Violent Video Games as Scapegoat After School Shootings in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 243-266
Author(s):  
Allen Copenhaver
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
After School ◽  
Violent Video Games ◽  
History Of ◽  
Children And Young Adults ◽  
History Of Violence

The United States has a well-documented history of violence. School shootings are a contemporary social problem which raise much concern, as children and young adults are killed on school grounds. After such tragic events there is public debate as to what causes such horrible events to occur. When looking for a source of such shootings, violent video games are often named as a source of such unconscionable violence. However, it is argued here that blaming violent video games constitutes a moral panic when violent video games are unfairly scapegoated as the source of school shootings. This chapter also points to other sources of violence which may be identified as potential causes of school shootings once the scapegoating of violent video games is acknowledged.

Violent Video Games as Scapegoat After School Shootings in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 292-315
Author(s):  
Allen Copenhaver
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
After School ◽  
Violent Video Games ◽  
History Of ◽  
Children And Young Adults ◽  
History Of Violence

The United States has a well-documented history of violence. School shootings are a contemporary social problem which raise much concern, as children and young adults are killed on school grounds. After such tragic events there is public debate as to what causes such horrible events to occur. When looking for a source of such shootings, violent video games are often named as a source of such unconscionable violence. However, it is argued here that blaming violent video games constitutes a moral panic when violent video games are unfairly scapegoated as the source of school shootings. This chapter also points to other sources of violence which may be identified as potential causes of school shootings once the scapegoating of violent video games is acknowledged.

Violent Video Games, Mass Shootings, and the Supreme Court

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Violent Video Games ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Video Game Violence ◽  
Game Violence

The issue of video game violence continues to attract attention from the legal and policy communities, particularly in the wake of mass shootings. However, focusing on video game violence has generally not resulted in successful legal or public policy. In part this is because the science upon which beliefs of “harm” in video game violence are based remains inconsistent and heavily disputed. The current article examines several issues. First, the article examines the current evidence about video game violence influences on negative outcomes in players. Second, the article concerns itself with the application of video game science to several recent legal cases, involving both criminal prosecutions and attempted regulation/censorship of video game violence in the United States. Finally, the manuscript addresses several common talking points used in legal cases and by policy makers and examines whether these talking statements survive careful scientific scrutiny. It is advised that, consistent with the legal decisions and government reviews in the United States, Sweden, Australia, and elsewhere, current evidence does not support the regulation of violent video games, and legal or policy attempts to connect video game violence to specific crimes are unlikely to survive careful scrutiny.

Origins and History of The Satanic Temple

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-60
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Laycock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Military Veterans ◽  
The United States ◽  
After School ◽  
National Council ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
History Of

This chapter provides a historical overview of The Satanic Temple from its foundation as a political action held in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2013 to the formation of a National Council with a physical headquarters and a system of chapters throughout the United States and abroad. The chapter describes the formation of the religion’s creed (The Seven Tenets), its campaign to prevent corporal punishment in public schools, its campaign to implement an After School Satan Club (ASSC) in schools throughout the United States, and its attempt to install a Satanic monument to honor military veterans at a park in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

Longitudinal Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression in Japan and the United States

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. e1067-e1072 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Anderson ◽  
A. Sakamoto ◽  
D. A. Gentile ◽  
N. Ihori ◽  
A. Shibuya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Video Games ◽  
The United States ◽  
Violent Video Games ◽  
Longitudinal Effects

How Exceptional Is the History of Violence and Criminal Justice in the United States? Variation across Time and Space as the Keys to Understanding Homicide and Punitiveness

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Roth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Long Span ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Violence ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter contends that American exceptionalism is a far more complex issue than it initially appears. Which nations are exceptional? When, and in what ways? Once the question of exceptionalism is asked over a long span of time, its answer is almost always fluid and complicated. Hence, the chapter turns to comparative historical research in isolating the most important causes of incidents like homicide and punitive penal policies, by showing that those causes recur again and again in the presence of certain phenomena. It asserts that history shows that the relationship between crime and punitiveness is far from simple.

