Alright, I’ll bite: Why are we upset about videogame violence if regular sports also cause violence? Simply because videogames are new and different? Or, because they are the banner of a new generation, they are “safe” for an older generation of politicians to attack?
Clearly high school sports violence isn’t something new, and few people would consider banning it. How do we educate our public and politicians about how to think properly about things that are new and different?
And by “properly” I don’t mean “agreeing with me” — reasonable people can disagree about the possible dangers of things like videogames and still remain reasonable — instead I mean testing ideas against evidence, putting things in their proper context, and applying values formulated as universals, which means that in general you do NOT toss a call for ban or investigation onto the publicity trail of every pseudosensation that swims down the stream, but take a measured … dare I say “conservative” … attiude towards any call for government regulation.
-the Centaur
