Found the videos, so now I'll post the links and update them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpIBLTPMN_U Senator Kohl and Lieberman closing statements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdojFVlAP-M&feature=relmfu Lieberman questions enforcement.
I watched all of the videos, but I'll just use these two as examples of how the government and senators are displacing the blame for the actions of misunderstood youth. Lieberman discusses how the companies that produce video games, such as Nintendo, Sega, so on, must enforce this new rating system if they want to maintain credibility as a medium and not to appear out of control. Senator Kohl goes so far as to say that they have been pushing the limits of freedom of expression and speech to the very last inch, and that if they push too far they'll do damage to youth and society. Those are ridiculous statements. Senators are caught committing lascivious and lewd acts all the time, yet they somehow feel the right to preach credibility and stability? The governmental process is a constant state of chaos, with constant debating and back room deals taking place. They know very little about the gaming industry, yet they feel they have a right to deem it out of control and as a passing industry. That's ignorant and short sighted. Senator Kohls' comments may be worse. Accusing the video game industry of pushing the limits on freedom is a firestorm accusation. It's borderline unconstitutional to tell game creators what they're allowed to put out, just as it would be telling a writer what to write, or an artist what to paint. Then it becomes a police state. I'm all for the rating system, but I don't think the government should ever step in with censorship and an iron fist. Which brings me to the second video, which is where Lieberman asks the game companies, publisher associations, and coinstop associations whether they'll adhere to the ratings and whether they'll enforce the age/maturity limit for game ownership or rentas. That's impossible and ignorant. Before the rating system, small children only got their hands on Mortal Kombat through friends or parents who weren't paying attention. Both are lapses of the family machine, not the gaming industry. It's also not fair to ask the arcades to have a guard on constant watch to kick young children out of certain game areas. It's forcing a company to adopt a new system, and then leaving it upon them to bear the extra costs to enforce it. That's not just ridiculous, it's stupid. Just stupid.
Anyways, I can update this later if I need to when I'm shown how to find them. Mr. Jenkins was right. That's where I'll plant my flag immediately. It's not that media isn't violent in some way, but to say that kids become violent because of the media is irrational. That is taking all blame off of social factors and putting them on the entertainment industry. It's ignoring some of the larger institutions that certainly shape and adolescents life in a much bigger way: religion, family, school, social circles, and so on.
What do I personally think? It may come across as harsh and a bit defensive, but I think that the government, at the time of Mr. Jenkins hearing, up through today, is out of touch with modern day media. Now, that's a sweeping term, and I'm not pointing to news networks or anything along those lines. I'm speaking in terms of film, television, new literature even, but most definitely video games. Video games are one of the youngest forms of media, and as such, it's understandable that some fear might creep into the hearts of the higher ups of society, those who had control over what they knew. They may view games as something that could challenge their position and hold, or perhaps as a propaganda tool of liberal media that they don't yet have their claws into. I'm not sure where the fear and distaste comes from, but I think we can all agree, it's definitely there.
I wish I could say that we as a people have changed in the years since the tragic Littleton shootings, but we haven't. There is still misunderstood violence occurring, such as the Aurora shootings, and yet, the scapegoat immediately became The Dark Knight Rises. It couldn't be that perhaps this young man had never been heard, or that maybe he had been outcast to an abusive degree. He also had clinically diagnosed mental issues. But those things are generally ignored, because they're not as booming of a target. The headline won't look as good, and therefore, there would be less backing for perhaps censorship laws, or, god forbid, complete bans. He must have gotten his ideas from watching violent movies, from mowing down enemies in a game, from listening to speed metal, right?
Well...no. I take part in all of those same activities. I've also never been picked on, bullied, cast out. I've had a loving, supportive family that accepts and supports me. I have great friends. I've never struggled in school, and I've always felt I had purpose. Do I always accept myself or love myself? Hell no. But, it never weighs me down too much because I have people there to listen.
I think one of the heavier quotes to walk away with the whole hearing and surrounding events came from Marilyn Manson, one of the people being crucified and explicitly blamed for the shootings. He's a shock rocker. He goes out and screams violence and open sexuality. He dismisses religion and standard family values. He's everything a government fears, because he embodies one thing: chaos. However, sometimes that's what the misunderstood of the world need. They need games, perhaps violent ones, they need music, perhaps profane in nature, they need film, perhaps with an antihero. These things are needed and important because they represent a controllable chaos. They give the misunderstood something to hold on to. A community of like minded people who can accept them. A place to let go of the demons.
If they have that, there's one thing I believe everyone needs to do. Manson put it best.
"I wouldn't say a single word to them I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did."
Instead of having one sided rhetoric, let's slow the conversation down. Let's have a rational discussion on the purpose and place video games serve in society. This goes back to the conversation about video games being viewed as art. They are art, they are entertainment, they are stupid. They are all of those things to any one person. They're not killers, and they're not the creators of killers. That is the world we live in, that is the social situation that is breeding an unhealthy, toxic environment. Let's tackle the problem at it's base, at it's root, instead of just trying to chop off the limbs.
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