Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: Phyphor on April 10, 2013, 05:04:22 PM
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/dianne-feinstein-video-games_n_3016703.html
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that Congress may be forced to take action to limit video game violence.
Speaking to an audience of around 500 in San Francisco, Feinstein, who led the charge in the Senate on an assault weapons ban, said the video game industry should take voluntary steps to make sure it does not glorify guns in the wake of the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. She added that if the industry does not, Congress is prepared to take action, according to the Associated Press.
Feinstein said that video games play, "a very negative role for young people, and the industry ought to take note of that."
"If Sandy Hook doesn't do it ... then maybe we have to proceed, but that is in the future," she added.
The California Democrat is the latest to add her voice to a chorus of lawmakers, including many Republicans, who have connected violence in video games to gun violence.
In January, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told MSNBC's Chuck Todd that he believes "video games is a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people."
Tennessee Republican Rep. Diane Black attributed the Sandy Hook shooting to "unprecedented levels of violent games, music and so on," and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) in December introduced a bill to study the impact of violent video games on children, one of Congress's first pieces of legislation related to the tragedy in Newtown. Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) also stated his support in December for a commission to study the effect of violent video games on mass shootings.
National Rifle Association CEO and executive vice president Wayne LaPierre was also quick to blame violent video games for the events at the Sandy Hook, after it was found that shooter Adam Lanza may have played video games like "Call of Duty" and "Starcraft."
Nearly 30 years of studies have shown that there is scant evidence to support the claim that violent video games influence real-life violence, dating back to the first major violent video game study in 1984. Critics argue such attempts to correlate the two are little more than scapegoating video games in order to avoid getting to the root of gun violence.
Related on HuffPost:
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Funds For First Responders
The Obama administration will call on Congress to provide additional funding to train public and private personnel at schools to respond to active shooter situations.
Invest In School Safety Strategies
The Obama administration, through executive action, encourages school districts to use Comprehensive School Safety Grants to purchase school safety equipment, develop and update public safety plans, conduct threat assessments and train "crisis intervention teams" of law enforcement officers to work with the mental health community while responding and assisting students in crisis.
Money For Safer & Nurturing School Climates
The Obama administration cites that with technical assistance from the Department of Education, 18,000 schools have already put evidence-based strategies to improve school climate into action. Through executive action, the administration proposes a new $50 million initiative to help 8,000 more schools train teachers and staff to implement these strategies.
Resources For Youth Who Witness Violence
To help schools break the cycle of violence, the administration will urge Congress to provide $25 million to offer students mental health services for trauma or anxiety, conflict resolution programs and other school-based violence prevention initiatives.
Incentives For Schools To Hire Resource Officers
Under Obama's executive action, the Department of Justice will provide an incentive for police departments that hire officers through COPS Hiring Grants by providing a preference for grant applications that support school resource officers.
Close Background Check Loopholes
The Department of Justice will invest $20 million in FY2013 to give states stronger incentives to share information with the background check system. President Obama signed executive action requiring federal agencies to make crucial records available to the background check system and also to ensure that such records are frequently updated.
Boost Gun Owner Accountability & Responsibility
President Obama signed an executive action reaffirming his respect for the Second Amendment, but acknowledging that the right to bear arms comes with a responsibility to safely store guns to prevent them from being accidentally or intentionally used to harm others.
Serious Punishment For Gun Trafficking
Today, guns can be purchased easily from unlicensed dealers or from "straw purchasers" who pass the required background check, but give the guns to criminals. The Obama administration will include an explicit law against straw purchasing and others who traffic guns, including prosecutions for paperwork violations.
15,000 Cops On The Street
The Obama administration recognizes that it is crucial to keep more officers within communities and neighborhoods in order to prevent gun violence. The president calls on Congress to put forth a $4 billion proposal to help keep 15,000 police officers on the streets across the country.
Assault Weapons Ban
The federal assault weapons ban that was in place from 1994 to 2004 was a first step, but President Obama acknowledged that manufacturers were able to circumvent the prohibition with cosmetic modifications to their weapons. Obama is pressing Congress to introduce legislation reinstating and expanding the ban to include all assault weapons.
