Violence, TV and Video Games
by Eldon Tayor
(I highly recommend his 2 books)
It's the gift-giving season and most of us have someone on our list
that would like a video game or a DVD or a game player of some kind
including perhaps membership to a MMORPG (massive multiplayer online
role playing game). I would encourage you to think about fulfilling
that gift before you do so. Let me provide some reasons why I think it
is worth withholding some gifts, especially for young people, but first
allow me to set it up with a short history of video games and violent
media.
In 1972 the first video entertainment game of kind stormed onto the
scene and most of us, who are old enough to remember it, played
it--Pong. Two players used video paddles to hit the ball back and forth
much like a ping-pong game would be played. In the late '80's and early
'90s one on one fighting games arrived on the scene. Among them was the
game Mortal Combat. This game raised the violence bar. In 1992 the game
Wolfenstein was the first major 3D first person shooter and the effect
of this game was to place the player in the game fighting, killing and
being killed. The realism in Wolfenstein rose to a new level as well
with enemies falling and bleeding on the floor. This provoked a
revolution in games.
In 1993 the game Doom arrived including much blood and gore and
allowing players to hunt and kill each other. As the technical and
graphical capability increased, the games became more and more graphic
and real. Today games of this nature, such as Soldier of Fortune,
"respond realistically to different shots depending on where in the
body they are shot, with what weapons and from what distance."
(Anderson 2006)
Okay, most have the wrong idea of who plays games for the average gamer
is not some teenager. No, it's actually a 35 year-old overweight man
who is aggressive, introverted and often depressed according to the
Centers for Disease Control. Many also believe that war games honor our
veterans and yet the veterans themselves say the opposite. In a
conversation recently with radio host Jason Spiess, he pointed out that
when he asked veterans on Veterans Day, "How do we honor you?" The
nearly unanimous answer was, "Find ways to resolve conflict
peacefully." They went on to point out that war games dishonor their
service because they not only tend to glamorize the matter but to
distort the reality of it all. Indeed, the proposed new game, Six Days
in Fallujah has met with public opposition by veteran groups for
precisely these reasons.
Now to some facts I want you to consider. First person shooter games
have been linked to an increase in hostile aggressive behavior and a
reduction in prosocial behaviors such as charitable giving, volunteer
work, and overall helping behaviors. "Video games account for one-third
of the average monthly core entertainment spending in the U.S. 45% of
the heavy video game players and nearly a third of the avid gamers are
in the 6 to 17 year old age group." (MediaWise.org 2009)
Further, when men were assigned to play "Grand Theft Auto" their blood
pressure increased and they reported more permissive attitudes toward
drugs and alcohol and uncooperative behavior. {Ibid}
Adolescents who play more than one hour a day manifest more intense
symptoms of ADHD. Game usage has been linked to lower performance or
scores on SAT tests and grade point averages. "Those who play MMORPGs
report more hours spent playing, worse health, worse sleep quality, and
greater interference in 'real-life socializing and academic work verses
those playing other types of video games." {Ibid}
PET scans show that when young men played a video game in which they
moved a tank around through a battlefield to destroy the enemy that the
neurotransmitter dopamine was released in the brain. Dopamine is
involved with feelings of reward and was released from the men's brain
striatum as the men played. "This and other studies suggest that the
release of dopamine and stress hormones may be related not only to
ideas of violence and harm, but also to motivation." (Gentile 2009)
Still other studies employing eMRI have shown us exactly what areas of
the brain are involved when playing violent video games. Researchers
have found that immediately before firing a weapon, players displayed
greater activity in the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex. This area
controls cognitive control and planning among other functions. While
firing a weapon and shortly afterward, players showed less activity in
the rostral anterior cingulated cortex and amygdala. Because
interaction between these brain areas is associated with resolving
emotional conflict, their decreased functioning could indicate a
suppression of the emotional response to witnessing the results of
taking violent action." {Ibid}
This kind of desensitization leads to a systematic desensitization and
that leads to a general numbing of empathy to say nothing of the direct
correlation with the increase in hostile aggressive behavior. Add this
to the television and entertainment that is often consumed and by the
time you have a young adult, they have seen over 200,000 commercials
and over 30,000 homicides. (Taylor 2009)
The fact is, well over 1000 studies including reports from the National
Institutes of Health and the U.S. Surgeon General's office suggest
overwhelmingly that there is a definite causal connection between media
violence and aggressive behavior in some. I think of it this way, take
young people and put them in simulators designed to teach them to kill
without emotion. Show them all the blood and gore and reward them for a
successful kill. Add greater and greater rewards to enhance their
killing ability. Soon, you have trained killers free of the guilt, the
remorse or the nagging conscience. We train pilots in flight simulators
and some of our enemies train in flight simulators and carry out their
missions as a result--what on earth do we think we are doing to our
younger generation?
