Violent Video Games
...Children to Kill
There is perhaps no bigger or more important issue in America right now than youth violence. Our children are being fed a dependable daily dose of violence-and it sells. The affects on children's behavior from violent video games is a newly, well-researched topic for psychologists. Violent video games are giving our children the practice and experience needed to act out these aggressive behaviors in the real world.
Alienated, disaffected youths, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, vent their anger to "get famous" by shooting up their school. On April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, these two young men carried out a shooting rampage. They killed twelve fellow students and a teacher, as well as wounding twenty-four others, before committing suicide. It is considered to be the deadliest school shooting, and the second deadliest attack on a school in US History (DeGaetano 47). Both of these boys were drowning in a violent pop culture of bloody movies and video games. High on the morning of April 20, 1999, before the massacre, Dylan and Eric filmed their own "back story" videos, explaining their aims and motives. "It's going to be like f**king Doom!" Harris said on one of the tapes, referring to his favorite shoot-em-up video game. "Tick-tock, tick, tick
Ha!
Straight out of Doom!" (qtd. in Steyer 70). These two young boys had played this game very often and were so used to the violence of killing innocent people with no remorse. They gained the experience and knowledge from this video game on how to kill other human beings while getting a sense of satisfaction.
A direct link between violent video games and increasing rates of violence among children is right in your backyard with this chilling story. In Paducah, Kentucky a fourteen-year-old boy, Michael Carneal, steals a gun from a neighbor's house, brings it...
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