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COMMENTARY
In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting , video games have once again been blamed for prompt furiousness , this clock time by presidential aspirer and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich .
Study: Playing Video Games Improves Eyesight
lately on " This Week with George Stephanopoulos , " Gingrich say that “ untried people are being dehumanized by violence in TV games . ” Blaming entertainment for existent - world ailment is a popular interest , but Gingrich ’s statement has no basis in science .
Despite decades of research , there is no proven link betweenvideo game violenceand material - mankind violence .
If violent entertainment cause genuine furiousness , logic would prescribe that the vehement crime rate would have skyrocketed in recent years . In fact , precisely the opposite occurred : tearing crime has dropped significantly over the retiring 20 years — just as video games have become more prevalent and more violent . In fact , one could make the ( evenly illogical ) argument that violent video games actually minify trigger-happy crimes .
The images seen in the consequence of theVirginia Tech shootingshardly show the desensitized youthful people Gingrich draw . Youth were seen sob and comforting each other , participating in candlelight vigils and memorials . Where the news medium saw a nation in lamentation , Gingrich insure legion of “ dehumanize ” youthful people .
If Gingrich is correct , then presumably the colleges and campus across the country do not need the host of grief counselors who have been dispatched to help the educatee make out , since their crimson television games have made them indifferent to suffering and the loss of human lifetime .
Benjamin Radford wrote about the newsworthiness medium ’s coverage of shoal shootings in " Media Mythmakers : How Journalists , Activists , and Advertisers Mislead Us " ( 2003 ) . This and other ledger are noted on hiswebsite .