High-Capacity Magazine Ban
President Obama will urge Congress to reinstate the prohibition on ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Shooters at Virginia Tech, Tucson, Ariz., Aurora, Colo., Oak Creek, Wis. and Newtown, Conn. all used magazines that had a capacity of more than 10 rounds, which come standard with many handguns and rifles.
Remove ATF Restrictions
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is required to authorize the importation of dangerous antique weapons that are at least 50 years old. Obama will press Congress to remove restrictions and enable the ATF to ensure that incoming weapons are actually acquired as collectibles and not for putting the weapons in the wrong hands.
Broader Access To Reports On Lost & Stolen Guns
Under Obama's executive action, the Department of Justice plans to publish an annual report on lost and stolen guns to ensure data collected by the ATF is available.
Protect Doctors Who Talk About Guns
Some have erroneously claimed that language in the Affordable Care Act prohibits doctors from asking patients about guns and gun safety. According to Obama's executive action, the administration will issue guidance clarifying this misconception and reiterating the importance of protecting doctors who have discussions on safe storage of firearms, especially if their patients show signs of certain mental illnesses, have young children or have a mentally ill family member at home.
Promote Responsible Gun Ownership
As declared by Obama's executive action, the administration will encourage gun owners to take responsibility for keeping their guns safe through a national campaign promoting common-sense gun safety measures.
Enhance Gun Tracing Data
Law enforcement can trace a gun's path from it's manufacturer, the dealer who sold it and its first purchaser. However, not all federal law enforcement agencies require a trace on guns they recover and keep in custody. President Obama signed executive action requiring a trace on all firearms.
Promote Safe Gun Safety Technology
The president is directing the attorney general through executive action to work with technology experts to review emerging gun safety technology that helps guard against unauthorized access and use.
$150 Million For In-School Resources
The Obama administration is urging Congress to take up a Comprehensive School Safety program that will offer $150 million to school districts and law enforcement agencies to hire resource officers, school psychologists, social workers and counselors. The Department of Justice will also develop a model for schools that use resource officers, including age-appropriate methods for working with students.
Change School Discipline Practices
Students who are suspended or expelled are far more likely to repeat a grade, not graduate or become involved in the juvenile justice system. The Obama administration believes effective school discipline policies are critical to addressing school and community crime and violence issues. Under Obama's executive action, the Department of Education will collect and execute best practices on school discipline policies and help schools implement these policies.
Mental Health Treatment For Youth
Through partnerships such as the newly proposed Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education), President Obama is urging Congress to take up a comprehensive plan to reach 750,000 young people through programs for early detection of mental illness and swift treatment. Project AWARE includes $15 million for training teachers and other adults who interact with youth to detect and respond to mental illness.
Clarify Mental Health Coverage In Private Insurance Plans
By executive action, Obama announced a plan to finalize regulations that would require group health plans offering mental health care to cover such services at parity under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act requires all new small group and individual plans to cover mental health and substance abuse services.
Mental Health Coverage For Medicaid Recipients
There is some evidence that Medicaid plans do not always meeting mental health parity requirements. In an executive action, the Obama administration issued a letter to state health officials insisting that these plans must comply with mental health parity requirements.
Over on a forum I frequent, there's quite a few antigun libtard types. Those same types are screaming at this news right now, yelling about the first amendment being violated here. I have to confess to a bit of dark amusement at this, the very same arguments they used against guns are now being turned against their favorite pastime.
I mean, whoda thunk it? Someone who disrespected the 2nd Amendment might just go after the 1st as well? Color me completely surprised.
Really.
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How about a background check before you can buy a video game ? :P
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Oh, come on, this makes perfect sense.
A) To the sort of people that vote for her, this makes her look like she's trying to do something.
B) The video game industry enriches some people, and employs many, many more. That has to be stopped.
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I agree with Feinstein that video games are a problem. [popcorn]
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I agree with Feinstein that video games are a problem. [popcorn]
Successful troll is successful
Until I saw the popcorn, I was RAGING
Well played
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There is a tiny kernel of truth in the statement that video games can be a problem. When you spend your whole life on the internet playing games you never learn how to get along with others and how to disagree. I think the real problem lies elsewhere, though.
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There is a tiny kernel of truth in the statement that video games can be a problem. When you spend your whole life on the internet playing games you never learn how to get along with others and how to disagree. I think the real problem lies elsewhere, though.
Sure
However
None of the governments business
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I agree 100 per cent.
