Guns, Games and Giving up our Rights: Alex Jones vs The Truth

With the violence and gun-control debate heating up in the US, games are increasingly being singled out as reasons for aggression and killings. FPS games like Call of Duty have been repeatedly used as examples of how games are turning children into walking killing machines. They were also originally created by the Pentagon… according to Alex Jones. Seb and Dan from Daily Reaction discuss the problems with shady sources, misleading facts, energetic presenters, the evil British and how all this confusion is just clouding a very legitimate problem.
-PSLS

[doctorstrange]

Alex Jones is like a real-world Jim Sterling

[Foolsjoker]

Opinions are great, but too many people confuse them with facts.

[doctorstrange]

Yup. That's a true fact, imo

[guitarded77]

@ Foolsjoker

I keep clicking "agree", but it only lets me agree once :( The media should take much of the blame... FOX took tabloid BS and brought it into the newsroom, and retarded people gobbled it up. Once everyone else saw FOX's ratings going through the roof, they followed suit. Walter Cronkite is probably rolling around in his own vomit in his grave.

[BattleAxe]

Alex Jones FTW!!!

[NeverEnding1989]

Do games cause violence? No.

Does a 14 year old playing an M rated (17+) game cause violence? Possibly.

[nrvalleytime]

Your point? Anyone playing a M rated game has the capacity to cause violence. Acting on potential is very different than simply having potential.

[Timesplitter14]

I'm pretty sure his point is that games don't cause violence but surely there will be violent people who play games.

It's as if he said :
"Do apples cause violence? No.

Can a 14 year old eating an apple cause violence? Possibly."

Basically, he meant that games don't cause violence but retarded people will think they do because they saw a violent person who happened to play video games.

[doctorstrange]

Should a parent be responsible for which clearly-rated games their child plays, just like how they're responsible if he/she watches Saw IV or reads The Anarchist's Cookbook? Definitely.

[Foolsjoker]

A game sitting on a table has 0 potential to cause violence.

Every person as the potential for violence, even those who had slaughtered each other for centuries before games existed.

Remember, correlation does not prove anything.

[Riderz1337]

I've been playing video games since I was 8 and never have I once had the urge to even hit someone for no reason, let alone kill them.

[caseh]

Next they'll be telling us the install screen on MGS4 where Snake is seen smoking to be the primary cause for people to take up smoking. :o

[Foolsjoker]

Thinking about that makes me need a smoke...

[Soldierone]

They tried that already. There was a short "smoking on TV" ban. Any actor that didn't smoke in real life was not allowed to smoke on TV. It was later removed because it didn't make a difference. How ironic.

[Software_Lover]

Again I'll say it.......

When there was slavery..........there were no video games.
When people were burned at the stake for being fake witches ............. there were no video games
When the Catholic Church murdered thousands of Christians just because they had bibles........ there were no video games
WWI............. no video games
WW2............. no video games
When Kennedy was shot......... there were no video games
When King was shot............ there were no video games

Do I need to add more?

[steven83r]

No but what they did have was religion teaching hate. So i would suggest these fools wanna ban games lets ban religion.

[Qrphe]

As much as I find religion cancerous to the mind, religion should never be banned (I'm against the banning most banned things already to be honest).

[nrvalleytime]

Illogical. Smoke detectors, the internet, and cash dispensers also didn't exist during these events.

It it completely fair to notice that some events are caused by individuals who have played video games. Notice I only have mentioned that they only played the games, just like I would say they watched movies or listened to music. Yes, I completely agree it is wrong to blame those same games for the any type of tragedy, but what your argument appears to do is just as bad as accusing games.

Completely ignoring the presence of games in a situation is just as bad as blaming them. We need to have intelligent and quantified debate on the subject, not alienate ourselves to one side of the fence.

[DragonKnight]

Sorry, but stating that Software_Lover's post is illogical and just as bad as people blaming games is in fact a fallacy.

The propensity towards violence is no more affected by video games than it is books, movies or television. It's akin to saying that the colour red drives bulls insane. Bulls are colour blind to the colours of red and green. If a person wants to commit violence, they will. Games literally have nothing to do with it. That isn't an opinion, that's a logical, common sense based fact. There is no definitive correlation between real world violence and games and having only those two factors present.

[Timesplitter14]

no it isn't "as bad as blaming games".

The fact is that there was violence before and there was violence after video games. The introduction of video games did not have an effect on the violence, except for the fact that the violence rates have been dropping in the last few years (which isn't the video games' fault either, imo).

