Are School Shootings Are Caused By Violent Video Games?

The Virginia Tech Massacre occurred on April 16, 2007 starring Seung-Hui Cho as a psychopathic mass murderer who committed suicide after killing 33 and injuring 22 students on the campus of Virginia Tech. 

According to Cho’s roommates, Andy and John Eide, both stated that Cho had strange behaviors such as staring out a window for hours, stalking and harassing certain students, and very little social interactions. 

However, as soon as the news of this massacre was played, politician Jack Thompson immediately linked Cho’s actions to video games while speaking on Fox News. After discovering that Cho had an interest in the popular game Counterstrike, Thompson declared that Cho attacked those students because his motive was influenced by games such as Counterstrike and Grand Theft Auto. 

However, police investigations found out that Cho also had deep fascinations not only with video games, but also movies, TV shows, and music videos that focused on disturbing themes such as death, power, control, and hatred.

“In the lengthy study's proposals the FBI recommends training parents to track their child's use of the Internet and viewing of violent videos. No reference is made to tracking video game playing.” (Crecente, Brian. “Dissecting Jack’s Lies” http://kotaku.com/252914/feature-dissecting-jacks-lies)

               

In 1997, sixteen- year-old Evan Ramsey walked to his high school and pulled out a .12 gauge shotgun and opened fire on his classmates, killing two students in the process. After being imprisoned, Carol Marin of 60 Minutes spoke to Evan about his motivations. What became the main controversy that overshadowed everything else was that Evan spent long hours playing Doom. 

Psychiatrist Dr. John Smith believed that the violence in Doom increased Evan’s aggressive behavior in real life and led him to the school shooting. However, what was talked less of was Evan’s life before he started playing violent video games. 

“Evan Ramsey was had lived a difficult life at a young age, his father went to prison and his mother became an alcoholic. Ramsey and his brother were shipped off to a series of foster homes and suffered sexual abuse and humiliation. He even attempted suicide at age 10 and struggled to control his temper.” ("Rage: A Look At A Teen Killer - 60 Minutes - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/08/17/60II/main58625.shtml>.)

Politicians Blame Video Games For Young Violence

Politicians have passed laws specific laws and regulation to limit the sales of violent video games to minorities. The ESRB rating system in the US has prohibited the sale of M rated games to consumers under 18 without the permission of an adult.

Rated T games and under only have suggestive theme, crude humor, and strong language, and are considered unsuitable for children under 13. M rated games, which contain intense violence, gore, sexual themes, and strong language, can only be purchased by 18 year old teens or older. The gaming industries have abided by these laws, yet they continue to receive unfair criticism. 

Politicians and psychiatrists have linked violent crimes and murderers to video games, believing that the actions without punishment in gaming blurring the line between reality and the gaming world. However, numerous researches from Texas A&M University and Harvard University concluded that players who spend hours playing violent video games only showed a minor increase in aggressive behavior, though not enough to start a massacre. Also, the malicious acts found in games can also be found in today’s TV shows, movies, and graphic novels, yet politicians continue to blame society’s young violence on video games.

The fact that politicians are trying to limit the graphical subjects of gaming to minorities are understandable, but to fully eradicate the work of many creative game designers just because their games’ contents are too explicit is unjust. To point fingers only at video games for children’s aggressive behavior is just unreasonable. The gaming industries have done enough to keep their products away from unsuitable consumers.

Are You Demorcat or Republican?

Today's modern political party system in America is a two-party system dominated by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. However, which party do you belong to?

First of all, you would have to ask yourself what is your view on social and human ideas. If you focus more on community and social responsibilities, then you are Democrat. If you focus more more individual rights and justice, then you are Republican.

Both Democratic and Republican have different economic views. Democrats favor the poor, favoring minimum wages and high taxes on the wealthy. Republicans however, believe that taxes shouldn't be increased for anyone and wages should reflect free market.


Both parties also differ on philosophy. Republicans are more conservative and is based on a limited influence of government and a dominant foreign policy. Democrats are know as supporters of a broader range of social services in America.

Several other controversial ideas also differ among Democrats and Republicans as one favors, the other opposes. Democrats prefer decreasing military spending, oppose death penalties, legalize abortions, and support gay marriages. Republicans prefer increase military spending, support death penalties, prohibit abortions, oppose same sex marriages.

To find out which party you are, all you have to do is figure out which views are you more likely to support.

Facebook: Friend or Foe?

Facebook have come the most popular social networking websites for all ages. The fact that one can socialize, share pictures, and connect with friends wherever they are is truly astonishing. However, some teens have spent an overabundance amount of time on Facebook in their daily lives that they fail to do anything else.

I was reluctant to use Facebook at first after witnessing how everyone spend literally half their day checking their Facebook status. Many of my friends told me that I need to get in on this because it is the new cool thing. After countless pleads, i succumbed to peer pressure and started a Facebook profile.

After using Facebook, I found out that there are a lot of unique things about this site. I can share pictures, videos, and even check what my friends are doing this very moment. However, as time went on I saw the many social deterioration effects this social network can have on people.

The first thing that hit me was that my friends got mad when I didn't reply, comment, or accept their friend request after within 2 hours. Apparently ignoring a friend request is a direct insult and not commenting on your friends status is the same as ignoring you friends in real life.

When my friends asked me to show them my profile, the only thing they commented on was the fact that I only had 150 friends. I could only give them a look of confusion. Not having a lot of Facebook friends puts you on the loser list.

Facebook is a great tool for meeting friends, but to some teens Facebook have become a way of life. I can now see why people waste so much of their time on Facebook. The pressure of being cool and socially accepted is why people are offering up their lives to this time vampire called Facebook.

Barack Obama' Great Hype?

I am a sports fan so I know hype when I see it. Although I am not someone who likes to get into politics, I can't help but wonder what the big deal is when Barack Obama became the president of the United States.

First of all, I do not hate Barack Obama and I certainly don't think he is a bad president. He is the first black president of the United States and I can understand that his presidency can become a symbol of ending racism. During his presidential campaign, he won the support of almost all black people. However, I cannot distinguish whether people voted for him because of his policies and beliefs or because they wanted to prove to the world that the era of racism is truly over in America.

I have heard many Barack Obama's speeches on both the internet and TV. My impression was mediocre. His speech contained nothing groundbreaking, breathtaking, or anything worthy of such hype people have praised him for. He looks black, but nothing that he did or said have made me believe that he is black.

The media glamorized this man to the point that its beyond ridiculous. One night I turn on the TV and saw Fox News reporting that the "Future" President have stopped by a Jack in the Box and the store did not have any hot sauce for him.

As I said above, I am a sports fan. When George W. Bush was still the president, the only thing I heard of him being related to sports was that he will throw the first pitch of a baseball game. When Barack Obama took over, the media have showed how he was a fan of the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Bulls. He even gave a half hours speech on the NBA finals.

If I want to hear about the president, I want him to speak about politics. There's no reason that we should focus so much on his personal life. I am not hating nor blaming the current president for this, but he has gotten the more spotlight that he deserves. If Obama was white, there would be no such hype for him.