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There is a tiny kernel of truth in the statement that video games can be a problem. When you spend your whole life on the internet playing games you never learn how to get along with others and how to disagree. I think the real problem lies elsewhere, though.
Yeah, in the parents who allow their kids to do this. Super-obsessed gamers aren't born in a vacuum.
But the idea isn't that basement dwellers are the problem, the idea is that video games cause/inspire violent actions.
Of course, the same was said of TV, music, movies, etc, so take that for what you will. :facepalm:
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There is a tiny kernel of truth in the statement that video games can be a problem. When you spend your whole life on the internet playing games you never learn how to get along with others and how to disagree. I think the real problem lies elsewhere, though.
What one fills one's mind with, can't help but have an effect.
Nevertheless
None of the governments business
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What one fills one's mind with, can't help but have an effect.
Nevertheless
It's interesting that advertisers will pay $50 million or more for a 60 second superbowl commercial to try to get people to buy stuff, yet opponents of restricting children's access to video games and violent movies argue that hundreds or even thousands of hours of exposure has no effect on the kids.
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Games are an easy target for politicians. It's hard to defend violent games, outside pure 1A arguments. Gamers don't have the organization and resources of the 2A crowd. No one can point to anything positive in support of games, unlike our 2A arguments have done. No long standing traditions. Don't save livess through defense. Don't put food on the table. Gotta wonder if the Hollywood crowd will jump in on a "slippery slope argument"...
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It's interesting that advertisers will pay $50 million or more for a 60 second superbowl commercial to try to get people to buy stuff, yet opponents of restricting children's access to video games and violent movies argue that hundreds or even thousands of hours of exposure has no effect on the kids.
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Yeah, it seems to have tamed the little bastards. ;)
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Gamers don't have the organization and resources of the 2A crowd.
Not entirely true. The gaming industry itself is HUGE. If they tried to actually do something they could easily all band together. And then you throw in people like Penny Arcade.
No one can point to anything positive in support of games, unlike our 2A arguments have done.
Not entirely true.
It's interesting that advertisers will pay $50 million or more for a 60 second superbowl commercial to try to get people to buy stuff, yet opponents of restricting children's access to video games and violent movies argue that hundreds or even thousands of hours of exposure has no effect on the kids.
:facepalm: Of course the point of these commercials is to have a different "effect". Getting exposure, giving a friendly face to there products, ect. Thousands of hours of playing "violent" video games has the effect of... nothing. I have put many thousands of hours on these games, and yet I'm not about to go commit a mass murder. Not only I, but many hundreds of thousands of people too. Why don't we see so much more? Could it be because it is not the games that made people do it? Does spending hundreds of hours violently sending lead down range make people go out and commit murder?
National Rifle Association CEO and executive vice president Wayne LaPierre was also quick to blame violent video games for the events at the Sandy Hook, after it was found that shooter Adam Lanza may have played video games like "Call of Duty" and "Starcraft."
Holy Crap!! Not that uber violent game StarCraft!!! :mad:
Nearly 30 years of studies have shown that there is scant evidence to support the claim that violent video games influence real-life violence, dating back to the first major violent video game study in 1984. Critics argue such attempts to correlate the two are little more than scapegoating video games in order to avoid getting to the root of gun violence.
This. It's always something that kids find fun that is to blame, pin ball, rock and roll, "violent" video games, shooting, card games, books, ect, ect, ect.
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Is it the government's job to make basement-dwellers into nine-to-five tie-wearers? No.
Is it the government's job to regulate against harmful cultural influences? No.
Not every bad thing is a thing the government should deal with.
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Yeah, it seems to have tamed the little bastards. ;)
I'm not arguing a cause and effect between video games and violent crime. I am questioning whether young kids can play violent video games and not be affected in some way.
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Sorry, reality intrudes upon the "video games and teevee have no effect" on kids or whomever. And there is scant on the upside, it is almost entirely downside influence.
Doesn't mean gov't should get in the middle, other than maybe with truth in labeling, so folks will know what they are about to stuff in their skulls.
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It's always something that kids find fun that is to blame, pin ball, rock and roll, "violent" video games, shooting, card games, books, ect, ect, ect.
Pool. Trouble right here in River City.
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I am questioning whether young kids can play violent video games and not be affected in some way.
