Obama Instructs CDC to Research Links Between Violent Media and Real-Life Violence

To me this sounds sort of like he's telling them to find something that isn't there.

Yes, people, this is it! This is the year humanity discovers the root of its violent tendencies and solves all tragedy forever!

...The people who are responding to this as is it's some noble scientific endeavour are showing shocking political naivety. It's an attempt to make political capital from the atmosphere of shock and sadness created by the Sandy Hook shooting. If the study finds some kind of relationship of correlation between violent media and shootings, which it probably will, then that can be spun into further PR and political capital, possibly in the form of a shake-up of the censorship and certification process that games go through. Such a shake-up would either be meaningless or it would be restrictive, but there's one thing it would definitely be, which is a fruitless waste of public money.

If the study finds nothing worth reporting on - much like the other studies which have shown no significant causal link between violent media and real life violence - it will be forgotten about, so we can come back and do this all again in the wake of another tragedy, a few years down the line. Most likely the president at that time make some reassuring posturing about getting to the root of the new mass killings while referencing the scapegoat of the day (probably still video games), and many will nod their heads and say 'well that's good; I'm glad they're doing this, at least we'll finally know' - and the Gallup numbers may go up slightly. Wise up and grow some principles, o ye participants of society.

We'll find out if games cause people to go mad and massacre people on the same day we find out whether reading James Herbert or Mein Kampf does the same - which is never. You can't definitively prove a negative when dealing with factors like this, only decide that the factors are statistically inconsequential. In the absence of a definitive 'no', there will always be emotive calls for studies like this to be performed over and over, looking for the silver bullet that the previous studies failed to find, made by people who don't understand how a free society works. Everyone is shaped by everything. However, if you don't spot this worthless PR for the pap it is, then sooner or later you'll encounter the right combination of paternalistic researchers and politicians, who will happily give you all the shielding you ever wanted from nasty influences, and more besides.

Let's hear it for people STILL not grasping the concept of stupid folks killing each other.

The only way to stop a bad guy with a violent videogame is a good guy with a violent videogame. Surely a 'scientific' study into the link between gun ownership and violent actions would be a better place to start, but sure why not, if nothing else I hope it puts a full stop after this ridiculous perennial straw man. Poorly implemented health system? Soz, violent video games.

Logics are wasted on people apparently. Every nation in the world play violent videogames, yet USA is the one with schoolshootings... seems like the liberal gunlaws that only exist in the stats are more likely to be the cause of shootings than violent media that is common all over the place...

They are only going to be able to research short term exposure to whatever stimulus they choose. They won't be able to study the life long exposure that most of us have with videogames.

I'm all for studies. If the CDC shows there is no correlation then maybe the media will finally let it go.

Oh great. This worked out well for comics. Certainly not going to have any negative affects on another fledgling media.

Goodbye First Amendment!

Goodbye Second Amendment!

Goodbye Fourteenth Amendment!

The truth that nobody seems willing to admit is that there is no external problem that causes violence. Human beings have been killing other human beings for tens of thousands of years, long before guns, video games, rock and roll or whatever were ever invented. Evolution only has one rule- to survive at any cost. The old idea that we are evolving "toward" some ideal future is an old, tired, and slightly racist idea that came from Victorian society and has no basis in good science. As a result, violence is perceived in our subconscious mind as being a perfectly reasonable option for survival, and this response may be triggered in the mind of the mentally ill even if there is no clear survival benefit from violence.

If you want to ban something that will make the world perfectly safe, ban human beings. Otherwise, accept the fact that living among other human beings is a potentially hazardous undertaking.

This is not a bad thing. Having real scientific evidence to back up all of our claims that the violent games and other media we consume does not turn us into homicidal maniacs will be a good thing. This means that the Jack Thomson's of the world will have to pull out a different card from the deck because the science will prove otherwise. I think it's a good thing to do if people are going to continue berating game publishers for events completely unrelated to their company or their games.