Defining Mass Shootings

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Post Offices ◽  
National Characteristics ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
History Of

This chapter interrogates public understandings of mass shootings. First of all, gun violence statistics for the United States are compared with those in other developed countries. The varying definitions and trends of mass shooting are shown to be problematic in trying to gain an accurate understanding of the phenomenon. Discussed is the history of mass shootings in the United States from “going postal” attacks occurring in post offices and workplace massacres through to school shootings and mass shootings in public places. Possible reasons why the United States has the highest number of mass shootings are deliberated. Hofstede's often-quoted cultural model is used to discuss two national characteristics: high levels of individualism and low power distance between social groups. Other factors highlighted relate to Harding, Fox, and Mehta's model about influencers of school shootings, as well as notions of extreme masculinity which are often expressed via misogynistic behavior.

scholarly journals Teju Cole's Nigeria and the open cities of New York and Brussels

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-11
Author(s):  
Igor Maver
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Violence ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
The City

The novel Open City (2011) by the Nigerian-born and raised author Teju Cole isset in New York City, where he has lived since 1992. The narrator and protagonist of the book, the young Nigerian doctor Julius in is a veritable flâneur in the Big Apple, who is observing the rapidly changing multiethnic character of the city and meditating on (his) history and culture, identity and solitude, and the world beyond the United States, with which it is interconnected through the global history of violence and pain. He is juxtaposing the past and the present, the seemingly borderless open city of New York, Nigeria, and the various European locales, particularly Brussels.Thenovel, although set in the United States, is constantly interspersed with his recollections of his past experiences conditioned by hiscomplex hybrid Nigerian-European-American identity.

Video Gaming, Crime, and Popular Culture

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Rowlands ◽  
Sheruni Ratnabalasuriar ◽  
Kyle Noel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
The United States ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

A product of the military-industrial complex, from the origins of the medium, video games have been associated with violence. As they have become increasingly popular, finding their ways into many households in the United States and around the world, video games have come under increasing scrutiny for the graphic depictions of violence and sexuality some present. An overview of the history of video games suggests this is not a recent problem. As early as 1976, there has been public outcry for regulation of the industry to prevent antisocial content from findings its way into the hands of children. While some politicians, newsmakers, and activist attorneys have stirred up moral panics in response, courts in the United States have generally remained dispassionate. Unmoved by the inconsistent research exploring the connection between video games, aggression, violence, and crime, these courts have insisted on a hands-off approach in order to avoid infringing upon freedom of speech. Nevertheless, likely unrelated to this question of transference, video games have created new venues for the commission of real criminal acts such as fraud and harassment. This points to the ways video games and the virtual worlds they sometimes present have become very real and meaningful parts of everyday life for many people.

scholarly journals Video Review: History of Afterschool in America

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-290
Author(s):  
M. Maureen Toomey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
After School ◽  
Key Words And Phrases ◽  
School Professionals ◽  
Out Of School Time ◽  
School Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
Learning Guide ◽  
Out Of School

After-school and out-of-school time programs are common across the United States and are seen as providing safe and nurturing environments for children, youth, and teens. The History of Afterschool in America documentary succinctly lays out the evolution of after-school and out-of-school time programming. The 60-minute documentary is framed in 12 chapters with narrative from historians, key advocates and leaders, practitioners, and teens. An accompanying learning guide provides discussion questions, key words and phrases, and additional resources. It is a must watch for after-school professionals, youth-serving organizations, and collaborators.

Not suitable for the easily disturbed: Sonic nonlinearity and disruptive horror in Doki Doki Literature Club!

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
Sara Bowden
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Real World ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
Violent Acts ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Intense Debate

The extent to which disturbing video games incite real-world violence has been a source of intense debate since the late 1990s following school shootings across the United States. In 2017, the release of Team Salvato’s Doki Doki Literature Club! (DDLC!) signified a major shift in independent game developers’ approaches to creating a violent horror gaming experience: the developers include the use of nonlinear sound (e.g. frequency jumps, non-standard harmony, noise/chaos) and local-level melodic transformations to complicate player immersion. In this article, I argue that the game’s music is one of the greatest sources of horror. The game music in DDLC! works as both an immersive and a disruptive agent that shapes the player’s gaming experience. Though the game is a work of fiction, the emotions and reflections of the player prompted by the violent acts within are real ‐ the player’s experiences of horror, fear and terror are visceral.

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