Stephen Colbert Defends Violent Video Games

OXCGN:

"Stephen Colbert is what I imagine as the definitive American.

For those who don’t really know who Colbert is, he’s an American political satirist and host of The Colbert Report, Comedy Central’s premiere “fake” (see: satirical) news program.

He invented a word (“truthiness”), has written multiple books, and has his own wax sculpture, among many other things.

In my opinion, he’s the funniest man on television. [Ed.: Nick may or may not have a crush on Stephen.]

Last night, while making fun of NRA (the National Rifle Association) head Wayne LaPierre‘s message before Congress several weeks ago about having armed guards in schools, Stephen spoke his mind on the matter… and it’s perfectly up to his standards."

[Proeliator]

Really good to see that there may be hope... one day, ONE DAY... people may understand. Maybe.

[Nimblest-Assassin]

Well this is refreshing after today

Im currently enrolled in biological sciences at my university, and before I went for my chem lecture... the lecture before mine was for "violence" (sociology(sigh))and the prof is spewing crap that video games are making people violent saying that there are tests that "prove" this without citing any of these "tests" obviously

And I honestly though... wow... even uni profs are spreading this bs that video games make people violent

So very refreshing news for me

[Canary]

You don't cite lectures, genius. Why would you even expect that?

And there are plenty of studies out there than demonstrate a (minor) correlation between violent videogames and violent actions, and greater correlation to violent thought.

It's pretty damn obvious and pretty well-documented that media INFLUENCES behavior. Yes, the gaming community has a problem being scapegoated... but the solution is most certainly not to jam your thumbs in your ears and pretend everything is isolated.

You do not fight ignorance with ignorance.

[FanboyPunisher]

If I was 6-10 years old playing dead island it would def affect me as a person; some people are too young minded to play certain games at certain times during development.

I've heard news stories where kids murder their parents because they limit how much they can play vids; or take them away completely. Funny connection is they all played violent video games.

Seeing an image, settles in your mind. This can even be said to give cetrain people 'ideas' they may not of had if they never played/seen said content.

The truth isnt so black and white, its a grey area. A famous comedian means nothing to me, nor should it to any of you.

20/0 for the first comment, is kinda sad imo.
But this is a VIDEO GAME website afterall, most person are biased towards them on here.

[SilentNegotiator]

The problem is that 99% of these studies study "AGGRESSION" (a product of adrenaline), not violence (a product of both violence thoughts AND behavior/intent).

[Nimblest-Assassin]

@Canary

Im saying she never cited the EXPERIMENTS... that is mandatory when you bring something up in a university lecture

She just said "oh some experiments happened"

Before you complain about ignorance... maybe you should read

[knowyourstuff]

@ idiots above ^
Obviously N-A was just showing how university profs (at least his anyway) were uninformed and attach themselves to whatever hack study they have come across. There was no argument made against the ignorance, just an insight as to how the ignorance has spread.

Also, no argument has been made that people should go against the ESRB ratings and have kids play violent videogames. They have ratings for a reason, just like movies and music have ratings, and it is up to the parents of said children to be parents, and be in charge of what their children are exposed to. This is a parenting issue in that regard.

Apparently some people are so low brow they didn't read a word Colbert said. He made the point that violent videogames, movies and music are in abundance all over the world, yet the US stands apart as an extremely violent country with 30,000 gun deaths a year, which is astronimical. Japan has violence in its media just like the US, so does Canada. Any idea what their gun death numbers are? 49 and 156 per year on average, respectively. That's not even close, and Japan is more densely populated than any place in the US. In order to understand this problem you need to look at the differences between both cultures - and that difference is clearly the lax gun laws in the US. People can now walk around with concealed weapons in every state - in Canada you can't carry weapons at all that aren't meant for hunting, with permits. This isn't rocket science.

[SilentNegotiator]

@Knowyourstuff

You can't pretend like gun violence is all violence. When you account for ALL violent crime, the gap between countries is no where near as distant.

Don't pull that "it isn't rocket science" BS. It IS a science.

You can't ignore that conditions are different. The guns are here in the US; you can't fight that. The US had much more relaxed gun laws in the last 50 years compared to Canada and as a result, they're here. Making most of them illegal won't make them evaporate. You're not the first human being to think "If there were no guns, there wouldn't be gun violence", believe it or not, and it hasn't happened because it isn't realistic.

And Japan has almost no guns because they had a gun to their heads ~70 years ago, and technically still do, under treaties. And they're an island country, making smuggling about a thousand times harder. Turn back the clock, create strict gun laws, and turn the US into an island, and you'll have the same results.