Hey i got the answer: PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. There... And it cost zero penny.

@leejunfan83 said:

I actually wouldn't mind less violent games if it meant less call of duty and why does violence equal fun to some

Does someone force you to play Call of Duty? I can give a number to get help if someone is forcing you.

@mattman734: I don't think anyone is saying it has NO EFFECT, we are just saying it dosen't cause a normal person to have homicidal tendencies.

@DarkPants: That is if the government in fact listens to the science the last big research they a president made the cdc do that i can think of was pot and they found it was completely harmless and then they were promptly ignored and banned it anyway.

@OsvaldoMoreno said:

Hey i got the answer: PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. There... And it cost zero penny.

This!

@Legion_: I'm sorry I happen to know of a third outcome. 3. the research and fin no connection what so ever and banned video games anyway just like they did with weed. The US government does not have a very good track record with things like this. Science can say what ever they want the government will do what ever they want regardless.

@darkdragonmage99: So can gamers and pot smokers lol

@Blimble: lol

@darkdragonmage99 said:

@Legion_: I'm sorry I happen to know of a third outcome. 3. the research and fin no connection what so ever and banned video games anyway just like they did with weed. The US government does not have a very good track record with things like this. Science can say what ever they want the government will do what ever they want regardless.

That's not going to happen. First off, the supreme court has already ruled against it. So a major scientific study has to be the basis for something like that. And come on, there's plenty bad with weed.

Short term:

• Impaired memory and inability to learn
• Difficulties in thinking and problem solving
• Distorted Perception
• Anxiety attacks or feelings of paranoia
• Impaired muscle coordination and judgment
• Increased susceptibility to infections
• Burning and stinging of mouth and throat
• Impairment in driving skills
• Increases the heart rate in normal people and worsens heart rate in with heart disease or high blood pressure.

Long term:

• Studies shows that the potential chemical -THC, present in marijuana adversely affect human brain and mental health.
• Regular use of marijuana or
  K2 shows the same respiratory problems ascigarette smoking. Persistent coughing, symptoms of bronchitis and more frequent chest colds are possible symptoms.
• Studies shows that long-term use of marijuana suppresses the production of hormones that help regulate the reproductive system both in men and women.
• Highly increases the risk of heart attack in regular users.
• Smoking marijuana on regular basis increases the likelihood of developing cancer of the head or neck.
• It has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because of the various carcinogens present in it.
• It may badly affect the immune system’s ability to fight disease.
• Chronic marijuana use causes high levels of depression, anxiety.
• Adversely affects the power of memory and learning.

CDC was in Syphon Filter.

Thank you.

Can we consider this "stimulus funding" or is this just wasted money?

@crow13:

I don't smoke never have never will don't drink either I've even refuse to take prescribed pain medication. That being said I know the science weed is harmless it only got added to the list because it's the only drug prevalent enough to Justify the war on drugs. Just one more scapegoat in a long line of scapegoats for the violence problem in this country video games is simply up they will either survive or be banned for the next 30 years.

@Godlyawesomeguy said:

@JackG100 said:

Every nation in the world play violent videogames, yet USA is the one with schoolshootings... seems like the liberal gunlaws that only exist in the stats are more likely to be the cause of shootings than violent media that is common all over the place...

Oh jesus.

1. The United States is NOT the only one with school shootings, and much less is the only one with gun violence.

2. The gun laws in the United States are far from liberal. If you want liberal gun laws, go search most other nations gun laws and do a quick compare and contrast between the two.

3. You may have been being incredulous, but I seriously doubt strict gun laws have anything to do with shootings.

If you want to see a country with the gun laws people think the US has, just look to Finland.

@darkdragonmage99: Im saying even if they ban it you cant get rid of it. Someone will make hacks/ mods. The demand for it at this point is too great. Prohibition doesn't work.

