{"id":7339,"date":"2013-01-24T13:14:05","date_gmt":"2013-01-24T21:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wakingideas.com\/blog\/?p=7339"},"modified":"2013-01-24T13:14:05","modified_gmt":"2013-01-24T21:14:05","slug":"video-games-arent-to-blame-for-violent-children-only-bad-parenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339","title":{"rendered":"Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"video-games\"A few years ago I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0have been able to make this statement, that videos games are not at fault for violence in children, only bad parenting is, but \u00a0now I am a parent and I know exactly who \u00a0is at fault, parents. Now mind you, I am no child\u00a0psychologist. No expert of behavior, or scientist. I am just a parent, and I know my son.<\/p>\n

I am currently 26 years old, and I have a 4 year old son. I have watched him develop over the years, and one thing I have noticed is, what I LET<\/strong> him do and see, that is what dictates his\u00a0development. If my child is using bad\u00a0language\u00a0do I blame TV or Movies for this? or is the fault my own for letting him watch something that is\u00a0explicitly\u00a0rated as not being for children? As a parent it would be my fault, not the media.<\/p>\n

The Same goes for video games.<\/p>\n

Lets face it, as far as I can remember, video games have been a staple for our societies entertainment. I grew up with this, but over the years ,which some can note that since the advent of the first Xbox and the first person shooter craze began, video games have indeed become more violent. But how does that effect children? Thanks to the ESRB<\/strong>, The Entertainment Software Rating Board,<\/b>\u00a0all video games are rated.<\/p>\n

Currently there are 6\u00a0ratings\u00a0a game can get. Wikipedia has a great breakdown of these ratings:<\/p>\n

\"esrb\"<\/p>\n

And they have one rating that is meant for Adults only:<\/p>\n

\"esrb<\/p>\n

These ratings are meant to show parents what a child should and should not be playing based on what content it\u00a0contains\u00a0and if it is deemed as\u00a0appropriated\u00a0for their\u00a0development.<\/p>\n

These ratings are a good thing.<\/p>\n

Some might say “but my child\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0care what its rated, they play it anyways?”<\/em>, but this is by far the most irresponsible thing a parent can say.<\/p>\n

If your child was doing heroine or cocaine in your house, you\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0blame the drug.<\/p>\n

All stores, Gamestop, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target,<\/strong> etc, they all have a age limit to buy these games. Namely, if the game is rated M<\/strong>, and you are under 17, they cannot by law sell you that game.<\/p>\n

I worked at Gamestop<\/strong> a few years ago, I took it as a second job. to me the job\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0even a job, I just did it because I loved gaming. I eventually quit\u00a0because\u00a0I was\u00a0appalled\u00a0by the state of parents irresponsibility.<\/p>\n

I worked when games like Call of Duty Black Ops, Halo Reach, and other big name violent shooters were releasing, and I would see kids come in all the time and try and buy these from me. I would tell them no, and they would pout and be on their way. Hours later these same kids would return with their parents and THEY<\/strong> would buy them these games. I would urge these parents to not be so irresponsible to allow their child to play a game that was intended for adults, but they would shrug it off “its not a big deal to me, its just a game.<\/em>“<\/p>\n

Now it is like an epidemic, we have these violent shootings where young people are killing others, and society is trying to play the card that it was because of our countries lack of gun control or violent video games. To me this is the biggest\u00a0hypocritical thing\u00a0I have ever heard, these are the same people who up until this point, did not care what their kids were playing, now they are telling everyone video game companies are poisoning their children.<\/p>\n

PARENTS ARE TO BLAME FOR THIS, NO ONE ELSE.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have people like VP Joe Biden saying ““we\u00a0shouldn’t\u00a0be afraid of the facts”<\/a>, and Ralph Nader saying that Video game makers are “electronic child molesters”<\/a>, when in truth, people like them and irresponsible parents are to blame, for they do nothing to address what is being done right and try to shrug off their responsibility and blame to others.<\/p>\n

I am a parent, like I said earlier, and I love my son. But there is no way in hell that I would let him play a game like Halo or Call of Duty until he is old enough. I may play them, but when he is around, the games are off, and I am being a parent to him, and not allowing him to see or play these things. Why? Because children are impressionable, and it is my job, my duty, as a parent to make sure that he grows up right, and at the end of the day, his life, up bringing, and choices are because of how I\u00a0raised\u00a0him.<\/p>\n

