July 11, 2007 -
Philadelphia's homicide rate is out of control. Nobody in the city disputes that. So are local politicians blaming crime, drugs, easily available guns, gangs or poverty?Nah. Video games. The Evening Bulletin quotes Rep. Ronald Waters (D):
Philadelphia alone has seen 204 homicides so far this year. Violent video games may or may not be a contributing factor, but we will never know unless this issue is seriously studied.
Children can't always understand the difference between the video game world and the real world, and there's no telling what impact this exposure to violence will have on them later in life.
Waters is one of the original sponsers of H.R. 94, a resolution to study the effects of violent media on children. GamePolitics covered an amendment to the bill in a report published earlier today (see: Pennsylvania Legislature Looking Into Video Game Violence). The Bulletin report speculates that Waters and his colleagues in the Pennsylvania legislature may challenge the accuracy of the ESRB rating system.
Said Darin Broton of the National Institute on Media and the Family:
The 800-lb. gorilla in the room is how do we address graphic media violence. The Pennsylvania House is not the first state legislature to tackle this issue, and it won't be the last. There really needs to be a national solution, like a universal ratings system.
GP: We covered Rep. Waters' original move in this direction last September.
Comments
I was going to say, why not have every city in the US do a lame study like this, it would probably be cheaper than teaching all the poli's to read, or comprehend existing studies.
Even including the 10 bil. for a 'What is google?' power point presentation..
I believe you meant, “What do you intend to do about the ACTUAL leading factors of crime, namely: unemployment, poverty, gangs, and drugs?”
But, well, the answer to that would be to redirect attention toward video games and away from incompetent politicians.
Pennsylvania has some incredible disparities in education, income, and environment, yet with all the evidence that crime is increased by allowing so many to fall toward the lower end while only bettering those at the top, here we are contemplating spending needed money on frivolous legislation.
And they wonder why the people most in need of better [insert anything here] don't trust the government enough to leave their betterment (and taxes) in its hands....
Of all the things a government can choose to waste money on, why this? No study they're going to throw onto the ever-growing pile of garbage that's been called video game research is going to affect any real change, so why try? Do politicians do this crap because they get bored? "Let's spend the money of game research RATHER than fund the police force to reduce the crime rate DIRECTLY." This whole move is horrendously disgusting.
"Do you believe that this legislation will end violent crime?"
"What percentage do you expected violent crime will decrease with passage of this bill?"
"What do you intend to do about the other leading factors of crime, namely: unemployment, poverty, gangs, and drugs?"
of course because we all know Pats makes the best cheese steaks.
Politicians are paper dolls - they have no real substance other then what's imbued into them by their electorate or, as is the case in recent years, the lobbyists. Even if you take all of them down and elect the entire government over from scratch they will still reflect the biases of the voters. Change comes from the few politicians with balls, but we see less and less of those in recent years.
You solve the problems by educating the people so they elect politicians who enact legislation that actually targets the root causes of these issues.
Combat drug trafficking in the city.
Reduce poverty in the area.
Improve public schools in poorer neighborhoods.
Reducing the number of gangs in the area.
Increasing the number of community centers in impoverished areas.
Increasing police presence in the city, and especially in impoverished areas.
Get Mayor Street out of office.
Fix the Septa crisis.
And last but not least, GET GUNS OFF THE STREETS.
In 2006, residents of this city thought that having more guns on the streets would reduce the occurrences of crimes, and of violence. They made their voices heard in local city papers. What has been happening for the past few years is that guns HAVE been solving disputes in the city, but many of these disputes usually end in gun fire and death.
The problem is that while honest, law abiding citizens have been using guns to legitimately protect themselves, so do every other nefarious citizen, gang banger, drug dealer, etc.
Fact: 80 percent of the homicides in Philadelphia are committed with guns, and 10 percent of the victims of gun violence are juveniles.
Source: http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:7IMitd3W1OYJ:ework.phila.gov/philag...
In Philadelphia, if you give a person on the street the wrong kind of look, then you're likely to have a gun jammed in your face. People DO shoot each other over petty disputes, whether it be that you said something offensive to someone's friend or the person wants your shoes (yes there are documented cases of murders occurring for BOTH of the listed reasons).
This legislation is truly a waste of tax payer dollars, time, and does not make me feel any safer in this blasted city. There are more viable alternatives which can be applied right now to help combat crime in Philadelphia.
To everyone in Philly, PLEASE vote these clowns out of office. They obviously aren't interested in solving your city's high crime rates.
There, fixed.
I think that one way of taking the challenge is to get rid of all the politicians that don't know jackshit about whats REALLY going on in their country rather than what the PTC, Liberal Media, NIMF and the Church of England tell them...
I proposed that the rate of homicides in PA has to do with the number of Inept politicians. The longer inept and incompetent politicians stay in office there is in an increase in homicide rates. The only way to bring down the crime rates is to put more inept and incompetent politicians into office so they can make more stupid laws to arrest anyone
watching TV,
playing video games,
wearing the hood of their sweater over their head,
watching movies,
playing with water guns,
throwing water balloons,
any (if not all) impressionable children,
people wearing baggy clothing,
for wearing red,
for wearing blue,
for flashing the peace sign,
for not speaking proper english,
looking suspicious,
for being black,
for being asian,
for being trailer trash,
for being mexican,
and for not being an inept or incompetent politician.
although its funny. We charge 14 year olds as an Adult if they commit a crime. But yet we treat them as a child when it comes to what they can watch. Its funny though that historically 14 years old made you an adult. And now ur adult depending on what you do.
Later in life? You mean when children become young adults and understand the difference between right and wrong, real and make-believe? Hang on, that doesn't just happen, there's something in the background that makes this come about. What is it again? Oh yeah, having been raised properly by their parents or guardians!
I'm sure there are some people with mental problems that could be adversely effected by violent media, but it is up to their parents/guardians to ensure they do not consume any media not suitable for them. There are children who are severely and dangerously allergic to peanuts. Should companies who make peanut related products be blamed and be asked to stop? No, it's up to the parents of these children to ensure that their child is not exposed to these things that could be harmful to them. Why can't people understand this?
They should commission a study into the effects of a lack of proper upbringing, or anti-social tendencies, drug use or gangs instead. You know, some of the things that are actually involved in criminal activities?
Man wtf @ politicians
I really fucking hate politicans now. Both the Censorcrats and Republimoralists. Both parties need to be taken out of power immediately. They are useless and have no idea how or don't want to take the time and money to solve the real problems out there. Vote Green, Vote Libertarian, Vote Independant, just don't vote for the two main useless parties that are in power right now. Don't vote for the lesser of two evils. Lets show the Republicans and Democrats we are sick of their bullshit and fucking around once and for all.
So remind me, what's that "M" on the box doing there anyway?
Um, how many of those homicides were actually committed by children? I bet fewer than 10. Relevance of study? None.
Can we just send them this link and tell them to blow it out their ass. Maybe if they had proper policing and city protection they wouldn't have to blame anyone else.
Re:
i totally agree. people are gonna murder people whether there are video games or not. that's like saying CSI is teaching kids how to murder people and get away with it. DUMB!!!!