WTF! Man. The people of tokyo play all kinds of games. You can walk into a smokey arcade and everybody is throwing uppercuts and roundhouse kicks at each other in street fighting games. They have all kinds of stuff over there.. The violence in real life is so low it is staggering!

It is the US culture compounded by our jacked up dichotomy. Education is low, split class is high, and a basic infatuation with violence.

When you have tons of countries in the world that all consume the same games, movies, and books but have drastically different murder rates and gun violence rates etc.. you have to ask yourself WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE. This is so simple to me it is downright stupid we don't see it.. Perhaps we just won't see it is the problem.

Pop Quiz : If 2 Twins named Bob and Tim both eat a lot of strawberries and Tim but not Bob likes to drink a bit of orange juice and Tim breaks out in hives but Bob almost never does. What is exacerbating Tims problem?

A: Strawberries because they are most commonly associated with hives, anywhere. Plus Bob does get hives sometimes and he eats strawberries!!!!!!

B: The motherfucking Orange juice! Yeesh.

@alibson said:

I don't know about violence, but I feel like all this sexism in video games these days is turning me into a rapist. I saw a woman in a game once with her tits out, now I can't help but treat all women like objects.

Hahaha.

@revel: OH GOD I suck at quiz's so.... 7?

This is so stupid. I've played games my whole life and I'm totally unaffected. This news just makes me so mad i want to smash something! arthghghghghuuuaaa!

@Legion_: How is any of those worse then the side effects on every perception drug in existence and some over the counter drugs? We declare all of those thing perfectly safe for human consumption weed wont do any more damage to you then taking a few extra strength tylenol every day for a few years will do to you. By the way doing that will destroy your liver in case you didn't know.

By the way you should remove some of those from the list simply because it's not the substance doing it it's the action smoking anything damages your lungs it's why I've never done it and never will . I don't drink either dumping poison down your gullet is the act of a retard.

Living in Canada is pretty cool. No-one really gives a shit.

@Legion_: Vaporizing marijuana removes every single negative you listed, as does eating it.

EDIT: Also, half of your negatives are buuulllshiiiittt. source for depression, please.

The ESA makes some good points in their press release that are hard to refute

@ghostNPC said:

Living in Canada is pretty cool. No-one really gives a shit.

Yeah, that and in some places, like Winnipeg, for much of the year you aren't going to have gun-related violence anyway because gun mechanisms ice up really quickly. Ask all the Americans who fly up to northern Manitoba to go hunting in the winter. I've heard it all. Frost inside the scopes, trigger frozen up, ice in the barrel, you ain't shooting shit.

Oh yeah baby text adventure resurgence!

Forget about it duders. Let them research. I'm curious to know what they find. Personally, as long as it's in good taste, I don't care how violent games are. But it does feel like most games are violent, especially from the companies at the top of the pile.

@darkdragonmage99 said:

@Legion_: How is any of those worse then the side effects on every perception drug in existence and some over the counter drugs? We declare all of those thing perfectly safe for human consumption weed wont do any more damage to you then taking a few extra strength tylenol every day for a few years will do to you. By the way doing that will destroy your liver in case you didn't know.

By the way you should remove some of those from the list simply because it's not the substance doing it it's the action smoking anything damages your lungs it's why I've never done it and never will . I don't drink either dumping poison down your gullet is the act of a retard.

I don't find that the "other stuff does that too" argument to justify anything. Anyway, you said there was no proof marijuana did anything bad, and I proved otherwise.

As if people being paid from a $10 Million check to find a specific thing WON'T find that very thing. Imagine, for instance, the "Global Warming" research establishment and the ridiculous amounts of money being paid to research THAT. Ever wonder why they are so resistant to the idea that maybe CO2 isn't causing the planet to warm ? Couldn't be that their very livelihoods depend on the paycheck that comes from governments paying for global warming research. How many paychecks you think they would continue to receive if they started to lean towards the position that CO2 emmissions AREN'T the end of the world ? How many CDC researchers you think will continue to get paychecks for taking government money in the name of "linking video game violence and real violence" and then finds no such link ? Not many. This is disgusting.