Okay, I covered much of this in my books Mind Programming and Choices
and Illusions, but then not all of you have read them yet. As such, I
did want to remind you of the long-term possible ramifications to
satisfying someone's idea of fun with a violent video game.
I do want to wish all of you a wonderful Holiday Season!
Thanks for the read,
Eldon
P. S. If you still haven't obtained a copy of Choices and Illusions or
Mind Programming, use these URLs to take advantage of special offers on
both:
http://progressiveawarenesspromotions.com/hayhousepromo/092008/
http://www.progressiveawarenesspromotions.com/innertalk/May09/index.htm
Thanks for sharing that John. I suspect that TV in general is also the culprit in the attention deficit problem that seems to manifest in all age groups these days. 30 second spots, 30 second scenes, and a population glued to the hypnotic effect. Try to explain something to someone, or describe something, take more than 30 seconds, and you can see the glazed over look begin to appear. I would imagine that most of us suffer from this phenomenon to some degree. I also think they knew exactly what they had very early on, and video games are now the offspring and at the far end of a very addictive and hypnotic sensation spectrum.
Can you imagine a large population in the US, or even the whole country, being denied access to regular tv for an extended period of time? I wonder what would happen to the social order that was fostered from birth by television, and now, video games.
I hope that all of this is simply growing pains in the bigger cosmic evolutionary picture, LOL
LLP, Chris
Hi John,
You have posted many great articles on here but I couldn't go with this one.......I felt it was full of it's own programming and manipulation....
"The fact is, well over 1000 studies including reports from the National
Institutes of Health and the U.S. Surgeon General's office suggest
overwhelmingly that there is a definite causal connection between media
violence and aggressive behavior in some."
What is the "some"?...you can't say you have a FACT and then quantify it as SOME....can you?.......the article speaks as though it will affect all people yet it admits it only happens to a ?.....few?....I don't know it doesn't actually say.......
"Now to some facts I want you to consider. First person shooter games
have been linked to an increase in hostile aggressive behavior and a
reduction in prosocial behaviors such as charitable giving, volunteer
work, and overall helping behaviors.".......
is this one for everyone or again just "some"...?
I recently played Grand Theft Auto for the first time....had always believed it to be, to do, what the above article was saying....but it just didn't.......I thought it was brilliant and I never once felt any aggressive tendency, maybe I was just desensitized long ago.........it really was just a game to me, my heart beat never changed at all.....and having played it I actually started to get why it is the way it is......yeah it's got computer graphic vilence but it was not what I expected, surprised the hell out of me!
Jez
and never have, and my television viewing is extremely limited by my own choice. So I can only speak from my experience-I find television absolutely sensory numbing. I have watched my father as I grew up, get totally lost in the television and seen many men do the same. (not being sexist-I'm sure there are women that do the same).
I completely understand the 'totally glazed over' look Chris is speaking of. If I sit down to some mindless program I am immediately asleep. There are programs of value to be found, but real world activities lure me away from a seat in front of that box. We do not have cable access either, my money is better spent elsewhere.
When my children were little they had a grandmum that took them to the library. As adolescents, I had the only kids on the block that LOVED to read and still do. We did have a computer in home for homework, etc. but gaming wasn't a practice in our home. Both are college educated, both are extremely creative. I don't believe it would have happened exactly the same way had we had all the gaming stuff available now. I was at times 'the meanest mom on the block' because I didn't believe in nintendo, etc way back when-but we all survived (and thrived)!!! IMO there is a definite effect on our neuro function related to too much of this sort of stimuli.
