I am testing if this works.

Also, I think the Dr. Phil is a quack and doesn't deserve to be a psychologist or whatever he is, nor should he have a tv show.

As much as I want to hope for the best, this could be one of the worst things to happen to us. Dr. Phil is watched by thousands of stay-at-homes and soccer moms that will believe anything he presents. I don't expect there to be much in the way of fair and balanced.

But then again, if this "Game violence specialist" is who we think it might be, and they invite on Hal Halpin as well...... It will be a TIVO moment for sure.

The spam-eater flagged my comment about all the comments disappearing. Discuss... in comment form.

test...

Lost all of the comments here while doing a quick edit..

:-(

If it wasn't for Oprah he wouldn't have his own TV show. I bet its going to be Jackie boy and again they will only present one view of the situation to the table... It is really a shame.

Let the witch hunt begin.

The truly ironc thing is that he uses the term "points" in his anti-violence tirade, when every person who's PLAYED a video game knows that points are no longer used as bragging tools or rewards anymore.
Just shows his boundless ignorance.

I think his specialist is Dr. Phil. If it wasn't for Oprah this clown wouldn't have his own show.

"Uh-oh" indeed.

Seems appropriate since Dr. Phil is as qualified a shrink as JT is as qualified a lawyer.

God damnit GP stop flagging everything I say!

Seconding what David B. said - correlation does NOT, under ANY circumstance, imply causation.
Suppose that there is a correlation between consumption of media violence and propensity for real-world violence. (That's media violence, not just game violence, and I don't claim that there is any such correlation - I think the jury's still out on that one.)
Anyhow, presume that the correlation exists. Without knowing anything else, causality can work in one of four ways:
1) Consuming media violence causes one to be violent. (A causes B.)
2) Being violent causes one to prefer violent media. (B causes A.)
3) Some external influence causes one to have a preference for both media violence and real world violence. (C causes both A and B.)
4) There is no causal link - just a random coincidence.

Without a more thorough study it's impossible to tell which is the case. Rigorous scientists are very clear on this point - correlation does not imply causation. Unfortunately, not everyone is clear on this point and unscrupulous scientists can drum up support by showing off a correlation as cause.

@Erik, Father Time; The woman doesn't respond to logic. She took a formative psychology course when she was younger and believes that, since infants have trouble distinguishing realities (and I have trouble accepting experiments performed decades ago in a formative field that infer cognitive abilities from things which we can't converse with), everyone under the age of 18 has issues distinguishing realities. Since everyone under the age of 18 plays video games and violence exists then violence is clearly the result of the video games.

I just keep out of it. I'm almost certain that it's impossible to convince someone, who believes this, of anything else. Seriously, has anyone ever convinced someone non-scientific who was FIRMLY of the belief that violence is caused by video games otherwise?

Trying to evade the spam filter...

That is the dumbest most simple-minded idea ever!!!! I cannot believe these dumbass soccor asses are demonizing something as little as video games. GO TO HELL DR. Phil. He is the next David Koresh. Games do not tell kids to kill. Next time why don't you assholes think before you speak. The Columbine Killers did not kill cause of video games. It was cause it made them feel godly. Powerful! I know this because I did something that these dumbasses didn't... STUDY THE PSYCHOPATHS!

@bayushin

One more thing

we can dismiss their arguments because it's the same old song and dance they've pulled throughout history. First it was rock and roll causing juvenille violence, next it was comic books, then it was dungeons and dragons and now it is video games.

@Father Time

How do you keep getting published in what feels like a Chinese Newspaper. Seriously, this entire website is giving me the FYAD response.

I'm a physician. A physician who games. Games competitively, like in leagues. With more time we should have gotten me prepped and on with Dr. Phil.

@GamePolitics

A few of my 'more tasteless' comments in regards to the spam filter didn't get posted. /cry

Father Time; Doesn't common sense tell us that correlation DOES equal causation? Isn't it something more complex that lets us look beyond that and see that our world is not just what is in front of us? Isn't that why so many people are easily convinced by pretty graphs that correlate pirates and global warming?

exactly Zig, I love it even better when he gives dieting advice...


