SCAPEGOAT

In a recent class, we discussed a historical phenomenon called the Payne Fund studies. The Payne Fund Studies were directed to find out if children and teens were affected in a negative way by movies that were coming out at the turn of the century. The study was very obviously biased towards an answer that would accommodate people of this position, yet it did not appear to be so to a majority of the population. As a result, a large percentage thought that the movies influenced the youth in a direct and negative way.

The magic silver bullet theory developed as a result of these findings. The Magic Silver Bullet Theory is a a way of thinking of media that is a common cultural perspective that many people attribute to the Payne Fund Studies. It says that media is powerful; it's effects are uniform; and works in an immediate way. It seems to me that this view, however flawed and un-erudite it may be, still pervades our culture in its views of media.

A perfect example would be a political incident that happened in 1993 which still has ramifications today. In 1993 a video game called Mortal Kombat. By todays standards, this game was far from the bloody, gory, "evil" game that it was proclaimed by the older media to be. Bedlem them ensued. Studies came out claiming to prove a link between video game violence and real world violence. (These studies have since been discredited). One specific senator, Joe Lieberman, spoke out vehemently, not just against Mortal Kombat, but against ALL video games in general. As a result, legislation was passed to put a rating system in place that would let parents know by content what their children were playing. Several years later, it would be this very man who would lobby for a mandatory age restriction on M (Mature) rated games. This passed, but the constitutionality of this legislation is still under much scrutiny. To this day, there are still several controversies surrounding video games a year. The most recent would be the Grand Theft Auto controversy, where many religious conservative groups called for a total ban on the game. Greece even passed a law outlawing all video games (even though it only lasted for several weeks before it was repealed by one of the countries high courts.)

The problem with this theory is that it is inherently wrong. The original study conducted by the Payne Fund set out to prove a point. They did not use any true or accurate science, and I would go so far as to say that every "study" claiming to link real life behavior to video games will always be flawed. Scientific analysis leaves out a key component that cannot be classified in any sociological study. That component is the free will of man to choose his actions. The school shootings that were blamed on games like DOOM and GTA were not the fault of these video games, it was the fault of the people who shot the guns. I believe that regardless of whether they were to play these video games or not, they still would have commited these crimes, because all man has a sin nature. We are human. We are above our creations. So let's stop blaming our creations on our problems. It is time that people start blaming themselves, and not looking for a scapegoat to their problems. Because, remember, like the Movies of so long ago, standards will continue to change. Movies will always seem to be more Moral in the "good ol' days" than today. That won't change

But perhaps, just maybe, we can learn to change our sociological views of the media that we make that surrounds us. . .