Are Video Games More Saviour Than Scourge?
Julian Hyland
Rothwell Period B
5/29/18
In the wake of the brutal Santa Fe High School massacre, and many other shootings before it, fingers are pointed at all sorts of problems. From gun safety, to mental health, and even to a lack of faith; no person, idea, group or object is safe from taking the blame. But one particular topic keeps turning up and sticking out like a sore thumb:
Video games.
“Many have lost empathy to their victims by watching hours of video, violent games.” said Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, just 2 days after the tragedy in Santa Fe. Patrick shares this sentiment with many other people, including the NRA and President Trump, but the information they give to fight for their stance is minimal, and when counter-assertions are made, they are flawed in logic and facts. These arguments are often made to cover up the bigger issues. Studies show that video games do not cause violent behavior, and instead of isolating people
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However, this is not the case. Target, GameStop, EB Games, and many other popular game retailers directly state in their policy that they do not sell M rated games to minors without a parent or guardian present. The only way a minor could get their hands on an ill-rated game would be through plain bad parenting. Many scientists agree that video game usage must be moderated to set amounts of time, and sometimes kids play too much and get distracted from their school work, but that’s just a manner of bad parenting. Parents also have the responsibility of setting limits, so there should be no reason why a child would have problems caused by video games. This proves that video games are not the cause of violence, and, to counter-assert Dan Patrick, even if they did, the Santa Fe shooter had no record of playing them at