One point that got erased here was that gamerdad said he got a call from "Dr." Phil's producers but they quickly balked when they found out he would not take an anti-game stance.

Funny, I didn't know Phil was on FOX... :P

dr Dave shuts me up again. To quote South Park, "This is fucking weak."

@bayushisan

There is no civil discourse, cause dr Dave has a black sharpie in one hand and his dick in the other and he's saying "Look'it me! I'm putting an end to civil discourse. Flag Flag Flag." The last thing we need is a filter with massive delusions of grandeur.

I may actually watch this. I'd like to know what someone is going to say before leaping to judgement.

One thing that I think we need to do is stop saying that media has no effect on people. We all know that's a load of horse hockey. Violent media CAN desensitize people to violence. We also know that there is correlative evidence to violent behaviour and the consumption of violent media. Once those points are acknowledged and aggreed upon real, common sense solutions can be worked out.

Dismissing any argument other than our own out of hand does nothing but hinder civil discourse.

At least he wasn't singling out videogames.

ah this reminds me of the old gamepolitics where every post was pre-screened to avoid the troll(s), although it wasn't because of a spam filter gone beserk.

Seriously I liked Dr Keith better than Dr Phil....and sadly he got canceled....anyway yeah its always the media's fault.

i hope so

i hope I can post now. I am being flagged as spam in some threads

echoing what I said before so that I don't look weird.

“game violence specialist”? Paging Jack Thompson......

I can't believe people take this Dr. Phil guy seriously. He sits on a couch, talks to people, and gives them common sense advice. I could do that! But, apparently, if Oprah endores them, they must be more qualified than us mere mortals. Sad people can't think for themselves.

They are censoring Jackie boy's name.

@phantomdata


Have you brought up to this woman that no studies have drawn a causality between games and real world violence? Conversations like that can be fun. If you go in with facts and all she has is her own personal opinions on the matter and knee jerks reactions it will likely end with her raising her voice, as if you can't be right you may as well be wrong loudly. It can be quite amusing.

@phantomdata


Have you brought up to this woman that no studies have drawn a causality between games and real world violence? Conversations like that can be fun. If you go in with facts and all she has is her own personal opinions on the matter and knee jerks reactions it will likely end with her raising her voice, as if you can't be right you may as well be wrong loudly.

@phantomdata

quick try to convince her otherwise before all hope is lost.


Anyway I live near L.A. and i semi-wish i could go there and call out the good doctor on the half-truths he's likely to continue to spout. Unfortunately I may be too young to enter and they may edit out whatever i say to him.

Test flag: Jack Thompson.

i really wish dr phil would pull his head out of his ass once in a while.

This is probably the only episode of Dr. Phil I'm going to watch.

I'll just need an airdate and a time.

Any idea who hacked it Dennis?

@Jake

What?

"You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high."


Um, well you see the problem with psychopaths are... they are psychopaths. Do you really think that if they aren't exposed to violent media they will be normal upstanding citizens? I mean they are psychopaths for crying out loud.

I went to DrPhil.com and applied to be on the show. Unfortunately I couldn't apply for this video game show, but I did apply to be on the show for the segment called "Butt Out". Which seems to be on the subject of asking those who are trying to control you life to "Butt Out"

I put up a respectable, compelling story. It would be pretty slick if they decided to have my on the show.

The only man I have ever heard called a "specialist" anything with regerd to videogames is JT. I find myself hoping and praying that he shows up here. Or releases info to Dennis if he is in fact that specialist. Because I am not hearing anything from him I am starting to worry...

Wait, would going on Dr. Phil count as a psych evaluation?

Um... so, folks seem to have not read my entire comment. I said /common sense would indicate/ that correlation equals causation and then went on to describe pirates, global warming and how it does not ACTUALLY EQUAL correlation.

Lots of people who recently purchased ice cream cones killed lots of other people. Ban ice cream cones. Bunches of Muslims murdered bunches of Americans - ban all Muslims and 40oz liquid containers. The general public uses common sense, not the scientific method. That was my point. I in no way, shape or form believe that correlation equals causation. Hence my bit about pirates. You did read the whole comment - right? Ramen.

"ban all Muslims and 40oz liquid containers."