@leejunfan83 said:

I actually wouldn't mind less violent games if it meant less call of duty and why does violence equal fun to some

Great. Good for you. And I suppose you think its a good idea for there to BE less violent games as enforced by the government at the end of THEIR gun. Because that is the only logical conclusion to be reached in this case.

@murisan said:

@Legion_: Vaporizing marijuana removes every single negative you listed, as does eating it.

EDIT: Also, half of your negatives are buuulllshiiiittt. source for depression, please.

"There are also links between marijuana and other mental health conditions. Marijuana use may trigger schizophrenia or detachment from reality (psychosis) in people who are at higher risk of psychosis. The symptoms of diagnosed psychotic illness and its course may be aggravated if marijuana use continues. There is also some evidence that teenagers who attempt suicide may be more likely to have used marijuana than those who have not made an attempt. As with marijuana use and depression, more research is needed to better understand these associations" - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/marijuana-and-depression/AN01900

The key thing to latch onto is that more research is needed. I find that marijuana users (I have a lot of friends who use, and I've used before) tend to say that there are no side effects at all. That's just not true, and they're not interested in doing any research. So basically like smokers back in the day.

Man jeff is lucky, I want to meet Joe Biden. That guy is the coolest.

@00 said:

Having properly funded and well regarded research on this subject can only be a good thing.

I think most of us know that violent media does not make you violent, but people that don't know anything about video games may not. Having science to back this up helps us.

As if that is what will happen. ROTFLMAO!!!!

This it the US government, remember. Operator of the US Postal Service. Funding cancer research for some 3 decades to the tune of billions of dollars per year. Remind me again about the US gov't funded cure for cancer. Or anything else for that matter.

I have played Video games for years. I first started playing adventure games on the PC until the early 2000's. I then started gravitating towards different genres, such as Role-playing, action adventures, and first-person shooters, but only occasionally on the latter. I have been an X-Box 360 owner for at least 3 years, and I love playing the Mass Effect games, or any other games that have great story-driven campaigns.

During my years of gaming, I have not once showed a tendency towards real-life violence. That said, I think I understand what the President is trying to do here. In my honest opinion, President Obama is just trying to figure out how we can prevent our children from getting murdered like what happened at Sandy Hook School. I'm also relieved to see that he's doing that by not just focusing solely on Video Games, but other kinds of media images, and gun-related violence.

So, yes, I support the decision to conduct this study, and I hope some other people on the Giant Bomb forums can agree with me on this.

How many times do they have to research the effects of violent games? Hilary Clinton was the last politician to try and link video games to violent behavior.. She wasn't the first. What they all had in common was that violent video games don't make people violent. Can we please stop the video game witch hunt.

I disagree that violent images of any kind whether they be video games, movies, pictures, or anything else has anything to do with these mass shootings. Why does this happen every generation? Always something else to blame than the real problem. The US has some of the worst mental health policies. We need more help for people, or this will continue. 

Oh, and by the way, lets not be stupid, ok ? Of COURSE there is a link between violent games or violent TV and movies and actual violence. Only problem is the idiots in the government and the idiots in the media have the relationship completely backwards. Man is violent. Or did you all miss the wars on the planet that have been raging for centuries, only one of which has included video games, TV, and movies. There are violent games, TV, and movies because the naturally violent nature of mankind DESIRES it. Not the other way around.

Right. Marijuana and videogames and the existence of guns are the causes of people going crazy and murdering folks, and not their initial mental condition.

And yet again 'research' will be done by biased, agenda-driven, out-of-touch individuals seeking a specific result, yielding no real revelations of anything. I can only see more censorship as a result of this. And yet again the State will declare it knows better than individuals about how to run their lives. It's just like the drug war; the individual hardly has any sovereignty over what they can do with their own mind and body because the State disallows it.