But most importantly, if you ignore the incredible culture difference between the US and Japan and blame guns instead, you're absolutely missing the most important ingredient; the one that makes gun legislation looks like a crumb.

Stop with the belief that laws that work here will work there with zero regard for condition.

You're right about it not being rocket science, but if you treat it as if it's as simple as 1-2-3 or think that you're Einstein incarnate with some incredible idea that no one has ever considered, you're going to walk away with egg on your face.

[Army_of_Darkness]

your either very weak minded or your parents aren't explaining to you the difference between fake and reality. my niece is 5 and she plays resident evil 5 with me all the time, sweetest girl in the world, wouldn't hurt a fly cause when we play re5 I tell her, you know zombies ain't real right? and we are shooting these things cause they gonna eat us if we don't lol! and she is like, I know zombies are not real, but just make sure you protect me cause I don't want them to eat me in the game. haha! good coop game.

[TheRealSpy]

Uni profs also constantly spread liberal propaganda, so i'm not sure why you're surprised.

[FanboyPunisher]

Clearly few of you understand the physiology of development.

You are what you absorb yourself in.
Same is said for the people around you indirectly affect you too. Video games being absorbed in early stages of development will desensitize people to said violence.

[edwoods]

This MESSAGE is for 99 percent of the N4g community: Stop posting lame messages below articles with your pseudo intellectual, business-mind wannabe strategies on what multi million/billion dollar companies should or shouldn't be doing. Just because you took a few economic classes in college and learned a few big words doesn't mean you know anything. No one on here has any true investment wisdom, so stop stroking each other off and go get job's in the stock market if you're so damn "smart"

[Hooshuwashu]

this man is my hero.

[rdgneoz3]

Have you heard his speech before congress on migrant workers? Hilarious and so good.

http://www.youtube.com/watc... - serious

http://www.youtube.com/watc... - opening speech

And yah, he is amazing at times.

[TheGamerDood]

Amazing speech but of course it fell on deaf ears.

[BadCircuit]

Call of Duty: Black Friday Ops: LOL!

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Yi-Long]

... it's pretty much the only thing I miss now that I've moved to Hong Kong. In Holland, I used to be able to just watch the show every night on TV, but here in Hong Kong it's not broadcast, and when trying to watch it through the official site, it's only just buffering all the time.

:(

[zerocrossing]

Why the F can't I veiw this Cobert vid from England... I thought we were friends guys.

[dennett316]

International TV rights not being set up and all sorts of other stupid factors unfortunately.
If you really want to watch it, search out a VPN and use it to emulate a US internet connection to let you view it.

[3-4-5]

They don't want you to know our secrets...lol

[DragonKnight]

Just go to google and search for a U.S. Proxy site.

[zerocrossing]

Thanks guys, I found a place to view it now.

[ElectricKaibutsu]

I hate that BS. "The Internet: Man's greatest invention, able to share all human knowledge with anyone throughout the world. Now let's lock that shit down."

[zerocrossing]

Haha yeah well said mate, I have no idea why they do it but it's probably got something to do with making more out of us.

[brettyd]

EXACTLY! these NRA nut jobs act like the US is the only country that has violent movies and games.

[dennett316]

It's the only country where they have a vested interest in ensuring the blame doesn't tarnish the product that they make millions off per year. Hence their clinging to an antiquated amendment and revelling in hypocrisy by claiming how terrible it is to violate the rights given by the 2nd Amendment, but actively encouraging the breaching of the 1st Amendment.

I find them to be disgusting - their ideas are barbaric (who would actually ever want to send their kids to a school with armed guards at every corner?) and they do nothing but contribute to an atmosphere of fear in order to keep pushing their product on a public that thinks that everyone is out to get them, and they're negligent if they don't buy an arsenal of guns in order to protect their family.

[brettyd]

An amendment that was also intended to be revisited every 20yrs to determine if it's still appropriate.

[NintyJazz]

How is the Second Amendment antiquated? Last time I checked it was only last century where dictators killed millions of people after taking their guns away. Every statistic point to the conclusion that more guns equals less crime, and indeed in places where gun control is strict you have more violence with use of guns. Don't let your emotions take control over logical reasoning. I'm not defending the NRA just the second amendment.