You must not have been through airport security recently, both those things are banned.

Zigz; I was trying to mix truth with farce while using the same logic. :)

I actually understand what phantomdata is saying. It's kind of like why in statistics class, they HAVE to tell you, "Correlation is NOT causation."

When they see a graph that shows increasing militant Muslim activity and increasing sales of turbans, the general, uneducated public (when I say uneducated, I mean uneducated statistically) will assume that there is a causative relation between the two - maybe turbans inspire Muslims to be terrorists, or more terrorists are purchasing turbans. That's why in The Simpsons, they say, "The pie graph does not lie!"

When they show these graphs on TV or other mediums, it does not have a caption that says, "This is not a causative relationship." On TV, they will say, "As X rises, Y also rises." This is interpreted by the public as "X causes Y, so when X rises, Y will rise."

This has been How to BS with Statistics 101.

Judging by the fact that Jack hasn't come on here yet and paraded around that he's going to be on Dr. Phil, it's probably not him.

Game Violence Specialist... never heard of one. At least not one who's facts were stretched half the time.

All mothers know when you kids play your Nintendos you get points for killing people.

"LARRY KING: Why, though - OK, you want to kill someone, you’re crazed, you’re a little nuts, girlfriend drops you, why do you kill innocent people?…"


Am I the only one who thinks this sentence is a little weird? Larry states that the people want to kill someone, but then he questions why would someone who wants to kill someone kill someone.

I mean it really sounds like Larry King and everybody else in on the ban games bandwagon really thinks that crazy murderers won't kill without the influence of a game, though they will still want to kill and be psychopaths.


Do they Think that Klebold and Harris would have been choir boys without games? That they wouldn't be mental cases? I hardly see that as possible.

Maybe these psychopaths are killing people because, and I know this is crazy, because they are psychopaths.

@Erik

Actually, we know quite a bit about how video games factored in to Harris and Klebold. They most likely used games like Doom to set aside aggression and (some theorize) being barred from their games set them into active planning for their attack.

Harris was a psychopath, and Klebold was his bitch. No amount of outside tinkering would have been able to control Harris, he was doomed from birth. Klebold, on the other hand, would most likely have not carried out an attack without Harris's manipulation.

You know what makes people violent? Other people.

Well the NY TIMES BEST SELLER novels have lots of murders and rapes in them, but no one goes crazy reading them. Same with movies. Same with TV. Same with music. Same with the bible. Video games aren't any different.

You all can relax. Dr. Phil's people called me last week, and at that point they were going to take the show in the direction of video game violence. They indicated they wanted me on the show.

I got a call yesterday, and they decided to take the show in a different direction, with the focuse on role-playing game addiction. They have a girl who has that problem.

Look, I'm giving you the straight scoop here, so knock off the flaming at least in response to this. Dr. Phil's people were very nice, very professional, and quite enthusiastic. Of course, Dr. Phil was spot-on after V-Tech, given the link to video game play by Cho substantiated by the New York Times and the Washington Post (you won't read about that here).

Gee, while I have your attention, I would solicit prayer for Norm Kent, who has spent some of the last 20 years going after me. He had serious brain surgery yesterday, and the prognosis is not known. Norm has always had the courage to put his name on attacks against me, and you all should take note of that courage.

Norm is my enemy, make no mistake about that, which is why I pray for him. I pray for his salvation in Jesus Christ.

Finally, I'm thrilled to report that the US District Court his going to have a hearing next Thursday on my motion for a preliminary injunction against The Florida Bar, to shut down The Bar's assault upon my constitutional rights. That's a start. I'll let you know what happens, through Dennis, which means it probably won't get reported correctly.

Best, Jack Thompson

role playing addiction what couldnt they get anyone to blame twinkies???!!!

Shush it boi.

I find it funny how jack wants to protect his rights, but then turns around and says that we have no rights cause we are gamers.

Dr. Phil was spot on? If I recall correctly, Cho didn't play any games while at college.

JT...is it at all possible that there were other, outside influences that caused the unfortunate situation at V-tech? Perhaps the break up with his girlfriend? Or something along those lines?

