Violence and Video Games

An attorney, Jack Thompson, is offering $10,000 to charity if a game publisher will create a game based on a scenario he has defined. The basic premise is that a father of a son who was murdered vows vengeance against the video game industry. Basically, another violent game.

Now, I do not think that violent video games contribute to violent actions any more than cutesy games contribute to pacifist actions. I have been reading Wild At Heart by John Eldredge, and he makes some great points. Boys and men are wild at heart. Each of us has a desire for three things: a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. These three themes are at the core of every man's heart. The violence we see is a result of a wound that each man receives earlier in his life. These are not physical wounds, but emotional ones. And usually, these wounds are inflicted by the man's own father. The violence comes out as a distorted attempt at trying to prove that "they have what it takes", that they are "men".

While reading this book, I keep thinking about the song "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" by Paula Cole. I never paid much attention to that song until I began to read this book. She hits the mark. We need more "cowboys". Not so much the over-macho stereotype, but true masculine men, who are wild at heart, and whose wild hearts have been set free.

Quoting Eldredge:

Yes, a man is a dangerous thing. So is a scalpel. It can wound or it can save your life. You don't make it safe by making it dull, you put it in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing.