There has yet to be a study that can find any solid link between violent video games and people committing violent acts. So do video games really make us more violent? Youth violence often gets blamed on video games, but not other violence. In fact, violent video games may even reduce aggressiveness by acting as a safe outlet for anger and stress.

The battle over violence in video games has been going on since the 1970’s, when a game called Death Race was released. The purpose of the game was to run over “gremlins” that many claimed looked too much like humans. Ironically, people protested by dragging Death Race machines out of arcades and burning them, that is violent in itself. Almost every time there is a major violent crime, the blame is placed mostly on video games, especially when youth are involved. There have been many attempts to pass legislation against violence in video games, with few being successful. In 1994 the video game industry voluntarily established the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to try to avoid government involvement. As video games continue to become more realistic, so does the concern of the effects of such graphic violence.

One of the biggest concerns most people have about violence in video games is how they affect youth. Parents are concerned that children are playing video games that are too violent for their age. Whether violent video games effect teens and adults or not, many fear that younger children may be more easily influenced by the violence. If this is true, it should be the parents’ choice and responsibility to decide what they allow their children to play. Letting your child play with knives may not be in their best interest either, but there is no specific law against that. It is just common sense that the parents would not give knives to their child. Since there is little research that effectively decides if violent video games affect us, it is the parents’ choice to make. Video game historian Keith Feinstein notes that: “the Columbine shooters played with pipe bombs in their basement and no one stopped them from playing Doom. But no one stopped them from building pipe bombs in their basement, either”. As for the rest of us, we will not be turning into mass murderers anytime soon. Research has found some negative effects of video games pertaining to violence and aggression, but these effects are minimal, and are comparable to many other sources of violence in our society, “some media-violence researchers recently published an article suggesting that reading passages from the Bible with violent content increases “aggression” in much the same way that video games supposedly do. So if video games have to be restricted from children, apparently so do at least some portions of the Bible”, “And, of course, videogames aren’t the only pastimes that could lead to aggression: dodgeball, paintball, and a bad beat in Texas Hold ‘Em can heighten arousal, too. Dr. Vincent Mathews, a radiologist at Indiana University who has studied the brain’s response to violent video games, suggests that the effects of these other activities would be comparable. “I would think that paintball or dodgeball would show similar results,” he says. “But no one is calling for these games to be banned””.  We are surrounded by violence, so why pick on one source that is no worse than the rest?

There has been a lot of research done to try to prove violent video games do make us more violent. Many claim that their results show this is true. However, most studies have produced varied and inaccurate results. Publication bias is a huge issue, “Admittedly, publication bias (the tendency to publish articles that support a hypothesis and not publish those that do not) is very likely a widespread problem in the social sciences and is not unique to video-game studies”. In my own research I found it more difficult to find articles defending video games than I did articles that accused video games of more than just making us more violent. Publication bias can also be linked with over exaggeration, “social scientists may be too prone to make big and frightening pronouncements from weak results”. Other studies have been flawed due to factors like using outdated video games, “Reading the fine print in the Dill and Anderson study, for example, reveals that the researchers used outdated, mismatched games and required an absurdly brief amount of actual playtime from the subjects”. In addition, for some reason there has been very little long term research done. How can we possibly determine the effects video games have on us if we do not conduct studies that last for more than an one or two hours at a time? If there were to be any drastic effects of playing violent video games they would not all be instant. Dr. Dmitri Williams of the University of Illinois said “You can’t study people for 20 minutes and know what’s going to happen to people in society 10 years later”. Another obstacle that hinders any research done is the inability to replicate or allow for actual acts of serious violence. Although it would be effective, we can’t give test subjects a loaded gun and see what they’ll do with it after playing a video game for 10 minutes.  ”We can’t have people assault, rape, or murder someone” in the lab, says Dr. Brad Bushman, a University of Michigan psychologist who studies the effects of media violence. After sorting through all the studies that have been done, and take the above issues into consideration, there remains no significant proof of any link between playing violent video games and becoming more aggressive or violent, “My meta-analysis concluded that there was no evidence to support either a causal or correlational relationship between video games and aggressive behavior”.