I know plenty of people who grew up playing these video games and they turned out just fine. I also know some who aren't gamers and are a waste of human protoplasm.
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Sorry, reality intrudes upon the "video games and teevee have no effect" on kids or whomever. And there is scant on the upside, it is almost entirely downside influence.
Doesn't mean gov't should get in the middle, other than maybe with truth in labeling, so folks will know what they are about to stuff in their skulls.
Does the same cause=effect relationship exist in other countries ... because these "violent" video games are not limited in distribution to just America, they go to Canada, europe, Asia, and elsewhere.
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I know plenty of people who grew up playing these video games and they turned out just fine. I also know some who aren't gamers and are a waste of human protoplasm.
Now that's not fair. I haven't done anything to you. :'(
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Does the same cause=effect relationship exist in other countries ... because these "violent" video games are not limited in distribution to just America, they go to Canada, europe, Asia, and elsewhere.
I don't think anyone seriously implied cause and effect. Correlation =/= causation.
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I don't think anyone seriously implied cause and effect. Correlation =/= causation.
Oh.
Sorry, reality intrudes upon the "video games and teevee have no effect" on kids or whomever. And there is scant on the upside, it is almost entirely downside influence.
Doesn't mean gov't should get in the middle, other than maybe with truth in labeling, so folks will know what they are about to stuff in their skulls.
So, does that mean there's no "cause effect" relationship or .... whta? Just a "general condemnation" of the games? Huh? What? Where? When?
???
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Pac-Man is a circle. The little things he eats are circles...
OMG CANNIBALISM! Ban Pac-Man!!!
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Pac-Man is a circle. The little things he eats are circles...
OMG CANNIBALISM! Ban Pac-Man!!!
:rofl:
FINALLY! Someone with a sense of humor.
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Yes, the world is filled with things that influence us. Consider all those advertisements on TV; the billboards on the side of the highway, radio ads - these are all people actively trying to manipulate you. There's a whole field around it - "marketing".
And you know what? That's fine. Being free means living in a world where there are good and bad influences abound, including stimuli that is specifically trying to influence you, and stimuli that is really isn't. It's up to each individual to decide what they will let into their lives, and how much they will let others control them by the influence of videogames/television/radio/the internet/conversations/etc.
We do not need to be censoring the world to save the poor impressionable children from being negatively influenced. That's what parents are for.
The content is already rated and restricted by age. So, if 12 year old little Johnny spends all day flipping bits on a hard drive "wasting bad guys" in FarCry, you can be assured that it was either bought by, or at least consented to by the parent(s). This is a "problem" the tech already solved [1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board)][2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_Advisory)][3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip)] , it only requires the parents will to use it.
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Have you ever read through the classic fairy tales? Not just the popular ones, but the entire Grimm's? So, so violent and depraved. And if you want Grand Theft Auto levels of sex and violence, try the Old Testament and specifically the book of Judges.
Jdg 1:5 They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Jdg 1:6 Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
Jdg 1:7 And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
Jdg 4:21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died.
Jdg 5:24 "Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
Jdg 5:25 He asked for water and she gave him milk; she brought him curds in a noble's bowl.
Jdg 5:26 She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.
Jdg 5:27 Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell--dead.
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Yes, the world is filled with things that influence us. Consider all those advertisements on TV; the billboards on the side of the highway, radio ads - these are all people actively trying to manipulate you. There's a whole field around it - "marketing".
Aren't you implying causation or correlation?
Balog, are you really trying to equate the effect of reading about violence in fairy tales or the Bible to fairly realistically killing people ultra-violently on screen?
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I'm saying that the media we take in does influence us, regardless of what form it takes. But that's hardly a causative element.
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Sorry, reality intrudes upon the "video games and teevee have no effect" on kids or whomever. And there is scant on the upside, it is almost entirely downside influence.
I'm not so certain of that . . . after a day at publik skuul and the "managed" after-school activities and organized playtimes, Junior may be feeling a bit stressed out, and blowing up commies/zombies/robots/whatever in a video game may provide some cathartic release. Being given nothing but "nice" games will only add to the stress, and with no release, Junior may get an early ulcer.
Sure, somewhere there will be a kid who can't separate game from reality, but I expect he's the kind who'd eventually go off the deep end anyway like Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Whitman, or any of a number of other psychos who became mass murderers before video games came out.
