How will people react to violent games or pornography varies tremendously depending upon the person. I'm certain that the vast majority of people who play violent games will never act out that violence. And the majority of people who view pornography -- even violent pornography -- are not likely to commit acts of sexual violence. But there will always be some exceptions. There will always be some people in our society whose antisocial behavior is triggered by some type of stimuli. The problem is that that stimuli is all around us anyway. Whether it's a Calvin Klein advertisement or an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, there will probably be some people who act out in negative ways. The question is should we make social policy to ban or limit activities or substances for every one because a few people can't handle them. Innocence you could make that argument for fast food given the epidemic of diabetes and obesity in the country. There are some people who simply can't control themselves given access to sweets fats and other dangerous substances, but that doesn't mean that we should ban them for those of us who can control ourselves.

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Larry
Co-director
BlogSafety.com

Good point. I can't tell you how good it felt to play GTA 3 after a long day of school (years ago). Some would argue that it's therapeutic to take your anger out in a virtual world, rather than the real world. The problem lies in the kids who do take their anger out in the real world, learned by what they do in their virtual worlds. These kids do exists, but it's obvious that it's a small percentage (otherwise there would be way more violence).

So why do adults make such a big deal about violence in video games if there's only a small group who are actually going to cause problems? Because the lives of the kids who are killed by this small group are way more important than your (the larger group's) enjoyment with video games. Their (the adults') view point is to sacrifice the masses to save the few and I frankly agree with them. Don't get me wrong, I do see the extremes and don't agree with those. I understand that there is no direct proof that video games cause these school shootings, but it has been a factor (along with bullying) in all cases. That's why it's a concern.

Some people have social and mental disabilities. They go to school and get picked on because of their disabilities and then they go home and play video games. They form a hate for these bullies and then they use what they know to hurt their offenders.

It's common sense that not every kid is going to shoot something because they saw it in a video game, liberty. I think we all know that. But do you think the kids at Columbine were bright kids? No. They had social problems. That, mixed with video games can be a bad combination.

So to jump out and assume that all kids are the same and will react the same way in these situations is just flat out illogical and insulting for parents with bullied kids. I'm not saying that every kid who has a social disabitliy is going to shoot a classmate because they played a video game or saw it on TV. I was stuck in a wheelchair through high school and got picked on every day. I'm level headed, so I didn't try to take my anger out on anyone. But it does happen and it's really ignorant for you to jump out and get mad at parents for trying to find a reason and a solution.