[barb_wire]

Any other countries ACT like they have no violence in theirs

[NeXXXuS]

Good to see that a celebrity understands and has a hefty amount of common sense. I'm tired of activist groups and organizations trying to ban things that don't need to be banned. People are way in over there heads nowadays and think that every little thing is a problem. I'm looking at you, WESTBORO BAPTIST... ಠ_ಠ

[ravinash]

The problem with Activist groups is they all have an agenda to protect their interests.
So they will always take the extreme view and always try to push blame somewhere else.

[majiebeast]

Saw that Alex Jones guy who was defending no gun laws he is apeshit nuts.

[360ICE]

Yeah, he is insane. Or just a huge cynic making money from idiots. Maybe both?

[HmongAmerican]

If you watch his show on youtube. The guy usually calm but I don't know why he's exploded on Piers Morgan show. He thinks the host will step on him but it is him who was out of control. Now they think that he crazys.

[360ICE]

Omg, no. Have you ever seen whenever he gets a caller who disagrees with him? Well, usually he goes crazy and throws insults all over the place. Without the caller being able to respond.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

I believe it WAS all a ploy to have him on... the POINT WAS to make him look bad, thus they gave him the chance to come on the show!

Dude seems chock full of facts and information that HE CAN prove/provide but it felt in my opinion that Piers was trying to cut him off in fear of Alex unveiling too much!

Theres people that feel the dude is crazy... but I more of less see him as being passionate in what he believes in!

I also FIRMLY believe in the fact that the goverment ALLOWS conspiracy theories to exist SOELY on the fact that they take comfort in knowing they have the vast majority of us brainwashed with media that they auto-expect us to dismiss any POSSIBLE factual information that is ever brought up!

[ElectricKaibutsu]

@IWentBrokeForGaming
That's quite the conspiracy theory :)

[AzaziL]

@360ICE
Agreed, while I support him seeking out the truth, he hurts the cause by being rude to anyone with a differing opinion. The equivalent of someone that replies in caps and calls people fanboys during a gaming discussion.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Colbert is just a funny guy.... totally gets how ridiculous politics are. Listen to whole show not just the 8min mark...its well worth the time.

[wolokowoh]

I agree we have better gun regulation to reduce gun deaths like we have drunk driving. People still drink and people will still get their guns just in a way that reduces the homicide substantially. Theoretically that's possible and should done. However this blaming it all on anything other than the guy who committed the heinous act or certain types of parenting which would put the parent in jail for life or several years is something you should not do. Guns just makes it where people kill more effectively. It does not solve the problem that these people wanted to kill someone or multiple someones. 10,000+ from gun violence annually because its the easiest fastest method but around 2,000 every year die from knife or sharp objects, and hundreds to thousands more from blunt objects, hand to hand, strangulation, etc. It may be true that if you experience see gun violence or experience trauma yourself, you may be more likely commit a form of gun violence yourself. Remember though that was a person who caused that trauma or violence, not the gun. Everything can be traced back what a person does. So yes guns should regulated to keep them out of the wrong hands because they are dangerous weapons but we should never blame the gun for human action.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

With ALL this publicity that all these US shootings are getting and NOW gun laws are slowly trickling in... to be seems like a gradual build up to enforcing marshal law!

The US has all this focus on gun laws right now... which is taking away from the massive amounts of lingering job losses... rising costs to live... a almost alienation of the middle class... it's all looking to ME more of a way to rid of guns in fear of the public growing tired and wise of whats really going on and wanting to make a rise, keep the guns out of our homes it makes the publics stand matter little to none!

[ravinash]

I'm all was confused about these comments about being armed in case you want to revolt against the government.
What exactly are you planning to go out and shot if the government is not doing what you want it to do.
If you in Syria, then yes.
But in a Democracy?? You have a lot more power with word of mouth and social media to spread the message and group together.
The NRA is proof of this.

[ElectricKaibutsu]

Looking at all these agrees, it looks like us gamers actually aren't that fond of real guns. Maybe the next time someone wants to blame video games for a shooting they should talk to us.

[HonestDragon]

Stephen Colbert: A man with common sense. I swear, it's like only the most dimwitted of our population believe that something else can be held responsible for a person's actions. In the United States, a criminal can never be held responsible for their own violent crimes, specifically the ones that make national headlines (i.e. shootings).

The NRA and uneducated parents all want to blame violent media, especially video games, but they fail to realize that some people are just plain sick in the head. They don't want to acknowledge that human error is a very real thing. "Oh, we humans cannot be violent by ourselves. Something has to influence that violence." You know, the usual spat of crap that often comes from the mouths of those kinds of individuals.