I mean, if you think video games make violent killers...then why have I not commited a crime? Any crime? Other then speeding.

Please JT, I'd like to know.

dr phil is like the twinkie defense no one really believes in either of them and wonder how the hell they saw the light of day

Dennis,
I'm going to take a wild guess at it and say they are referring to John Bruce's constant claims that you are not a "true journalist" and how he constantly implies that you lie to us.

They may be throwing back in John Bruce's face his own claims against you.

Or at least that's how I take it.

Then again, I could be wrong.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

"You all can relax. Dr. Phil’s people called me last week, and at that point they were going to take the show in the direction of video game violence. They indicated they wanted me on the show."


Ah, so they were only interested in the "shock and awe" sensationalism news that has corrupted modern news outlets. Facts and logic must take a back seat to riling up people to raise their ratings. You add nothing but nothing on the video game matter except an opinion which has the tendency to form a rabble of ignorant soccer moms.


"I got a call yesterday, and they decided to take the show in a different direction, with the focuse on role-playing game addiction. They have a girl who has that problem."


Ah, so they are deciding to go with an old school scapegoat. Do you know who Patricia Pulling is Jack? She was one of your fore bearers, whose campaign on Dungeons and Dragons mirrors your assaults on video games. Also like you she lost all her court cases.

You can read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_controversies#Patricia...

Yeah, she never accomplished anything on her crusade. Consider this a peak into the future for your crusade.


"Look, I’m giving you the straight scoop here, so knock off the flaming at least in response to this. Dr. Phil’s people were very nice, very professional, and quite enthusiastic. Of course, Dr. Phil was spot-on after V-Tech, given the link to video game play by Cho substantiated by the New York Times and the Washington Post (you won’t read about that here)."


Thats funny, no amount of searching I can do (yes outside of this site) can turn up any evidence that Cho played games. The only news sites that are pointing towards that are only citing you and Dr. Phil as their sources. Hm, and how did you know that the shooter played games before the police even knew who the shooter was? Either A: You are psychic and are beyond evidence. B: You are a massacre chaser who doesn't care about the who and why and only hopes to lasso in those paying the least amount of attention in your paltry little crusade.

But lets say that Cho had played a few games here and there in his history. Congratulations, you have established a correlation. Now give me irrefutable fact that there is a causality.

Also do not tell us not to flame you. You have constantly harassed, threatened and belittled the people here. You have shown you are a small minded, racist, anti-Christian, and all around poor example of a human being.

"Gee, while I have your attention, I would solicit prayer for Norm Kent, who has spent some of the last 20 years going after me. He had serious brain surgery yesterday, and the prognosis is not known. Norm has always had the courage to put his name on attacks against me, and you all should take note of that courage."


Well this is a peculiar change of pace. I would like to congratulate you on showing some actual human decency. But I can't really be sure its sincere. I recall someone giving you sympathy because their wife was also suffering from cancer as yours is, but when you found out said wife was a gamer you wished she would die didn't you?



"Finally, I’m thrilled to report that the US District Court his going to have a hearing next Thursday on my motion for a preliminary injunction against The Florida Bar, to shut down The Bar’s assault upon my constitutional rights. That’s a start. I’ll let you know what happens, through Dennis, which means it probably won’t get reported correctly."


After making amazingly racist claims such as japan's video games in the US are another pearl harbor, threatening everyone from Penny-Arcade to the judge who ruled against your Bully claim, and just your amazing unprofessional ism that you show time and time again, can you see that maybe the Florida Bar is sick of you embarrassing the practice as a whole? Remember the racist comment that Howard Stern made that supposedly you got him kicked off the air for? YOU are the Howard Stern of Florida law. Is it clear for you now?


"Best, Jack Thompson"


Bye Patricia... I mean Jack Thompson.

I will give him this, I may disagree with Jack, but at least this was one of his more mature responses.

Never mind, just read the last paragraph. It seems he can't get through one comment without bashing Dennis in one way or another.

Dr phil.....is a massacre chaser. He sensationalizes tradgedies.

@phantom

are you felling ok? of course jack has not facts

I'm more or less convinced it was someone else pretending to be him... I mean where's the 'knuckleheads' comments, the 'ATTORNEY AND YOUR NOT' in his title? the misused 'HOOAH!' that he has no right to use?

