from Media Watch Newsletter The media is more to blame for the recent school shootings than they or our culture will admit. No one wants to assume responsibility for a culture that actively breeds its boys to be killing machines. We need to take a hard look at a per capita aggravated assault rate seven times what it was forty years ago.
One person sounding the alarm is Lt. Co. Dave Grossman, a former U.S. Army Ranger and psychology professor at West Point, who wrote the book; On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society. In it, he writes that humans have a natural resistance to killing their own. Studies of Civil War battle fields suggest no more than 15-20% of soldiers were firing their rifles at the enemy. The pattern held, Grossman says, until the top brass decided to change it at the start of World War II. They began a 4 part conditioning program. Traumatize and brutalize soldiers in boot camp, teach them to laugh and cheer in response to violence, replace bull’s eye targets with human silhouettes and convince them that killing the enemy is a noble act.
The success of this military conditioning program exceeded the expectations of those who designed it. The “fire rate” had increased from 20% to 95% during the Vietnam War. This process is exactly what we teach our children through the mediums we use to entertain them. Young boys receive the same training with point-and-shoot video games as Army recruits and police officers receive. Ultra realistic human figures have replaced bull’s eyes as games compete for which most closely simulates real life violence. TV shows, especially cable, traumatize and brutalize kids with excessive images of violence. Films like Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers have conditioned millions to laugh and cheer in response to realistic murder and gore. The media also offers role models who nobly kill “bad guys.” Boys are being conditioned at an increasingly young age. Viewing horror films where sexy female victims are the maniac killer’s preferred target doesn’t help.
“What we know and it’s been proven beyond dispute is that television is a greater factor in this increased degree of violence in our society than all other factors combined,” Grossman says. “And that includes broken homes and abuse and neglect and all those sorts of things. The data linking TV viewing to violent behavior is 3 times better than the data linking tobacco and cancer.”
Lawyers are focusing on media violence as a target of product liability lawsuits. Grossman was summoned by the federal government to Westside Middle School in Jonesboro barely an hour after the shootings to counsel the school’s teachers. Every news magazine in the country contacted him to appear on camera until they discovered his take on TV and video games. His information will not be televised. Grossman wants networks to warn people to keep their kids away from TV at least until they’ve learned to read. Acknowledging the media’s culpability one CBS reporter confided with Grossman, “Look, our own in-house people have told us what you’re saying. We know it’s true.” [Rolling Stone, 10/1/98]
Duke’s The King Baby
It’s no secret that many video games in both arcade and personal computer formats are violent and sexist. The Duke Nukem series (Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 3D, and Duke Nukem Forever), like Marathon, Descent, Doom, Unreal and Quake are wildly popular games called “shooters.” Players move through the world behind a weapon learning to kill and destroy people, monsters, tanks, or aircraft without themselves getting killed. Duke Nukem 3D moves the “shooter” through pornography stores, where Duke can use XXX sex posters for target practice. Duke throws cash at a prostituted woman telling her to “Shake it, Baby” his gun ever ready.
In Duke Nukem bonus points are awarded for the murder of these mostly prostituted and partially nude women. Duke blows up stained glass windows in an empty church or goes to strip clubs where Japanese women lower their kimonos exposing their breasts. Duke is encouraged to kill defenseless, often bound women.
After Duke kills off some aliens he’s ready for sex or maybe he’ll defecate on his pile of freshly killed aliens. With real warfare style Duke says, “No man steals our chicks and wins.” On one level naked women are tied to columns pleading, “Kill me,” “Kill me.” George Broussard, the president of 3D Realms, claims fans want the nudity and adult themes.
Duke Nukem 3D is available at all Toys R Us, Target and others. This game can be downloaded from the internet, and is available on a variety of platforms. It is rated Mature, which to some parents means 12-years-old or younger. Duke action figures can be ordered online. Action figures are geared for boys under 8-years-old. It is relatively easy and common for independent game designers to build and distribute even worse scenarios for these games.
Media Watch is asking you to boycott the largest distributor of Duke Nukem games, Toys R Us. Please contact your local Toys R Us and tell them why you are boycotting them. Also write your comments to:
CEO Robert Nakasone
Toys R Us Corporate office
461 From Rd
Paramus, NJ 07652
210-262-7800