I have a question to those people: Exactly what influenced every single violent atrocity that has happened over the course of human history? I would say political agenda, religion, colonization, and vie for personal power have had more influence on people committing violent acts than any form of media ever has. Video games didn't exist until a few decades ago. Looking at American history, plenty of things were blamed before hand. Comics, Dungeons and Dragons, and rock music have been blamed before for influencing the "innocent children" to become communists, do drugs, and join gangs.

People need to wake up and realize the truth. I mean, if celebrities are more aware of the certain things (like Seth Rogen taking a jab at the Grammy's for having Chris Brown on) than why can't the common citizen? Guess it's just that some people need more of a slap to the face by reality than one thinks.

[BadCircuit]

Never knew about this guy before. America is so ripe for satire because they take so much so seriously about themselves!

[DeusExer]

I've recently studied this topic during university, and it pretty much books down to violent media can have a slight negative effect on people with violent tendencies, not solely games.

Its because games are fairly new into mainstream media. Movies and whatnot went through similar debate when initially released.

Why do people always focus on the negative, when there are so many positives in gaming.

[thecowsaysmoo]

Stephen Colbert is so wrong, there has been studies that violent games = disaster.

Here is proof http://www.foxnews.com/stor...

[animegamingnerd]

really fox news as your source they are even worse then kraptaku

[HonestDragon]

That's true. Plus, this isn't a study as he claims it is. It is a news report that jumps to conclusions, which Fox News does with pretty much everything.

@thecowsaysmoo: I can't honestly tell if you're just trolling here or you just really have nothing better to do.

[AzaziL]

not sure if serious...

[thecowsaysmoo]

I am serious, as a christian it is my duty to ban games that are too violent.

[ravinash]

The story was about the attorney suing the store that sold the guy the game, the maker of the game and the console maker (In this case sony).

Firstly, did anyone sue the gun maker? Although the gun was taken from the officer.

Secondly this story is about an attorney trying to make money by suing different companies. It's not a study of human behavior but rather an opinion of the attorney and the families involved.

You said there were studies, but you've only provided opinion pieces.

[Chard]

Still not sure if serious

[BanBrother]

@thecowsaysmoo

"I am serious, as a christian it is my duty to ban games that are too violent"

And on the seventh day, God said; lets ban video games that are too violent!!

GTFO. You religious people always the first to shift the blame. Ever heard of the crusades? Yup no video games back then. Oh, and last time I checked there was no such game that simulated molesting young boys and girls that had you controlling a priest.

Fix your religion, then try and fix the 'violent games issue'.

[TotalSynthesisX]

@thecowsaysmoo
http://cdn.memegenerator.ne...

[dredgewalker]

This just proves that people who are too much into religion become whack jobs. It's ironic that the bible is filled with sex and violence....should we ban that too?

[tubers]

Sure it may be a bit more stimulating than watching a movie, reading a book or listening to music.. but it's just ridiculous to blame video games as the main reason for the issue.

T.T

[ShiftyLookingCow]

I blame playing too many video games for playing too many video games!

[Droid Control]

Please children, don't attack the Christians for their beliefs, and Christians, don't try to force those beliefs on others. Reason with people, but let them choose.

People that choose to kill, will murder no matter what. They'll find inspiration in a happy meal... or an excuse for their crimes.

Can what we watch, read, play, and listen to influence our thoughts? yes. But people still have free will. The problem is, some adults don't reach full mental maturity. So They do get too influenced by some entertainment.

But how can we weed out those people in society and prevent them for obtaining these products? Mental competency tests for all 15 year olds before the play COD? of course not. Ban these games so that no one can play them? Doesn't seem fair. But if it would prevent just ONE more death, wouldn't it be worth it?

As a society, we should be asking ourselves, why are we so obsessed with killing on video games?

[karlowma]

Back in the 80's, the world was in love with fat plumbers and docile extra-terrestrials. Today, we love visceral murder simulators and conflicted anti-heroes.

I don't have a sociology degree, but it doesn't take more than a little awareness to realize that our culture's sensitivity to violent acts has been degraded to a point of apathy, acceptance, and even glorification.

Video games are just one arm of the media we are all exposed to today, and over time will of course contribute to our (de)evolving mindset concerning their content. But video games are not solely to blame. We are all constructs of our environment, like it or not. Movies and television - any form of mass media, really - also factor in.

Personally, I feel that violent video games are more a product of our culture and society, not the other way around. But the violence in all of today's media only propagates the effect, creating something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.