'Racist Undertones' in Anti-Games Fears Options

[Xbox-Scene]

'Racist Undertones' in Anti-Games Fears Posted by XanTium | March 1 21:35 EST | News Category: GamingGeneral

From next-gen.biz: [QUOTE] A leading sociologist says videogames have become the scapegoat for violent acts perpetrated by white middle-class criminals, pointing out that crimes committed by African Americans are rarely blamed on games. Writing in the American Sociological Association's journal Contexts, USC's Karen Sternheimer says, "Blaming video games means that the [criminals] were set aside from other violent youth, frequently poor males of color. The video game explanation constructs the white, middle-class shooters as victims of the power of video games, rather than as fully culpable criminals. When boys from "good" neighborhoods are violent, they seem to be created by video games rather than by their social circumstances. White, middle-class killers retain their status as children easily influenced by a game, victims of an allegedly dangerous product. African-American boys, She tears into the many studies that have been published on video game violence in recent years, "The biggest problem with media-effects research is that it attempts to decontextualize violence. Poverty, neighborhood instability, unemployment, and even family violence fall by the wayside. Ironically, even mental illness tends to be overlooked in this psychologically oriented research." [/QUOTE] Full Story: next-gen.biz

[ILLusions0fGrander]

ive heard some dumb shit in my life...

since when were video game related violence studies aimed at white people? and if they were, how were they considered legitimate studies having not considered the entire population in the first place?

This post has been edited by ILLusions0fGrander: Mar 2 2007, 03:06 AM

[lostboyz]

wow, it may be true it violence is blamed more on video games from the white middle class, thought I don't think it is ever taken as true. I guess the white middle class just happens to always have a scapegoat for violent tendencies whether it be music, video games, or movies. Some people are just more prone to be violent.

[mlapaglia]

wow...

[hassle]

i hate when poeple try to blame video games, movies and music for people murdering other people. Im not saying that the games and such dont take part, but if they do have an influence on some kid killing his classmates, then im sorry, nut that kid was already messed up to begin with.

ive been playing violent games and watching horrible movies and listening to rob zombie and other hardcore rockers for a long time now. GUESS WHAT im not gonna go kill somebody

[Anonnos]

Yeah i think that they would have to be insane to begin with also.If the person could be influenced by a video game they were weak-minded. They may be tetering on the edge and sometimes it just takes that certain factor that nudges over or in a certain direction.

[gcskate27]

wasnt there a case not too long ago about a couple of black kids(if i recall correctly) who shot randomly into traffic and blamed GTA San Andreas?

[TheShadowOfX]

.

This post has been edited by TheShadowOfX: Mar 2 2007, 03:49 AM

[capboy210]

These sociologists should actually back there stuff up with reasearch for once. Then they can make a valid point

A study on this stuff would be interesting.

This post has been edited by capboy210: Mar 2 2007, 03:52 AM

[DMAddict]

I'm white, I'm middle class, I play video games. Look out mutha fu&@#!, I'm rollin' out now.

[luther349]

blaming games for killing anyone is utter bs anyways it just means they have no defence couse they knoe they did wrong. iplay volent games and look i havent killed anyone if someone cant tell the diffrence bewtween a game and real life they have far worse mentel problems to start with and should have aruldy been watched alot more closly. thers far worse things that make kids go bad gangs drugs abuse schools i can go on lol. as for the meda showing poor white people in there storys i have to agree. if they showed black people it would rune there rep of all being gangsters lol.

This post has been edited by luther349: Mar 2 2007, 04:26 AM

[robgue]

i think some maybe missing the point. basically white middle class kids violence is blamed on things like video game violence as opposed to enviroment, etc like black kids.
the racist undertone to those video game violence studies is that precisely. blame the video games not the enviroment. middle class(working class) white kids have problems too though. some are criminals. you don't see studies on how violent video games are corrupting black youth in general. you do see studies about violent games corrupting white middle class kids in the suburbs. Omg! think of the children type scare campaigns.

[xtreme_360fw]

! think of the children type scare campaigns.

Exactly bro! It's all a scare campaign with some alterior motive that we have yet to realize. Something isn't right about what they're trying to say. Either way, it's sad to see that there are some out there who can't determine reality from fantasy or are easily influenced by a "game". I get my rocks off enacting what I know I can't possibly do in real life thru a video game; that's my vent.

=Xtreme=

[Mega_mil]

i think some maybe missing the point. basically white middle class kids violence is blamed on things like video game violence as opposed to environment, etc like black kids.
the racist undertone to those video game violence studies is that precisely. blame the video games not the environment. middle class(working class) white kids have problems too though. some are criminals. you don't see studies on how violent video games are corrupting black youth in general. you do see studies about violent games corrupting white middle class kids in the suburbs. Omg! think of the children type scare campaigns.

Of course not because like you stated, most people tend to think it's the environment or better yet, they do it because of the color of their skin. I understand exactly where this lady is coming from. She is pretty much saying that young white kids can always blame video games or rap music for their actions. I know I shouldn't of let Dave listen to that Snoop Doggy Dogg....lol I'm sure they are messed up people of all races but until people stop being completely biased on all sides, it's never going to end. I know so many people that think that rap music is what's wrong with the world. PFFT.

This post has been edited by Mega_mil: Mar 2 2007, 10:59 AM

[oozingrectum]

i think some maybe missing the point. basically white middle class kids violence is blamed on things like video game violence as opposed to enviroment, etc like black kids.

If you're Caucasian, it's blamed on video games.
If you're African American, it's blamed on gang violence.
If you're Middle Eastern, it's blamed on terrorism.

Did you just realize the stereotypes?

Come on, the FBI's serial killer profile was/is 'a Caucasian male between the ages of 18 and 32.' Were Charles Ng or "Coral" Watts white? Nope.

Oh well, that's how society works I guess..

I'm white, I play violent video games and I listen to brutal death and goregrind. It makes me wonder: if I ever go into a violent schizo phase (again) I wonder what they'll blame, Postal 2 or Viscera Trail...?

This post has been edited by oozingrectum: Mar 2 2007, 04:12 PM