between violent media and violent behavior (part of this is the ethics of research). Research is showing, however, that the indicators we had before (mental health issues) are still proving to be the best answer to the issue of violence rather than exposure to media violence.

For many people, it seems to make sense that seeing lots of "fantasy" violence will induce violent behavior - but using the same logic, we might surmise the rise in obesity in America is due to too many programs on FoodTV and easy access to cookbooks. Although viewing these programs and reading cookbooks can increase appetite, this is only a transient response.

No one is arguing that seeing violence in the media does not create an aggressive response. The problem is that we have no long term studies correlating violent media consumption and violent behaviors.

We do know that exposure to actual violence has a long term impact on the behavioral characteristics of individuals - however one can not make the logical jump from "fantasized" violence to actual violence in the same way you make the jump from "actual" violence to actual violence.

No one is saying we don't need to study this problem - we just need to be cautious that we don't let our opinions get in the way.

reply to post by sweord


We want violence because its glamorized in the media... its considered "entertaining"... but unfortunately its all around us already... and for most, violence in neighbourhood is not what we want...

Imagine if a game like this was somehow brought back to the 1950s and shown to anyone... I would assume anyone at that time that saw this level of violence would like vomit when shown what we see today.

Violence in all forms of todays media might be designed to make the general public numb to actually seeing such things in real life. A child who has been exposed to this type of programming would likely have little compunction with committing such acts as you'll see in the GTA games.

And in the past TV has been many parents babysitters...

well perhaps theres a new babysitter in town...

reply to post by Akragon

We want violence because its glamorized in the media

well perhaps...maybe the media glamorizes it because it sells...at some point WE have to take some responsibility.
if the media started glamorizing graphic shows about diahorrea would you watch?

Originally posted by sweord
reply to post by Akragon

 

We want violence because its glamorized in the media

well perhaps...maybe the media glamorizes it because it sells...at some point WE have to take some responsibility.
if the media started glamorizing graphic shows about diahorrea would you watch?

This is hardly about what I would watch... Somehow I think the only way diarrhea will get your heart pumping the way violence does is if you happen to have the explosive type yourself.

As a matter of fact... the programing found on TV today was once restricted to the later hours, but these days you'll see extreme acts of violence even in the middle of the day... Its become a part of our society, practically programmed into our lives... and the chances that children will see it is growing by the day, even if its by mistake.

Think i'll put a link to this thread here....

Prince Harry: Murdering is like a video game

reply to post by Akragon


look, i dont disagree with anything you said in your OP really. i just dont think its a deliberate thing. now would the TPTB take advantage of an already existing problem of violence in society...DEFINITELY.