If you want to know just how twisted our politics and media have become look no further than Senator Rockefeller's bill last week asking the National Science Foundation to study the effects of video game violence after the NRA blamed the Newtown shootings on video game violence and mentioned video games that the Newtown shooter didn't play. The news media responded quickly, forcefully and with a complete disregard for the facts. ABC News reported that a research study had found no relationship between media violence and actual rates of violence. Similarly, the Christian Science Monitor claimed that scientific research had already dismissed claims of a link between violence and video games. Similarly, a PBS local station (KCTS) claimed the entire idea of video games causing violence has been completely refuted by science.
Rockefeller's idea that more research is needed, the NRA's assertion that violence has only one cause (video games) and the media claims that science hasn't made any determinations are all false. So where is the truth? That's pretty hard to find based on mainstream media reports.
The American Psychological Association, The Australian Psychological Association, The American Academy of Pediatrics, a 200 page Canadian report, The International Society on Resarch on Aggression and the US National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women Final Report (2012) all concluded that violent depictions in the media including violent video games cause aggression and violence. Note the word "cause." Scientists don't use it very often unless they have proof. For example, tobacco products cause cancer. Climate change is caused by people. Is this causal research based on one or two studies as the mainstream media suggests? No, its based on more than 3,500 scientific studies.
What's the scientific principle involved? Children frequently learn how to do things through imitation. If a child over a long period of time is exposed to violent solutions that they believe are realistic, they begin to see violence as a realistic option. That's why children who witness violence in the home are at risk to become violent.
Science suggests limiting children's exposure to violence and to teach children that depictions of media violence are unrealistic. For example, one study found that a school intervention that taught children that violence on TV is not realistic reduced future bullying and aggression.
So why hasn't the media interviewed the world's leading authority on a link violence. Actually, they did. Here's a link to his CNN interview that I couldn't find on CNN's website and here's another link to his Violence Research Groups comprehensive policy statement on violence that of course includes other actions such as limiting guns and preventing individuals with mental disorders from owning or having access to them.
So why is Rockefeller asking for a new government report when this year's national advisory report and a number of major scientific organizations have already concluded that video games cause violence? Why is the NRA overstating its causal significance as they did for mental illness. The research on mental illness shows that only people who are experiencing violent delusions are more dangerous. Most mentally ill people are less violent than the general population. Why does the media downplay or attempt to refute what scientists have found to be the case.
Clearly the NRA is attempting to rally others to its cause including the video game manufacturers and mental health advocates who have long argued that forced institutionalization is a civil rights violation because the US uses a very unscientific approach to decide who gets committed. As for the Senator and the media, the same sort of false assertions were made after it became clear that smoking causes cancer, certain foods are bad for you and with climate change. In each of these cases there were calls for more research and media stories that completely ignore science in favor of quotes from "industry experts." An example of how absurd these media experts have become was recently illustrated by MSNBC's video guru expert who claimed that she knew that violence isn't caused by video games and that scientists just don't know what they're talking about because they're old and don't understand the new media.