We do not have TV programming but watch movies. What we have found with our kiddos is that the Disney Animated movies especially program agression and have subliminals that I have caught at times. So we have to be the "bad" guys and turn the movie off. (Mom! I was watching that..)
Surprising movies too this crops up in... Another sell out is the Baby Einstein line... since it was sold to the Disney Industry it has changed... the episodes use agression as "jokes" and other stuff that the earlier episodes do not have. The earlier 1990's era episodes depict helping others, empathy, understanding, compassion and self-relience... as well as teaching letter recognition etc... so Disney is continuing thier sabotage programming.
Our son especially seems succepitble to the hypnotic effects of Animation and some Movies... not all are this way just some. He will get the glazed over look followed by aggression and mindless sort of behavior followed by an emotional outburst... I agree Onesong, it seems that males tend to be more open to this type of programming... I am not sure why.
My twins will simply leave the room (female) when there is something that does not resonate with them... but my son.. he will just sit there and take it all in following the loudest energy that he can find... I believe the time he spent in daycare primed him for this type of response.
Love--
elizabeth
the delivery system itself. I am racking my brain to remember the article, but it was all about what TV actually does, regardless of what one is watching, due to the hypnotic roll or pulse associated with the delivery on the screen. If you have ever seen a TV on in the backround of a TV program, you may have seen the rolling effect that is subliminal when watching regular TV, or the pulse of a computer screen due to the refresh rate. The data is clear on the hypnotic effect. At the very least, TV is the best baby sitter the ruling class has ever had the pleasure of employing. I can only imagine how many revolutions never even got started or even thought of due to the hypnotic effect of television. Drive down the street and you will see the hypnotic blue light of TV flickering in almost every window.
And then notice the dumbing down of the western culture and it is obvious that television as played a primary role in delivering the mundane and trite that is swallowed gratefully by the masses. I watch people at work on their breaks watching soap operas and just cannot believe that they find so much pleasure in such staged trivial nonsense, but they do en mass day after day.
I still wonder what will happen if the matrix grid of media distribution via TV is ever shut down, either by attack or on purpose. Lord only knows what effect that would have on an American population... Again, thanks John for bringing it up. I do agree with you Jez, from a personal point of view, that those games would have no adverse effect on me as per what is stated in the studies, but to me this is much more about the media delivery system than it is about content. And one can only wonder how much more invention and discovery would take place if our imaginations were not so easily humored and patronized by such drone-creating trivia... The revolution will not be televised..... LLP, Chris
I believe what you ar referring to here, Chris, is the fact that the screen is refreshed at 12 hertz (12 cycles/second) which happens to be the frequency of alpha brain waves. TV creates a trance state and increases suggestibility.
One of the whistle blowers on ProjectCamelot.org revealed that 13% of the global population has ET genetics and has been found to not be suseptible to the standard mind control techniques by which the rest of the planet is influenced.
12 cycles, thanks John for the clarification!!!! I will post that article if I remember it... I would put the number who have ET genetics at much higher after reading such material as Law of One and Only Planet of Choice. In fact, according to these sources, the only ones truly and genetically indigenous to Gaia are from the genetic bottleneck in Africa approx. 75,000 years ago. If the info I have read is correct, Gaia is a bit of an experiment and botanical garden. That there are 24 major civilizations in this universe, and a few like Hoova, Altea, Ashand are primarily responsible for the genetic make up and mix for all those other than those that survived out of Africa some 75,000 years ago, a time which also aligns with a genetic exodus from Mars which was becoming uninhabitable on its surface...
I have a very vivid feeling that what we do not know and have not officially verified would fill a set of encyclopedias, LOL... Oh, and if I don't sound crazy enough yet, according to RA in the Law of One and other sources, the "big foot" and "sasquatch" type creatures still living in virtual hiding on Gaia are displace by intent from Maldek, a planet that was completely destroyed by the destructive behavior of its inhabitants, so they came here to restore themselves and get back on track so to speak by taking on 2nd density bodies to keep them in line while they flush the destructive karma and nature from their Being. This would also go for some of the primate species.