            If video games have been accused of making us more violent for many years now, and no one has successfully been able to prove it, why are we still worried about it? To fully understand where this fear of violent video games came from, you must first understand who the people that have this fear are. Looking back in history, there has always been something that parents of a certain generation were afraid of because they thought it would harm the youth of that generation, “Like Elvis in the 50s, or Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s, videogames are still viewed as the dangerous scourge of youth culture”. It is mainly the last generation, who are unfamiliar with video games that blame them for the youth violence they see on the news. Many are intimidated of video games because they do not understand them and the complex culture and effects that surround them; “when people are frightened, oversimplifying a complex problem becomes attractive as a quick, easy fix to an otherwise imposing cultural barrier”, “it is the underlying technology that frightens older generations who can’t comprehend the fast changing mechanics shaping the way the world interacts”,”They do not understand the modern language. They become frightened of what they do not understand.” says video game historian Keith Feinstein. What a lot of people have forgotten is that it is not just youth who are playing violent video games. Many people in their twenties and thirties have grown up with video games and continue to play them. However when there is a violent crime committed by an adult, no one questions if video games are to blame, “We are for some reason more interested in violence when it is committed by young people. But we didn’t ask what kind of music and video games Tim McVeigh [the Oklahoma City bomber] was into” said Sociologist Karen Sternheimer, specializing in pop culture and youth at the University of Southern California. This is the perfect example of how we can blame video games for our problems without looking at the bigger picture. Violent video games have essentially been stereotyped.

One thing I have found odd about all this video game controversy is that we have overlooked our own intelligence. If we are smart enough to conduct studies about their effect on us, then are we not smart enough to know when a game is a game, and not to try to relive it in real life? “Video games, like the rest of the media, form a faceless specter that we have called into being with our own internal desires for sex and violence, yet can turn against when we need a straw man to blame for our own recklessness”, maybe we need to stop blaming video games, and take a look at ourselves: “people who had previously filled out questionnaires reflecting an even-keel personality were less aggro after playing a violent game. Those who had a more aggressive disposition were more susceptible to these heightened emotions”. So there is hope for our intelligence yet, it seems that violent people are more affected by violence in video games. Thus one can assume that people who commit violent crimes are just violent people, not mindless killers brainwashed by Grand Theft Auto. So what does that make the rest of us who play video games? Normal, “The British Board of Film Classification conducted a survey that found that “the violence helps make the play exhilaratingly out of reach of ordinary life…. Gamers seem not to lose awareness that they are playing a game and do not mistake the game for real life.”.

            What if we have this backwards? What if, instead of thinking violent video games causing us to replicate that violence in real life, replicating violence in video games actually stops us from committing said violence for real? It is not a completely absurd thought. Maybe when we are angry and feel like punching the next person who says something to us, we can go blow someone’s head off in a video game and that will take the anger away. Although it probably depends on the type of person you are, I fully believe that taking your anger out on video games is very effective, as well as safe. I personally can relate to this. I also find playing all video games relaxing regardless of the level of violence in them. Now some people may agree with this, some may not, but there is one thing that may support this actually being true, “The numbers do not lie. Violent crime is down, but violence in video games is up”. Violent crimes have been going down over the same time period where video games have been growing more popular and more violent. No one knows if this is because video games help prevent real world violence or if the two facts are unrelated and just a coincidence, but how can video games be making us more violent if the facts prove the opposite? “Could you imagine how far the debate on global warming would have gotten if the earth’s atmospheric temperatures were decreasing while pollutants were being released?”

            With all the research that has been done, it is still unclear if video games do make us more violent. What we do know is, if there are any effects at all, they are minimal. Since it remains a matter of opinion, the only thing we can do individually is make our own personal decision on what to play, and what to allow our children to play. Researcher Craig Anderson, chair of Iowa State University’s Department of Psychology said it best in my opinion, “It’s society, not science, that must decide how to deal with the negative effects of violent video games”. Is this going to stop me from playing video games with violence in them? No, so if you don’t mind, I will now go back to peacefully playing Call of Duty.

  Of all the things our teachers inform our young, they succeed not recurrently touch on the idea of Labor Generation history for kids. How much succeed our heirs comprehend about this mattering much holiday? If contrivance, they one sense that stable is a holiday for stable, but that is the extent of irrefutable importance most cases. 

The brand of Labor Extent thanks to a state holiday brother to the turn of the 20th century is historical enough for our spawn to recognize about the history of the holiday, and not virtuous that legitimate is a holiday for working class Americans and Canadians. Authentic is an meaningful segment of their heritage being Americans to comprehend that the celebration began repercussion 1882 reputation Untrodden York for those working subservient labor unions. From its conception dominion 1882 to its succeeding name into a state holiday notoriety a bill signed by Manager Grover Cleveland, undoubted has change into an determining rasher of our history. 

Some confusion may go concerning the bag of the cardinal Monday rule September because the accredited Labor Present celebration. Some sources judge it’s to know true from the Socialist Labor Stretch on May 1st, a date that successive became May Age, and others indicate that authentic was chosen due to existing is halfway between Independence Juncture and Thanksgiving. Regardless of which clothesline you accept since truth, real is still something to know that Labor Extent is not equal a holiday to celebrate the unofficial cusp of summer, nor is its whyfor to signify the origin of autumn and a return to tutor for our family. 

