01 Nov 2011 19:34:47
{Ed033's Note - deliberate brainwashing of people through video games where the video game player is de-sensitised to killing people.}
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Ed, can you elaborate on this please? I ask because only recently I was thinking about how there are so many new shooting games on the PS3 that are geared towards a third world war, where we always seem to be shooting Russians. Also, I kind of agree about the de-sensitised bit. My question: do you think most video games are setting out to brainwash the masses? If so, I may stop playing, if only I can shake the addiction!
Adam {Ed033's Note - There is a lot more more to this. It starts off when Napoleon's part time soldiers beat the Prussian full time soldiers and the Prussian General's didn't believe that Napoleon was that good. After some experimenting it was found that people in their natural state do not like killing other people and soldiers were missing on purpose. So the answer to this was to start schools for everyone not just for the ruling class' children. Schools brainwashed/indoctrinated children to think as the ruling class wanted them to think such as all foreigners were sub-human so it didn't matter if they were killed. This indoctrination schooling for the masses was adopted here as well and carries on now but the indoctrination changes over time. Now there is this political correctness indoctrination going on in schools.
Back to video games. People in the armed forces nowadays train with video games to de-sensitise them to killing. The video games that are sold to the public are programmed by the same companies/people who program the games to de-sensitise people in the armed forces. In the video games you, the "good guy" typically kill the "bad guys"
On the t.v. you see torture in tv programs where the "good guys" torture the "bad guys" to get info from them in order to stop the "bad guys".
All of this is designed to mostly remove your morals and de-sensitise you to killing and torture of the "bad guys" i.e. the countries on the "Axis of Evil" list, which is all of the countries without a central bank.}
That is so true though. From a young age kids are playing with plastic guns, cap guns, water pistols.
With the exception of sports and racing, nearly every game involves killing of some sort, even kid's games.
1. Enemy in the way
2. Wants to kill you
3. Kill enemy
4. Enemy disappears
5. Problem solved
What a culture we have!
Adam {Ed001's Note - scary when you think about it!}
games a lot that they are becoming more like
army/marines recruiting vehicle's or atleast
military industrial compex propaganda
C.O.D and M.O.H are two of the most obvious
games guilty of this, with a touch of racism thrown in for good measure.
JR
We are a product of nature (well...if some theories on this page are not true after all....but that's for another convo...) and we all have instincts and surprisingly primitive traits despite being an 'advanced' species.
We are territorial and, born without natural weapons, we have learned to construct weapons. For thousands and thousands of years since the dawn of time, human species have made weapons out of whatever resources they can. Do not be fooled into thinking this is purely for hunting. In fact, revolutions such as the iron and bronze ages were based on or started by the desire to manufacture weapons. Humans have an intrinsic need to have ownership of something, and to protect it, rather than simply abandoning that which is taken from them. So we have an built-in will to fight when necessary. To the death if needs be.
So since the dawn of man, children have been taught to use weapons for killing animals and people just as they have been taught to use tools.
So really, are these video games 'desensitising' us? Is this not just a continuation of themes that have been with us since the dawn of man? It is a fact that humans are lazy - almost every single technological advance has been invented in order to make something easier, and now people can learn how to aim and shoot, act stealthily, think tactically etc, from the comfort of their sofa. I don't think being 'desensitised' to killing a threat to your own life is a bad thing, in fact it is a perfectly natural albeit somewhat primitive facet of behaviour, is it not?
Whether or not video games are bad in this respect is surely just as relevant as, say, one's upbringing? And one's learning of what is right and wrong? I do not know anyone who in their right mind would be happy or willing to kill because they had a lifetime of video game playing.
AT the end of the day people liek realistic games, and this means war games. Not games like Resistance and Halo where aliens are everywhere, but games where you get to sue real technology and you can imitate the soldiers of today - typical kids' heroes.
So although I see where you're coming from, I think it's too easy to say 'they're desensitising us!' when in actual fact this sort of thing has been in our nature since day one.
Raz
It is only natural that we will play with toy guns and swors because of the reasons you have suggested.
However, these games aren't filled with propaganda, whereas things like Call of Duty are loaded with it. Likewise, we don't actually 'kill' when playing Manhunt or shooting someone with a toy gun. In contrast, Call of Duty, or kids games such as Mario has a format which is, 'kill and you survive'. In essence it is all true to our nature, as you say, but when we follow through the actions you could argue it makes us immune to the idea of killing something/somebody.
That's just my take. Either way, it is quite sad really that we can't 'evolve' out of our natural desires, because the fact is, we don't NEED to kill anymore in order to survive.
Adam