Intolerant Culture

The inspiration for this post started when I was considering why video games are not responsible for violent acts in real life. Clearly it is impossible to prove that video games will not make anyone more violent. Even I don't believe in that assertion. However it is my belief that video games are not the major influence of someone committing acts of violence, rather it is something more subtle that we have so far ignored.

The first thing that came to mind is the current so-called war on terror. War, whether the legitimacy of its cause, is an act of violence. Worse, it is an act of violence in real life, as opposed to what one would see in a movie or a video game. If games really induces people to become more violent, then the same should happen with seeing footages of the Iraqi conflict. If anything the latter also legitimises and actively promotes the use of force, since the war is endorsed by the U.S. Government. It is odd that people will believe simulated violence can cause violent behaviour but real violence has no effect.

As I thought harder, it occurred to me that violence is often driven by the need to retaliate. To get even. To get justice. The sue-happy culture of the United States (and probably spreading to other Western countries) is sending one message to the people: if anyone, including your closest ones, does anything that makes you worse off, sue them! Thus everyday we see on Judge Judy mothers suing their sons or ex-best friends suing each other, for mere hundreds of dollars or less. It seems to me people are getting less and less tolerant of others which explains why the smallest conflicts result in full-blown retaliatory law suits. The problem is, some people (most, hopefully) get their revenge via law suits but others prefers to use force. I believe that if people can learn to be more tolerant of others they will not desire to seek revenge, thus eliminating the source of violent acts altogether. Alas, such a scenario probably belongs to Utopia more than the real world, as it is hard to convince most people that life really isn't fair and they should just live with it.

In conclusion, video games and movie probably contributes to violence, but they are not the root of the problem. We need to look deeper into this matter and find out what provokes one to want to cause harm to another person. Only then are we able to cure the problem once and for all.