[nrvalleytime]

@dragonknight when did I say anything about the propensity of violence being affected by video games? I said - very clearly - that we have to notice if video games are part of a situation. That's all. No judgments calls should be made beyond that, but we have to notice their presence.

Also, your comment mentions having "only those two factors present." When did I say those were my only two factors? There are only two things being addressed here:

1. Games didn't exist in the past; stuff happened. It's easy to see there is no connection at all.

2. Games do exist in the present; stuff happens. If games are present where the stuff happens, then let's at least sensibly talk about it. We - the gaming community - should be having these discussions, like the group of gaming executives did last week in DC. We are an entertainment medium, and discussing the presence of games (whether they affect a situation or not) is our responsibility.

One last thought - regarding the statement that "that isn't an opinion, that's a logical, common sense based fact," I cannot say I completely agree. Games are not responsible, but spending an inordinate amount of time playing a particular game or title (see the last paragraph of this article - http://www.psychologytoday.... can help us identify what's missing or wrong in person's life by examining their gaming habits.

That's a very real connection between video games and a person's life, and one that deserves to be examined more. And sorry for the long post - this is a topic I love discussing. PM me if you want to keep the discussion going. Cheers.

[aliengmr]

There can't be an intelligent because what it comes down to is "belief".

History is completely logical. Video games are part of a very non-violent era compared to history. If video games cause violence then logically speaking the number of violent people must correlate in some way to the number of games and people playing them. It doesn't. End of debate on whether violent video games cause violence.

If we are just going to make up pointless arguments, then I say violent video games cause less violence. My evidence: History.

[DragonKnight]

@nrvalleytime: When you mention noticing their presence, you're implying they have any impact towards the propensity for violence and they don't. Video games literally have no impact on any but those with an already damaged mental state, and in which case it still isn't the fault of the video game, thus there should be no mention of it having any effect.

I didn't say they were YOUR two factors, I said they would be the only two factors that could legitimately claim video games influences violence.

The presence of games is a non-factor. It's a scapegoat. It's like when John Hinkley Jr. tried to assassinate Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. He became obsessed with the movie Taxi Driver and Jodie Foster, but THEIR PRESENCE didn't MAKE him do anything. They didn't contribute to his assassination attempt, he was just insane.

And spending an inordinate amount of time with a game is not an indicator of something from the game being missing in the person's life. If that were the case, South Korea would be an absolute mess and I, who have been playing nothing but Dragon's Dogma for 2 weeks now, would then apparently have a life that's missing the satisfaction of eviscerating Hobgoblins.

I mean seriously, games have literally nothing to do with violence. In point of fact they can be a way to release the stresses and anxieties of daily life which are greater factor for violence.

[Hydralysk]

"History is completely logical. Video games are part of a very non-violent era compared to history."

So are assault rifles and Abrams tanks. You can't use 'history' as a direct comparison, because the cultural norms, technology and standard of living of our societies have changed so much.

"If video games cause violence then logically speaking the number of violent people must correlate in some way to the number of games and people playing them."

I agree with most of this, while in general I agree that video games don't increase violent tendencies, it's irresponsible to say they never do. For mentally unsound people a video game CAN be the thing that puts them over the edge, it could also be a film, a book, an angry editorial, or any number of things.

I don't accept that video games cause more violence than any other form of media, but if we're going to have that debate we can't be completely dismissive of the exceptions that arise.

[Soldierone]

You can't. Its like science, you can't generalize things.... you need to be precise so you find the EXACT cause of it to further your research.

MILLIONS of people play games, thats a lot of people that can randomly go stupid.

How many of the idiots shooting others read a magazine? Watched the news? Read a book? watched a movie? Yet the media never makes a connection to any of these things? Its ALWAYS just video games. "bla bla played GTA!" yeah? And he also watched Fox News, got inspired by all the famous murderers, and decided to go down in history. Good job Fox.

[Main_Street_Saint]

Not too mention the 1966 shooting in the University of Texas.... No Video games, either.

[ScubaSteve1]

LOL Alex Jones thats all i gotta say about that nutcase

[tachy0n]

"people kill people" - Jesse Ventura.

listen to what jesse ventura says instead.

[aliengmr]

no he's just as nutty.

[Parapraxis]

Ventura is just as big a nut as Jones, they may both have valid opinions occasionally, but overall their tinfoil hat wearing history drowns out the few cases of them being sensible.

There is room for intelligent discussion on the topic, but not with these two douchebags.

[WarThunder]

Mindless people calling people nuts...
I watched some interviews with Ventura and most of what he says are true. If you don't believe that then your a sheep living in wonderland...