But if he's geniunely grown up, then bravo, it's a step in the right direction.

@Amarkov

Except Cho. Whose, y'know, in the #1 spot right now for school massacres. Since there are so few school shooters (that actually get to carry it out) I think that the statement might be flat-out wrong. As far as I know, Kimveer Gil wasn't much of a gamer either.

Dr Phil taping an episode on video game violence....

GamePolitics has learned that the popular TV shrink is taping an episode about game violence on Thursday....

I wonder if this thing is going to be balanced?

Wow. Up until the center of Thompson's third paragraph, I thought he was going to have a level headed reply. I thought maybe, just maybe, he'd leave out the incomprehensible jabs at them thar [sic] video-games.

Serves me right, I guess.

“Of course, Dr. Phil was spot-on after V-Tech, given the link to video game play by Cho substantiated by the New York Times and the Washington Post (you won’t read about that here).” - Thompson

To be complete, GP did not (to my recollection) cover the NY Times article that Thompson mentions. The reason? There wasn’t anything to cover.

The article was a look at Cho himself and what kind of person he was. Video games were mentioned in one sentence. Here’s the paragraph:

“When Mr. Cho entered Virginia Tech, which is crouched in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia, his parents drove him to school with guarded expectations. Perhaps he would no longer retreat to video games and playing basketball alone the way he did at home. Perhaps college might crack the mystery of who he was, extract him from his suffocating cocoon and make him talk.”

Yep, that’s it.


Andrew Eisen

Oh man, time for another round of ripping Jack Thompson a new asshole.

You all can relax. Dr. Phil’s people called me last week, and at that point they were going to take the show in the direction of video game violence. They indicated they wanted me on the show.

I got a call yesterday, and they decided to take the show in a different direction, with the focuse on role-playing game addiction. They have a girl who has that problem.

Look, I’m giving you the straight scoop here, so knock off the flaming at least in response to this. Dr. Phil’s people were very nice, very professional, and quite enthusiastic. Of course, Dr. Phil was spot-on after V-Tech, given the link to video game play by Cho substantiated by the New York Times and the Washington Post (you won’t read about that here).

Gee, while I have your attention, I would solicit prayer for Norm Kent, who has spent some of the last 20 years going after me. He had serious brain surgery yesterday, and the prognosis is not known. Norm has always had the courage to put his name on attacks against me, and you all should take note of that courage.

Norm is my enemy, make no mistake about that, which is why I pray for him. I pray for his salvation in Jesus Christ.

Finally, I’m thrilled to report that the US District Court his going to have a hearing next Thursday on my motion for a preliminary injunction against The Florida Bar, to shut down The Bar’s assault upon my constitutional rights. That’s a start. I’ll let you know what happens, through Dennis, which means it probably won’t get reported correctly.

Best, Jack Thompson

1. "Look, I’m giving you the straight scoop here, so knock off the flaming at least in response to this. Dr. Phil’s people were very nice, very professional, and quite enthusiastic. Of course, Dr. Phil was spot-on after V-Tech, given the link to video game play by Cho substantiated by the New York Times and the Washington Post (you won’t read about that here)."

SUPPOSITION!
Ok Jack, but here's the thing; you MADE UP THAT LINK WHEN YOU SAID YOU BET HE PLAYED COUNTER STRIKE, AND THE REST OF THE MEDIA WAS TOO STUPID TO CHECK YOUR FACTS, BECAUSE YOU HAD NONE! His roommates said he didn't play games, and I'm pretty sure they knew him better than you.

2.Gee, while I have your attention, I would solicit prayer for Norm Kent, who has spent some of the last 20 years going after me. He had serious brain surgery yesterday, and the prognosis is not known. Norm has always had the courage to put his name on attacks against me, and you all should take note of that courage.

Norm is my enemy, make no mistake about that, which is why I pray for him. I pray for his salvation in Jesus Christ.


Norm Kent was a much finer man than you could ever hope to be. That you would drag this bit of information in here to gloat over shows poor taste on your part, and I'm sure you know what the bible says about gloating (and while we're at it, let us talk about BEARING FALSE WITNESS!).

