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Kids, Do not Arm yourselves with Guns and Shoot People: A Public Service Announcement
Wednesday, March 30th, 2005 by joelSo. Hi there. Um. The title kind of says everything I wanted to say in this article, so now I just have to kill some space down here and pretend that I actually put thought into the things I do instead of impulsively picking topics and then hacking together poorly thought-out prose in the name of some universal truth. It’s cool.
I do not mean to make light of some of the recent tragedies that have struck in the nature of armed teenagers so I will adress some concerns related to that subject. When tragedy strikes of the kind so monstrous that it shocks our jaded nation, people want quick answers. Simple answers. In short, a scapegoat. Well it ain’t that simple. I have worked with children that the world and life and family have royaly screwed up in every way. Chemically, physically, neurologically, emotionally, and behaviorally. And when this kind of thing happens, there is not one singular event or cause or trauma that screws the kid up. Its always, ALWAYS a combination of things. That’s life.
Lets consider an example. Ever have one of those days? A day where everything goes wrong? And finally the final straw drops and you blow up at somebody or break something, or punch a hole in the sheetrock? Most people have at some point or another. It wasn’t one thing that drove you over the edge, it was everything. Well these kids lives are just a series of major traumas leading to an outburst.
My reason for saying all this is that frequently fingers are pointed at the media. Are violent images in shows, movies, and video games responsible for violent behavior? Partually. But a kid who is going to play violent games or watch violent movies or shows will already be predisposed toward violence. So would a movie push a kid like this over the edge? Maybe. But if it did, it would be the last thing in a long chain of events. So don’t start censoring media and think you have adressed the entire problem. Our consciences may be easily appeased, but problems are not so easily solved.
Beyond that, there are other issues to consider. For instance, one of the reasons we crave some amount of violence in our entertainment is that we, esspecially guys, crave physical, violent conflict. In a sense, violent entertainment helps us to sublimate these tendancies so that we are LESS likely to take them out on our environment.
What I am saying, kids, is that Darkstar may be shooting zombies with pistols, but its actually just a cartoon about a video game about imaginary violence. Don’t try this at home.