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I watch movies on DVD while I have dinner. Over the last several decades I've reached the point where I can watch the back of someone's head being blown off or blood and brain matter being splattered on a wall, and have no problem eating at the same time.
I don't know that I could have done that 30 years ago. The question is whether I became less upset at seeing such things naturally with age, or if I became desensitized to such scenes because of repeated exposure.
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Actually, the question is whether or not that would make you more or less prone to violence yourself.
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I would angle the discussion towards the perceived value of human life.
In media, be it video games or TV or DVD or cinema, people get their souls knocked loose on an ever-increasing basis.
One would hope the viewers could easily differentiate between that world and meatspace.
As I see news reports of homicides being committed by younger and younger persons, I have to really wonder.
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As I see news reports of homicides being committed by younger and younger persons, I have to really wonder.
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From: http://bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2221
Figure 4. Homicide offending rates by age, 1980-2008
Rate per 100,000 population
Contra III must have really messed kids up.
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Cordex, homicide rates peaked in the early to mid 1990's, and the 18 to 24 group has always been the top demographic for homicides, so that's not surprising. I don't recall historically where 14-17 year-olds have been in terms of homicide.
Actually, the question is whether or not that would make you more or less prone to violence yourself.
I've always had a penchant for violence, but I've kept it in check. I believe that level of violence in me, though kept in check, has increased.
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Cordex, homicide rates peaked in the early to mid 1990's, and the 18 to 24 group has always been the top demographic for homicides, so that's not surprising. I don't recall historically where 14-17 year-olds have been in terms of homicide.
I'm pretty sure the homicide rates of the mid-1990's were due to 8 bit NES violence.
LtC Grossman provided an interesting viewpoint on violent video games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMsEuR7dhj4
I am extremely wary of government censorship in any form. If there are people incapable of distinguishing fantasy and reality, those people need to be held accountable for their actions.
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I blame Galaga and MTV.
I wonder how high up it was on the left where we can't see.
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Never interrupt your enemy when they are in the process of making a mistake.
Repubs need to be blandly supportive of "holding hearings" but express 1st Amendment concerns. Make sure it is undeniably a prominent Dem show. Evoke Tipper.
Turn the young against the nannies.
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Never interrupt your enemy when they are in the process of making a mistake.
Repubs need to be blandly supportive of "holding hearings" but express 1st Amendment concerns. Make sure it is undeniably a prominent Dem show. Evoke Tipper.
Turn the young against the nannies.
Likes this.
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Never interrupt your enemy when they are in the process of making a mistake.
Repubs need to be blandly supportive of "holding hearings" but express 1st Amendment concerns. Make sure it is undeniably a prominent Dem show. Evoke Tipper.
Turn the young against the nannies.
Instead, the party of fail will seize the opportunity to push moral superior agenda on violence in society down our throats.
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Maybe we should be happy about this. Diane Feinstein, unable to ban real guns, is reduced to banning digital ones. :rofl:
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Feinstein is not going to do anything concerning video games.
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I watch movies on DVD while I have dinner. Over the last several decades I've reached the point where I can watch the back of someone's head being blown off or blood and brain matter being splattered on a wall, and have no problem eating at the same time.
I don't know that I could have done that 30 years ago. The question is whether I became less upset at seeing such things naturally with age, or if I became desensitized to such scenes because of repeated exposure.
*grin* reminds me of the time I was watching From Hell and during the scene where the Ripper is dismembering some Victorian prostitues, I realized that it was kind of messed up that I was happily munching on a tbone steak while watching blood streaming across the tv screen.
However, due to the fact that I am a very well adjusted person (the peanut gallery should just that one slide) I can recognize the diffrence between fiction and reality and comprehend that reactions to events depicted in a movie are drastically diffrent then similar events in real life.
The movie Rampage didn't make me want to go shoot up the town anymore then playing Simpson's RoadRage made me want to drive reclessly or listining to Pearl Jams "Jermey" made me want to kill my school mates or commit suicide.
Human culture is influanced by art (high and low), that is an unescapable fact. However, human beings are entirely capible of understanding the diffrence between real life and art.
Any problem stemming from such influances must be addressed culturally, not politically.
Some quality parenting might be a start...