Senator Leland Yee Apologizes For Comments
Readers might remember that, last week, California Senator Leland Yee told the San Francisco Chronicle that in the argument of whether video games cause gun related violence, gamers have no credibility on the issue and should quiet down.
In a Twitter post, Yee apologized for the comment. [quote]”Meant video game industry has inherent conflict of interest in the gun violence debate”[/quote] was what he had intended to say. In a follow up post, Yee said that he has respect for many gamers, some of whom are his staff and family. However, he goes on to say that the video game industry profited at the expense of children.
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Taylor Parolini
January 29, 2013 @ 10:45 am
“However, he goes on to say that the video game industry profited at the expense of children.”
I suppose that lots of kids do tend to buy videogames, just like they do in fact buy toys like Transformers and Monster High, but nobody says that Hasbro has profited at the expense of children when some violent asshole shoots up a school. Whatever.
Charles Kheng
January 29, 2013 @ 6:26 pm
A lot of people followed him on Twitter just to tell him how ridiculous he is.
Daniel Flatt
January 30, 2013 @ 10:52 am
The whole “video games cause violence” discussion at this point is just exhausting to me. Gaming companies, gamers, developers, publishers, and people outside the interest of gaming such as psychiatrists and therapists have all debunked the notion that violence and violent video games are tied hand in hand.
It seems no matter how many studies are done proving that video games and violence aren’t linked that every time something happens people completely ignorant of the video game culture, and the people that make up that culture, point their fingers and say obviously stuff like Call of Duty and Halo make us all vicious trained assassins.
First of all I’ve been gaming since I was 3. I play some of the most violent games, games where giant blades are rammed through mystical creatures eyes while blood fountains everywhere. I’ve shot up people in an airport as a terrorist in COD, I’ve played an evil demon that controls a dungeon, I’ve digitally sliced and diced every kind of baddie (and sometimes not so baddie) you can imagine over the years. However, I’ve never done real life violence (other than get in a few fights in high school but who doesnt?) and haven’t once even thought of shooting up a school.
It’s not like I’m the minority. Come on folks, gaming is a billion dollar industry that reaches millions of people from all ages and walks of life. If there were really an intrinsic link between the terrible violence we saw at Sandy Hook and our chosen hobby than surely this world would be utter chaos and the geeks, nerds and gamers would reign utter chaos down upon this world everyday.
But we don’t. You know who shoot children? Government and bloggers and everyone else, would you like to know the secret? It isn’t gamers, it isn’t people who own guns, and it isn’t somebody who watches violent movies or listens to rap music. It’s either utter sociopaths who were demented from day one that our mental institutions and psychologists failed or it’s some degraded violent little shit whose parents couldn’t have cared less while they were teaching him about being a decent human being.
What happened to just saying he was a wackjob? That utterly seems the case here. Are we not just allowed to call somebody crazy anymore? Does there have to be one thing we point to? Sometimes people are just fucked up, pardon my language. We can never, will never, understand why that idiot (I refuse to credit him for his terror) did what he did. He took that to the grave with him.
It wasn’t video games though.
Sean
February 3, 2013 @ 12:15 am
I’m the opposite of you Daniel. I started gaming when I was 17 and had been violent every single one of those 17 years.
For me, the real test of violent video games’ influence on humanity comes when you inject Halo, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Crysis, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Skyrim, and STALKER into the life of someone already heavily predisposed to violence, like myself.
I may not have a degree in psychology (nor would I EVER want one) and my methods may not be scientific, but if violent video games really had any affect at all on human minds, it should have tipped me BACK over the edge at some point in the last 5 years.
At best my anecdotal evidence illustrates only one example of violent video games and to be perfectly fair the other factors involved may have influenced the final outcome.
Charles Kheng
February 3, 2013 @ 1:01 am
They just need someone to point blame at. They seemed to have forgotten that it was someone who snapped and used guns to kill these children but rather, believed that it was someone who used Call of Duty to kill children.
It is easy to blame video games because no one is lobbying it.
Taylor Parolini
January 30, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
There has always been violence and there always will be, because human beings are violent creatures by nature. The only difference between the caveman days and today is that we try to blame it on influences other than our nature.
Daniel Flatt
January 30, 2013 @ 6:50 pm
Well said sir.
bleachorange
February 4, 2013 @ 9:53 pm
There is a link between repeated failure and aggressive, violent behavior. But it’s largely anecdotal, and mostly known as ‘taking your frustration out on someone/thing’ and not limited to gaming at all, no matter how many times that sniper spawncamps you. Non-gamers shoot people too, believe it or not. How did we ever have crime, war, or bullying, if not for video games, right? I’ve been so wrong, I must go home and rethink my life.
bleachorange
February 4, 2013 @ 9:55 pm
This repeated failure I speak of is the kind where a person feels like they’ve hit a dead end and are banging their head against the wall (so to speak). something you feel is inherently unfair or undoable, not necessarily something that is merely difficult.