Our love of violent movies and video games

Violent video games and violent movies are extremely popular. Yet, as Robert VerBruggen writes at National Review Online,

violent video games keep violent people occupied — every minute they spend with a controller in their hands is a minute they don’t spend hurting others. Some researchers claim that violent crime falls on days when a lot of people are in theaters watching violent movies; it’s not hard to imagine something similar happening when violence-prone teens stay at home with Saints Row: The Third rather than going out to run amok.

Most reassuring, however, are the long-term statistics. Video-game violence has been pervasive for the last two decades: The 1990s saw the introduction of popular blood-spattering fare such as Mortal Kombat and Doom, and since then game graphics have inched ever closer to photorealism. Total video-game sales have soared, and some of the most popular series (Grand Theft Auto, God of War) are incredibly violent. The people most likely to be violent, young males, are disproportionate consumers of these games. And yet violent-crime rates in this demographic have fallen. If games inspire violence, the effect is overwhelmed by larger trends.

Schools and parents alike should keep an eye out for children who take an abnormal interest in violence, no matter how they experience it.

But blaming violence on video games is unfair — and, worse, unlikely to lead to effective policies.

Read more here: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/336116/folly-blaming-video-games-robert-verbruggen