Internet Porn

There was an incident in Grand Rapids MI last year where a several young adults were playing one of the extreme violent video games and then went out to "act out" the game. First they tried to drive over a couple at a fast food parking lot. Then they ran over a cyclist, and got out and beat him with fists and a beer bottle, breaking the bottle. They went home and returned with friends and continued the beating. The victim died several days later never recovering from the coma he was in when found by rescue responders.Anecdotal evidence, but pretty compelling. I can find articles on it with a little searching (didn't come up in a quick google) if you are interested.

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist

As I said it was anecdotal evidence. You can also argue that the "weak followers" were conditioned through the medium of the game to go along with the "strong leader" and that he used it as a tool to mold them.The question is not so much censorship but responsibility -- when do the game companies become liable for being accessories to such despicable actions? I would say that there would have to be a pattern of behavior associated with players of a specific game to show causal relationship ... and liability.Note that there was one in the group that did not participate in the beating even after severe peer pressure was applied, and she testified on the others behavior.

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist

Personally I don't see what the attraction is for playing a game where you run over, beat up and kill people, and the more vicious you are the higher the score. But then again I see no attraction in sucking cancer into my lungs either.As I said it would have to show a pattern of causal relationship. Otherwise it would have to be (a) accidental (which I seriously doubt in this case), (b) induced behavior from a direct link (which I also doubt due to counter evidence), or (c) co-symptomatic: both the actual incident and the game playing are symptoms of the same problem, possibly creating a feedback loop. And of course any of these could be combined with (d) the absence of countervailing {social training \ parenting}.If all cases where non-acting out of the violence are also cases of countervailing {social training \ parenting} and all acting out cases lack the {social training \ parenting}, then I think you can make a case for the games being a significant factor in the actions.{{edit fixed scrambled post}}[This message has been edited by AbbyLeever, 03-27-2004]

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist

You cannot say zero contribution, as these people exactly acted out behavior from the game, both in use of car and in manner of beating the victim. The only question is how much it contributed to the behavior, what were other contributing factors, and what may have been missing counteractive agents that keep others from such behavior. You could definitely argue that a lack of empathy played a major role in not inhibiting the behavior. These people showed no {remorse \ empathy} through the trial, except for the one that did not participate in the beatings and testified against the others.There are also studies that show that playing violent games reduces normal empathy for others. I believe the effect was temporary for those in the studies, but the period involved for these people (immediately after play) would put them within the temporary period, so is the lack of empathy displayed above enhanced by playing the game to the point of acting out? I agree. The problem is with the not-well-adjusted ones. Should one have to earn a license to play a game? I'm sure there is a good science fiction story in that idea ....

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}

Welcome to the fray rm2013, So you are saying that full and open sex education, including the proper use of prophylactics, is recommended so that kids are not confused or exposed to "life changing events" through naivete or ignorance.Perhaps some internet resources on the level of "Joy of Sex" and "More Joy of Sex" so that kids (and confused adults) can get good information on how to bring pleasure to your partners.Enjoy.

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
RebelAAmericanOZen[Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

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