And to make sure I am certifiable, the Dolphin species is actually (according to the deep channeling info from the Council of Nine documented in Only Planet of Choice) the Alteans (Atlanteans) who were derailed by their infatuation with experimenting with manipulation of their sexual organs for increase pleasure, part of the demise of Atlantis. They wanted to stay on Gaia, but wanted to be in the form we know as Dolphins so they could stay on course and support Gaia's evolving the best way they could. If you read about dolphins they are described as being quite similar to humans in many ways, including brain size and ability, hmmmm
Anyway, that should keep me from being invited to any mundane status quo gatherings, LOL
LLP, Chris
Hey Everyone,
Games are games to me but TV is something else....haven't watched it for nearly 2 years....expecially the media....it truly changed my life when I gave it up....as Chris said, TV prevents people from doing REAL things, it literally is a WASTE of time.....I can thank Nada for teaching me that little bit of wisdom....
These days through my studies with my Guru I find that when in observor mode I am able to look at these things..ie 2012 movie, with out being adversly effected.... I learn much by doing this..... I always keep a sense of humor through such things, my shield........life is supposed to be fun, there is no bad....it's ALL GOOD!...I wanna look at it all and make my own decisions on things...no fear!....
L
Jez
Chris, have you checked out Aaron, channelled by Barbara Brodsky? An essene at the time of Jesus, enlightened 500 yrs. ago as a Thai Monk, now an upper 7th density entity with full recall and full akashic access, Aaron (and Barbara) has become a very central teacher for me. If you go to deepspring.org, & check out "Christmas Stories" among the books in the "Library," I believe you won't be disappointed.
Blessings,
John
Thank you for the lead and link, you are such a source John! Will look at that and get back to you... And Jez, I totally get the observer mode thing after reading Eckhart Tolle's perfect description of the observer (not the only perfect definition obviously, but my first authentic resonant definition), without being adversely affected, the perfect way to understand the observer mode. I watch the news that way ever since understanding what Michel Chossudovsky was talking about in his talk at McMasters University in Canada in 2003 concerning manufactured dissent. War and Globalization - The Truth Behind September 11 (9/11)
People have been trained to adopt a side of the argument, any side, doesn't matter which side, as long as you become emotionally attached to any side of the argument and are at odds with "them", the other side of the aisle, and it has all been designed for you so you don't have to think for yourself. It was such a moment of clarity to understand "manufactured dissent"... I would never be the same after getting what Michel was getting at so perfectly....
John, I am assuming this is the link you are referring to ???
Deep Spring Center
As a former World of Warcraft addict, I can attest to the havoc these games can wreak first hand. I still enjoy playing games since I kicked that particular habit, but I can tell you that game and other MMO's are designed specifically to keep you locked in. I spent about 4 years playing WoW at least an hour or two a day, some days I would play all day or night long if a new expansion had come out or something. My school, family, friends and music all ended up suffering as a result. I try not to think about how much better of a guitar player I would be if I had never touched that game. At the same time however, I'm positive that the game also reduced the amount of drinking I did in University, which was still pretty substantial, everything happens for a reason.
I've never really found myself easily influenced by TV, but games are another matter entirely. I have also gotten rid of cable TV, about 2 years ago, but I still rent movies/seasons of good shows that interest me or resonate with me in some way. Particularly Sci-Fi and Supernatural type shows and the odd drama (I'm a big fan of Dexter). My parents and siblings are pretty 'open minded' people in general,and I often share these articles and psots with them, but they all spend at least a couple hours a day glued to the Satellite TV, and have never taken the kind of deep interest in these subjects that I have. I'm pretty sure that I've replaced my zeal for playing Warcraft with a lust for spiritual knowledge
I never used to find violent games had an effect on my behaviour growing up, I was a gamer from the age of about 5 or so, but I always played the types of games with an involving story line (i.e. Final Fantasy games) which involved thinking and reading as well as some animated (poorly) violence, vs. dragons, monsters etc. I did play grand theft auto and things like that when I got older and didn't at the time notice any effect (though there probably was one).