3.
Finally, I’m thrilled to report that the US District Court his going to have a hearing next Thursday on my motion for a preliminary injunction against The Florida Bar, to shut down The Bar’s assault upon my constitutional rights. That’s a start. I’ll let you know what happens, through Dennis, which means it probably won’t get reported correctly.


Tell me how that goes Jack, because I'm sure that they'll note you're as crazy as we think you are.

You are, as always, a snake, and may God have mercy on your soul when at last you talk to St. Peter and all your misdeeds are laid bare before our lord and savior.

Go to Hell Jack,
Austin D. Lewis
Catholic/Criminologist/Sociologist/Republican/Patriot.

@soulexx
Of course not, its Dr. Phil.

@ Austin Lewis
I have a bunch of copies. I practically have to memorize it by the time I finish with all my degrees. The book is basically my life.

Sadly, I have yet to find a free version anywhere. There are cheap versions by comparison. If you can find the condensed version, it's usually between $20 and $50. I know that's a bit of a range, but mind you, I'm used to University stores where I'm usually paying $35 for the paperback "pocket" version.

Zigs Says:

August 14th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
@Amarkov

Except Cho. Whose, y’know, in the #1 spot right now for school massacres. Since there are so few school shooters (that actually get to carry it out) I think that the statement might be flat-out wrong. As far as I know, Kimveer Gil wasn’t much of a gamer either.

Well, being an avid gamer isn't really what I meant, although I could still be wrong. But since my core point is valid anyway, I'm gonna be apathetic and not try to research that.

@austin lewis:

Ah... go figure, huh? I'm not either, but I know people who are, and even if I didn't I'd still say 'live and let live' and leave it at that.

@ JACK THOMSPON ATTOURNY

I really hope you read this mr thompson, and for that reason I'm going to be polite despite my negative opinions and feelings towards you and your attitude.

I hope you will reciprocate.

I appreciate that you maintain a presence on this site but I feel as though the reason behind it are less than honourable, which is evident from your posts.

I would ask you to examine your motivation for being here because there are two most likely reasons:

1) You are here to brag about whatever your latest endeavour against the gaming pasttime you or someone else is conducting

or

2) You are here to maintain some communcation with the gamer population in attempt to better understand those you oppose.

Persoanlly I've only seen elements of 1.

I would now suggest you think about which category you would use to define your presence here and take note, because If you are here for number 1, I would advise you stop, there are more than enough gaming news outlets to report every act against our pasttime without you to do it, moreover your comments seem ofttimes insulting and without even the merest hint of professional courtesy. You have the freedom of speech to make such bragging statements, but they are not wanted and either ignored or ridiculed.

If you are here for option 2, to keep up communication with the gamer population I would strongly advise you actually respond to comments made, ignoring them only serves to detract from yuor stance, and I have seen people pick apart your every word, yet still you seem to ignore this which is not possible or even acceptable for a rational minded advocate.

I may be stretching my hopes that you will even read this let alone follow it but your presence here is nonsensical in its current state and I urge you to reconsider.

@shiro

I think the latter is more likely

in the off chance he does read it I'm perfectly happy for jack to email me any response, I'll give my permission for dennis to pass on my email (from the comment or whatever) since I'm not fond of posting it openly.

I'd be quite honoured if he took up the offer, after all the comebacks he's ignored on this site.

@chris

that makes sense
but if he does, you have to post it...

Well since my recent lay off from my job i'll be able to possibly tivo it in between applying for jobs... >.> Pfft. What i don't like about Dr. Phil is he only has one side of the story on his show. He never covers the other side. Now...Dr. Kieth Ablow is a lot better in terms of comparison of phil and ablow. I'd like to see ablow do a take on video game violence and its effects on normal human beings.

Wait wait wait...

Maybe.. just maybe... Jack is going on to Phil to cover his own addition to battling video games?

Face it jack, you have an unhealthy addiction. I mean you probally go over these forums and stuff every single day, every waking hour. Trying to destroy video games will eventually destroy you and your soul!

