Sometimes these studies ask the wrong questions. I don’t want to censor video games but I do wonder what the effect of murder simulation is on people, along with regularly witnessing the frequent sexual assaults that get dramatized in our media (movies, TV). Does it lead to aggressive behavior? Maybe not, but I’d be surprised if these influences are a net positive for the well-being of individuals or communities. We’ve lost much of any ability to have community standards with any toolset other than the force of the law, but all this energy people put into trying to ban words or speakers, topple statues or cancel companies might be better focused into social disapproval of the portrayals of murder, rape and the rest of the violence we inundate ourselves and our kids with on a daily basis.
I've been playing violent video games my entire life. Depictions of rape and murder still make me cringe. I can't even sit through 20 seconds of slaughterhouse footage. But I love watching statues of dictators or pro-slavery losers topple.
>all this energy . . . might be better focused into social disapproval of the portrayals of murder, rape and the rest of the violence we inundate ourselves and our kids with on a daily basis.
I tend to agree, and the "rekt/gore" threads on 4chan strike me as particularly low-hanging fruit.
At least 4chan is in a narrow corner of the internet - most people don’t get exposed to it, ‘specially not like prime time TV and mainstream movies, which contain just gratuitous levels of physical/sexual violence and are readily and regularly accessed by the majority of society. 4chan is comparatively inconsequential I think.