I sat down to play "The Godfather" a couple weeks ago out of boredom (no posts on the forums that day I guess) in which a main objective is extorting businesses, beating up the owners, breaking their stuff and so on. I actually started to physically feel that I was doing something wrong by beating up these virtual cashiers. There is an audible narrative between the characters of anger (the player) and resitance, followed after a good beating by fear (the computer). I ended up turning the game off and haven't played it since. Maybe since I've started trying to get more in tune with my spiritual side - the progress of which the spell of MMO's definitely put a sustained damper on - I'm becoming 'resensitized' to human suffering.
That being said, I still play RPG's and the less violent, more story and strategy oriented type games. I could go on for hours about Warcraft itself, and some of its predecessors. Diablo II was totally a game which got you hooked on 'greed,' WoW was the same but had more flash and more story, plus a lot of other very addictive qualities which appeal to people who like fantasy - I've been known to say that it is in fact the "perfect" game, since it technically never ends and as such, I had to quit.
In short, I agree with all the posts in here to a point, but woudln't say all video games are evil. In fact I think Nintendo Wii is a pretty good bridge between evil and not evil, in the sense it gets people exercising. And guitar hero type games have vastly increased the number of kids who decide to pick up an actual musical instrument. I have an extremely strong feeling perosnally that music will play a large role in whatever shift society is going to undergo, whether to help initiate it, to help ease the transition, or even just as an activity for the people to enjoy together afterwards. We will hopefully soon see another band or bands with the equivalent positive influence of the effect that the Beatles had on society back in their time.
Anyhow, thats enough from me. I commend anyone who made it all the way through this post haha! Happy holidays.
Josh
Excellent Post, Josh! Whew! I thought I might fade out there... but I did not... (hehehehe.. I am joking!)
My brother used to have a game system... I can not remember its name--- but he wound up playing the game for hours on end... HOURS... And when he went to visit us... he brought the blooming game system with us... and spent HOURS playing it... Having a conversation with him was like trying to converse with a crack addict! Impossible.. he made no sense except when he was ranting about losing at the game... It was some sort of futuristic army game he was into... He is also in the Army... So I was really peeved that the Army allowed him to grace himself with his presence and long and behold his body was in my livingroom but his mind was held captive by the blooming game....
Recently he had to sell his game system in order to pay his bills... and now it is TV that is his new captor... It is like he is not even here... but held captive in some sort of TV/Gaming off world... We actually had to shut the TV off and stand in front of it to get him to come eat dinner with us... And the vacant look in his eyes filled me with great sadness. (sigh...)
Love--
fairyfarmgirl
Excellent Post, Josh! Whew! I thought I might fade out there... but I did not... (hehehehe.. I am joking!)
My brother used to have a game system... I can not remember its name--- but he wound up playing the game for hours on end... HOURS... And when he went to visit us... he brought the blooming game system with us... and spent HOURS playing it... Having a conversation with him was like trying to converse with a crack addict! Impossible.. he made no sense except when he was ranting about losing at the game... It was some sort of futuristic army game he was into... He is also in the Army... So I was really peeved that the Army allowed him to grace himself with his presence and long and behold his body was in my livingroom but his mind was held captive by the blooming game....
Recently he had to sell his game system in order to pay his bills... and now it is TV that is his new captor... It is like he is not even here... but held captive in some sort of TV/Gaming off world... We actually had to shut the TV off and stand in front of it to get him to come eat dinner with us... And the vacant look in his eyes filled me with great sadness. (sigh...)
Love--
fairyfarmgirl
I remember the 'glazed over' eyes, the feeling of having them,a nd of being endlessly mindlessly sucked into something. Its an escape just like drugs or booze or whatever, from the 'real world.' I think thats why so many people allow themselves to be sucked in. Some are just unaware but I knew what was going on in the world and figured my time would be well spent having fun and playing games, since the 'real world' was such a crappy place to be.
Anyhow, my views are a bit different now, the world isn't so bad, and I am confident that it is going to get much better. Just glad I kicked that habit when I did so I can actually participate in the coming changes ina meaningful way.