“The lieutenant governor [Dan Patrick] said he would withdraw his support for a Texas film and video game incentives program if it funded depictions of violence, blaming school shootings on a “culture where we’ve devalued life,”” reported the Texas Tribune.
“We have devalued life, whether it’s through abortion, whether it’s the breakup of families, through violent movies and particularly violent video games, which now outsell movies and music. Psychologists and psychiatrists will tell you that students are desensitized to violence, have lost empathy for their victims by watching hours and hours of violent video games,” Patrick said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
The Tribune reports that “many of those games are at least partially produced in Texas — including “Prey,” a first-person shooter horror game rated for mature players age 17 or older, and “Doom,” another mature-rated first-person shooter that depicts “mutilated corpses with exposed organs/viscera strewn in the environment,” according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board. And the state government has given millions of dollars in incentives to some of their creators.”
I don’t think Patrick is claiming that video games cause violence. Patrick seems to be making a rational argument that such desensitizes people, especially those with emotional deficiencies, to murderous violence. And, if data do indeed demonstrate such we should pay it attention.
…Texas taxpayers should not be subsidizing the video game or film industry; period.
However, it doesn’t matter to me if the argument is significant or not. I simply believe that Texas taxpayers should not be subsidizing the video game or film industry; period.
Like the rest of us, those businesses should stand on their own economics or fail. So I’m with the lieutenant governor in the end no matter how he got there.
Lt. Gov. Patrick is right to shuck off film & video game subsidies
“We have devalued life, whether it’s through abortion, whether it’s the breakup of families, through violent movies and particularly violent video games, which now outsell movies and music. Psychologists and psychiatrists will tell you that students are desensitized to violence, have lost empathy for their victims by watching hours and hours of violent video games,” Patrick said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
The Tribune reports that “many of those games are at least partially produced in Texas — including “Prey,” a first-person shooter horror game rated for mature players age 17 or older, and “Doom,” another mature-rated first-person shooter that depicts “mutilated corpses with exposed organs/viscera strewn in the environment,” according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board. And the state government has given millions of dollars in incentives to some of their creators.”
I don’t think Patrick is claiming that video games cause violence. Patrick seems to be making a rational argument that such desensitizes people, especially those with emotional deficiencies, to murderous violence. And, if data do indeed demonstrate such we should pay it attention.
…Texas taxpayers should not be subsidizing the video game or film industry; period.
However, it doesn’t matter to me if the argument is significant or not. I simply believe that Texas taxpayers should not be subsidizing the video game or film industry; period.
Like the rest of us, those businesses should stand on their own economics or fail. So I’m with the lieutenant governor in the end no matter how he got there.