GP has been THE source of coverage for JT/FL Bar. It's very simple. Use the search box on the main page. Search on Thompson Florida Bar and then tell me we're not covering the story...

GP has broken more news on the FL Bar issue than you can shake a stick at. We routinely publish the relevant federal court filings.

Yeah, Dennis is right.

I love how he blames video games for all this violence, yet on a show I saw he gave everyone in the audience an Xbox 360, irony much?

Someone needs to take away his license to practice. I have an enormous problem with any shrink that promotes religious faith. He's simply an arm of right-wing moralistic garbage.

You think someone with a PhD could distinguish between concepts like REALITY and FANTASY. INDIVIDUALITY and COLLECTIVEISM.

Dr. Phil fails at causation and probability:

Let's change some words around in his arguement for fun:

Dr. Phale …the problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me - common sense tells you that if these kids are worshipping a bronze age Israeli war God, where they’re reading and praising a text that glorifies death, it’s glamorized in print, it’s become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high. Before you know it, they'll be preaching hate, blowing themselves up, slaughtering innocents, promising eternal damnation, and forcing kids to listen to their hateful dogma.

And we’re going to have to start dealing with that. We’re going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murders of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive religious violence overdose.

@Venom

Umm... He didn't say anything about the bible. And if anything what you pretty much said is the point hes trying to make.

Though that reminds me about my project i wanted to do... 73h l337 |31|3l3.

@ Picho

My bad, sorry. I tend to overreact sometimes.

@ Pandralisk
Tread lightly dude. Tread. Lightly. I'm not a very religious person, but I do have my own ways of worship. And really, religiosity isn't something frowned upon in psychology.

Whether or not a psychologist or psychiatrist has their own beliefs is not really the matter. And not all of them would fit with every client. One of the first things we're taught is to make it clear that our clients aren't "stuck" with us and if there's ANYTHING they don't like about working with us that they can change practicioners or just leave anytime they want. So here are the cold, clinical reasons.

There are actually quite a few reasons, beside personal belief, that psychologists and such are taught to mostly accept religion. One would be what appears to be Dr. Phil's reason: making a connection. Normally it would be with the client, but in his case, it's the audience. And like I said, if the connection doesn't work, or whatever causes the client to be uncomfortable with the practicioner, the client can find a new one whenever they like.

Really, the other reasons mostly fall under the same category: researched studies into the idea. Over and over, studies find that someone actively involved in a religion are more emotionally and mentally healthy. The reasons are numerous. The pure idea of having a faith in a belief system is positive. It generates hope and happiness in a lot of people. Another factor is the strength it adds to social networking and support. An organized church adds a considerable number of people to those an individual associates with. Socialization is really important here. When's the last time you heard "If only Johnny had been more of a loner, maybe he wouldn't have killed himself?" besides that, there's a sense of acceptance and belonging. There are protecting factors from self-injurious behavior. There are a lot of things to consider.

So yeah, don't blow religiosity off like it doesn't matter. Yeah, someone who says God talks to them is generally going to get a little mental health attention. But someone who prays every night and goes to church every week? There's nothing wrong with that. Science and religion don't have to be exclusive. There's a quote from a very famous person: "God doesn't roll dice." It's in reference to there being an order and a sense to the universe. Find who I'm talking about and you get a cookie.

seems my comment was not worth recovering so I will blast again at the old fart,Phill needs to tone down the fear mongering,his blatant anti game statements are down right silly,we have seen this before with literature(reading),theater,music,dancing,radio,TV,film,music(yes twice) and comics look before you leap I say blaming media for societies woes is just another time tested scape goat,come on Phill you are smarter than that,of coarse its probably just a sad attempt at ratings...

I'll agree with most of his parental tips but there can be less bitterness and naivety in his commentary....

Game Specialist my ass, lets weed out all the mystery terms, just say "John Bruce Thompson", and be done with it. Afterall, It would not be the first time Jack and Doc have teamed up, usually with Doc just following Jack word for word.

However, I feel the problem is not with games or developers. It's with our flawed ratings system which, lets face it, was spawned out of pure panic and fear of government regulation of the gaming industry, nuch in the same way the MPAA was. The problem is also with parents refusing to acknowledge that they have a problem and instead try to use our government to make laws to do the title jobs they should be doing: Parenting.