Blaming guns, or video games for the recent rash of incidents in our society is like blaming cars for car accidents and not bad driving. We have gun laws that prohibit the purchase and use of a gun without a series of background checks and a mountain of paperwork and registration, and we have laws and ratings for gaming that prohibit the selling and purchasing of\u00a0inappropriate\u00a0games for minors. We have the necessary steps and warnings in place to prevent children from using these things, and when something like the Sandy Hook Shootings<\/a>\u00a0occur, we rush to blame gun\u00a0control\u00a0or video games when we avoid the obvious, the shooter was to blame. The laws did not fails us, the people who let him get a hold of those weapons, taught him how to use them, etc, they are to blame. We fail to blame the person themselves, yet we stagger and jump at the\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to blame everyone else.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Franklin once said:<\/p>\n

“<\/span><\/b>Those<\/span><\/b> who would give up Essential Liberty
\nto purchase a little Temporary Safety,
\ndeserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”<\/span><\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

If we want to fix this, we need to be better parents, better people. We need to abide by the laws that are in place, not take more\u00a0freedom\u00a0away from everyone else just so we can feel a little safer.<\/p>\n

That all being said leads to the same result, video games are not to blame for violent children, the parents that allow them to play them are. And no one else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nA few years ago I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0have been able to make this statement, that videos games are not at fault for violence…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting.”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comics-videogames","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVideo Games aren't to blame for violent children, only bad parenting. - The Cultured Nerd<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Video Games aren't to blame for violent children, only bad parenting. - The Cultured Nerd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0have been able to make this statement, that videos games are not at fault for violence… Continue reading “Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting.”…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cultured Nerd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theculturednerd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-24T21:14:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Taylor Murphy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theculturednerd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theculturednerd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Taylor Murphy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Taylor Murphy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/239d8c15e6cd80653445f6cdf32c822f\"},\"headline\":\"Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting.\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-24T21:14:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339\"},\"wordCount\":1068,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Comics & Video Games\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339\",\"name\":\"Video Games aren't to blame for violent children, only bad parenting. - The Cultured Nerd\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-24T21:14:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?p=7339#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Cultured Nerd\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Cultured Nerd\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/cropped-Head.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/cropped-Head.png\",\"width\":1347,\"height\":978,\"caption\":\"The Cultured Nerd\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/theculturednerd\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/theculturednerd\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/theculturednerd\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/239d8c15e6cd80653445f6cdf32c822f\",\"name\":\"Taylor Murphy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3df370eb4c045316acd0b45251345864661335f0e55cb1ea71cf8dbc0dab4e13?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3df370eb4c045316acd0b45251345864661335f0e55cb1ea71cf8dbc0dab4e13?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3df370eb4c045316acd0b45251345864661335f0e55cb1ea71cf8dbc0dab4e13?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Taylor Murphy\"},\"description\":\"Owner, Admin, and EIC of TCN. Fan of film, comics, video games, and all things Nerd culture.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/theculturednerd\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theculturednerd.org\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Video Games aren't to blame for violent children, only bad parenting. - The Cultured Nerd","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Video Games aren't to blame for violent children, only bad parenting. - The Cultured Nerd","og_description":"A few years ago I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0have been able to make this statement, that videos games are not at fault for violence… Continue reading “Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting.”…","og_url":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339","og_site_name":"The Cultured Nerd","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theculturednerd\/","article_published_time":"2013-01-24T21:14:05+00:00","author":"Taylor Murphy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@theculturednerd","twitter_site":"@theculturednerd","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Taylor Murphy","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339"},"author":{"name":"Taylor Murphy","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#\/schema\/person\/239d8c15e6cd80653445f6cdf32c822f"},"headline":"Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting.","datePublished":"2013-01-24T21:14:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339"},"wordCount":1068,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Comics & Video Games"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339","url":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339","name":"Video Games aren't to blame for violent children, only bad parenting. - The Cultured Nerd","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2013-01-24T21:14:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=7339#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Video Games aren’t to blame for violent children, only bad parenting."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/","name":"The Cultured Nerd","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#organization","name":"The Cultured Nerd","url":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-Head.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-Head.png","width":1347,"height":978,"caption":"The Cultured Nerd"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theculturednerd\/","https:\/\/x.com\/theculturednerd","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theculturednerd\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/#\/schema\/person\/239d8c15e6cd80653445f6cdf32c822f","name":"Taylor Murphy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3df370eb4c045316acd0b45251345864661335f0e55cb1ea71cf8dbc0dab4e13?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3df370eb4c045316acd0b45251345864661335f0e55cb1ea71cf8dbc0dab4e13?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3df370eb4c045316acd0b45251345864661335f0e55cb1ea71cf8dbc0dab4e13?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Taylor Murphy"},"description":"Owner, Admin, and EIC of TCN. Fan of film, comics, video games, and all things Nerd culture.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/theculturednerd"],"url":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?author=3"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}