[kagon01]

I don't trust entertainers, specially the ones that work for Hollywood. Also keep in mind ordinary persons like you and I will never be interview by the main stream or alternate media such as RT(same crap different flavor)...

Heck even civilians posing as (fake)veterans can get interview too you know...

[Nexgensensation]

I am American If obama infringe on the 2nd amendment im afraid that he may start a new revolutionary war. Thousand or even millions may die.

[ScubaSteve1]

yet do you know the constitution. its treason against it. the supreme court wont allow it. and obama will be trialed with treason against it and impeached

[Hydralysk]

So you're reaction to the idea of restrictions on certain types of military grade firearms is to threaten that if they do it, there will be a war in which you claim "Thousands or even millions may die"...

Yeah...that certainly helps convince me that you are a reasonable individual who would never use a gun irresponsibly.

[Nexgensensation]

Im a real american patroit. I do believe if you come to some one private property to take their gun, some people may resist in a violent behavior!

[InMyOpinion]

You guys are ACTUALLY afraid that the government might turn against you? Are you that paranoid?

Do you have any clue about how many countries that have a government who don't allow firearms who haven't had civil war?

If anyone would start a war it wouldn't be Obama but more likely the nutty NRA people.

[WarThunder]

I think your the one who is paranoid....

Obama is a puppet of organizations and bankers and yeah your government is controlling you, US-UK government are the most criminal governments on earth....

[Software_Lover]

And yet Clinton put a ban on certain types of weapons .......................

AND AMERICA SURVIVED!!!!

Go figure. Tell us why people really want to "start a revolution" against Obama?

[AzaziL]

It's pointless trying to preach, they'll keep accepting what the media shoves down their throats until all that's left is pea shooters and blunderbusses. Our forefathers would be rolling in their graves to see how docile and naive we've become.

[Software_Lover]

All your forefathers had were pea shooters and blunderbusses. So it would be back to normal, right?

LOL

[LAWSON72]

I think it is sad that the US government can take away peoples right to a product. Yes it maybe sound like a good thing because over protective people say gun= bad, but people will find ways to keep their guns anyway. All a thing like this would do is hurt are economy worse by spending our resources on trying to stop the sale and smuggling of weapons, and it would probably cause some job losses. It would also make the government look like they have to much power, raising the question if the government can take away something i enjoy because it seems harmful why couldnt they do it to something else? Maybe i am wrong and ignorant, but i do know this what good could stoping the selling of automatic weapons do that would do wonders for this country. It is not going to stop murders from killing people that is for sure. Remember, people kill people. Guns dont, i know this may come as a shock but not even if they are automatic.

[Aloren]

Do you think it is sad that the US government takes away your right to go at 200mph on the freeway ? or to do drugs ? after all, people find a way to have their drug anyway, and it would creates jobs if it were allowed... Do it look like the government has too much power cause they took away your right to something you enjoy ?

Also, guns may not kill people. But people with guns kill much faster than people without guns.

[sypher]

The question isnt, do games cause violence. It's do games attract violent people, and yeh they most likely do. But they also attract normal healthy people, old people, crazy people, competitive people and the list goes on.

Correlation is not cause.

[Aloren]

The rest of the "rich" world plays video games, and has much stricter guns policies.

The rest of the "rich" world has violent crimes too, but far less killing.

Countries with a higher murder rate than the US are not known for their insane video game addiction.

So you can twist it any way you want, but it seems to me that the murder rate in the us may have more to do with having hundreds of millions of guns in your streets than with playing video games.

[claud3]

Has no one clicked on yet, he wants us to give him attention and fall for his BS

He is wrong, the government is wrong and we people of society, should choose are own path on this issue

No one has the right to assume anything causes us to act violently, we choose to do that under are own power.

No influence what so ever, it's a state of nature and fact. That we act violently at points in are lives, because we feel either trapped or lost or need to blow a casket or two

Some punch a wall, some kick a door, some fight with others and some do mass shootings

Neither games or life style or government are to blame. It's the individual

[5eriously]

Just a simple question to all. Is it playing games that make people mad fsukers or is it rather that mad, mental fsukers playing games getting some inspiration? In my view the world killers were mad fsukers before they played games and it's rather the media that give these mad fsukers a podium that aggravates the situation. Just bring back the electric chair and air it on TV for all to witness how these mad fsukers are dealt with and see it drop away.

[kingPoS]

The average american can be so full of contradiction at times... maybe that's just human nature

[aLiEnViSiToR]

not his again -_- *closes the page*