Teenage Violence at a Thirty Year Low? Halo 3, Game on!

What do violent video games and unexplained outbursts of violent phenomena have in common? If you guessed nothing, you may be right.

According to Jessica C. Coggins, an editorialist over at The Harvard Crimson, the explanation for all the hype behind scaring people into believing that violent video game bans are going to save us from our dangerous children is that politicians are just looking for an easy topic to grab a sound byte. The data behind all the studies have been inconclusive thus far.

Put simply, the evidence accumulated from this study could only conclusively argue that “aggressive” people enjoy “aggressive” entertainment. Hardly a profound statement condemning the gaming industry.

Coggins also stated that teenage violence is at a thirty year low, although no direct citation was given for her source. Supposing it’s true, one might argue for the adverse, that violent video games are taking the violence out of young people.

Can we start a petition to get our politicians working on actual issues instead of wasting time and money?

via The Harvard Crimson