Lets be honest with each other. a 9 year old kid cannot get his hands on an M-rated game. Granted he could get a game rated teen with relatively no difficulty as there are no policies (I'm aware of) or laws against it (for the time being, at this rate). However, given current store policies, there is no way he could get his hands on that game, especially if the location is a GameStop or EB Games.

In addition, chances are a kid in that general range is not going to have $50 ($60 for the new generation of games) laying around to buy a game with. An adult is going to have to provide the resources to buy him that game. On that note, a parent must take upon some level of responsibility for providing the resources for a child to buy the game and take the blame for such rather than trying to redirect all blame and responsibility onto the developer, the publisher, and the ratings sytem; All whom did there job as they were supposed to.

This entire mess makes no sense to me. It just seems that a great deal of parents don't want to take responsibility for their (simply stated) fuck ups to me. If that last part gets my comment removed, so-be-it. But as far as I can see, thats just the way it is.

[...] After reading the recent Game Politics post about Dr. Phil’s upcoming videogame show (and the follow-up), I got pretty annoyed. The only reason I took special notice is because my mom watches and loves his show, as do many people across the country. I would suspect that the people most likely to watch the show are probably the least likely to be well informed about video games and particularly online games (given how relatively new they are, especially in the public eye). [...]

@Picho
‘And Moses said unto the Pharaoh ‘All of your slaves are belong to us’

LMAO! That be some good stuff right ther'.

I think video games can negatively affect children that are already troubled, but video games aren't the direct cause of problems. I played tons of computer games when I was younger (violent ones) and have never even had the urge to get in a fight, let along shoot someone.

GP
I dunno since I lose half of my trains of thought when I talk,its hard to udnerstand zippy speak :P

i dont know about all of you, but this issue really needs to be addressed. i've seen a lot of people being affected by games. as a matter of fact, i myself have experienced some effects. and as for experts on video game violence, they really do have those psychologists, professors, and some independent researchers doing this study, and they have information that is thought-provoking and as gamers, novice to veterans, this information must be known to all.

Dr. Phil can eat my balls

The problem with Dr. Phil and other advocates vs game violence is that their arguments are too general. We are not going to get rid of game violence any more than movie or violence in books because it would leave the story line dry.

However, there are limites as to whats ok to show in images even in movies. We may see the after effect of children having been killed for instance in a movie but we dont see our selves as killing them (not yet anyway). In the new game Bioshock this line has now been crossed as the player has a choice to brutally kill "little sisters" who are some kind of mutated disease stricken little girls. Many people argue that they are not human anymore (I have been looking around forums) but I found a good walk through that shows that they are human and you can choose not to kill them but rescue them instead.

At any rate it seems like the cater to deviance trend is hiding behind the generic game violence argument where the light can be shifted off onto the idea of violence in media in general. I really doubt that at the end of the day the tactic will work though. Crossing this line might just push some game supporters to the other side. It has me.

If freedome of speech is what we want then those who push the envelope to far are not our friends.

While I appreciate Dr. Phil's opinions on many topics, I greatly disagree with his point of view that video games cause youth violence. Research shows that by the age of 11, children have adult capabilities of deciphering between fantasy and reality on the television screen. Thus, shooting animated people by clicking a remote control is in no way teaching kids about violence. In fact, many sociologists have noted that violence in a media is a safe way for people to release their violent urges. Furthermore, evidence reveals that mental illness is the leading cause in homicide. I believe that the media is simply an easy target for criticism regarding serious issues, such as teenage violence. By blaming the media, individuals do not have to look into the deeper problems-problems that may begin in their very own households.

and if kids are getting fat over video games. The WII was made for them, if thier parents are to lazy or stuipd to get them to move then wat real use do they have in socity. That way thier is more room on my way up the elovator to my CEO office. Tactics, team work, showing how bad life can realy get in some 3rd wold countries, and the way cars, guns, gadegts that the army have, buildings are made and work are in video games or as the goverment cal it simualtions. And why not take away paintball if u want to stop teaching the youth how to kill????