The historical significance lies guidance the detail that upon its inception, 40 percent of the workforce worked below a labor union, and the holiday was set aside to prestige those troupe. Currently, about 14 percent of the workforce belongs to a labor union. Although firm still holds significance for those older foursome and retirees who belong to the labor unions, for most, Labor Span means the unofficial prong of summer and a second immolate from profess. Sadly, Labor Clock has taken the alike road due to Memorial Day and is only recognized as important by those who lived in the era that caused its creation. 

In future generations, the children will not even know its significance unless we teach them now. Let us not forget the significance of Labor Day and teach our children the struggles their forefathers endured in order to allow the labor force to become one where the average person can earn a decent wage without working 16 – 20 hours a day six days a week.

President-Elect Barack Obama enjoys cooking, basketball, and dancing. His predecessors have had their own hobbies, some only one or two, others a bunch.

Music Makers

Bill Clinton, of course, is well-known for his saxophone playing. During his presidential campaign he famously demonstrated his sax-playing skills on television. Harry Truman and Richard Nixon played the piano.

Stamp Collector

Franklin D. Roosevelt collected stamps and autographs. His stamp collection contained about 1,250,000 stamps and included such items as official approved stamp design sketches to which he had unique access. Roosevelt suggested some stamp subjects and even designed a few himself. Following his death, 150 of FDR’s stamp albums sold for about $250,000. The chief executive also collected signatures from famous personages and others attending important events such as the Yalta Conference.

Boats and Horses

John F. Kennedy enjoyed sailing as did Jerry Ford and FDR. George H. W. Bush is also a boater and Jimmy Carter liked canoeing. Ronald Reagan enjoyed horseback riding, as did Lyndon B. Johnson, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Jackson, George Washington, John Tyler, and William Henry Harrison. Harrison turned down a carriage ride on the drizzly inauguration day and rode a white horse. Responding to a stinging campaign insult, he proceeded to present the longest inauguration speech in history as the drizzle continued, without wearing a hat, got sick, and then became the shortest reigning president in American history.

Fishing

A top White House favorite hobby has been fishing. Among those who enjoyed this recreation were George W. Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, FDR, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George Washington, Calvin Coolidge, Chester A. Arthur, Rutherford B. Hayes, Martin Van Buren, and Grover Cleveland are known to have been enthusiastic anglers. Roosevelt took off twice a year on fishing expeditions and admitted that, despite owning about 50 fishing rods, he didn’t really care if he caught a fish or not. He just liked the chance to unwind although he once managed to land a 136-pound sailfish unaided after a two-hour battle in heavy seas. The senior president Bush enjoys bass fishing.

Swimming

Swimming is another favored presidential recreation. In fact, John Quincy Adams enjoyed a long daily dip in the Potomac. He altered his habit of skinny-dipping when a female reporter corraled him into an enforced interview by sitting on his clothes on the bank. Jimmy Carter liked to swim as did Ronald Reagan, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy.

On Foot

Harry S. Truman was famous for his daily walks. Abraham Lincoln was another who liked to walk just as Bill Clinton was famous for his jogs in the company of Secret Service agents. Other joggers include President George W. Bush and former president Jimmy Carter.

Golf, Cards, and More

Golfers included Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren G. Harding. The first president to take up golf was 300-pound William Howard Taft who sought to lose weight. Golf was Jerry Ford’s favorite hobby, but he also swam, skied, played tennis, and even occasionally used a trampoline. Naturally, he is best known as a former college football player. Jimmy Carter also skied and played tennis.

John F. Kennedy enjoyed touch football. Herbert Hoover enjoyed working out with a medicine ball.

Benjamin Harrison used the billiard room installed in the White House during the Chester Arthur years.

Card players included Richard Nixon, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman who loved poker and hated bridge, Dwight Eisenhower who preferred bridge, and Warren Harding. Harding’s so-called Poker Cabinet met twice a week and included senators, cabinet members, and others close to him.

Hunting, Horeshoes, and Cooking

Hunting is another favorite among Chief Executives. Lyndon B. Johnson, Rutherford B. Hayes, Franklin Pierce, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and Theodore Roosevelt were enthusiastic about the sport. T.R. wrote several books about hunting and hunting expeditions. He also enjoyed boxing, hiking, swimming across streams whenever encountered.

Abraham Lincoln enjoyed pitching horseshoes, as did Harry Truman and George H. W. Bush. Bill Clinton remains a crossword buff.

Dwight Eisenhower, among other hobbies such as painting, enjoyed cooking, as does President-Elect Obama. In Luxembourg, visiting the embassy, he went out to the kitchen and baked a lemon meringue pie, which astonished Ambassador Perle Meste.

And Even Bowling

And President Nixon enjoyed bowling, supposedly because it was a passtime that wasn’t time-consuming.