Control (29 page)

SOMETHING IS DIFFERENT

“ ‘
most heavily armed people in the world
’ ” John Morgan Dederer,
War in America to 1775: Before Yankee Doodle
(New York: New York University Press, 1990), 116. • “
homicides involving guns were ‘rare
’ ” Roger Lane,
Murder in America: A History
(Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1998), 59–60. • “ ‘
the murder rate declined 27.7 percent
’ ” Don B. Kates and Gary Mauser, “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?”
Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy
30, no. 2 (Spring 2007), 685,
http://hvrd.me/11gZvkC
. • “
the United States experienced its first double homicide in a school
” Katherine Ramsland, “School Killers,“Crime Library at
trutv.com
, accessed March 2, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11h7SMQ
. • “
where a juvenile committed a multiple homicide in a school prior to 1975
”
Wikipedia
, “School Shooting,” accessed March 8, 2013,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting
. • “
he killed fifteen people at his high school
” “German school gunman ‘kills 15,’ ”
BBC News
, March 11 2009,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7936817.stm
. • “
he was an avid video game player
” “Teen Killer’s Victims Mourned,”
news24.com
, March 21, 2009,
http://n24.cm/11gZywy
. • “ ‘
battle each other to the death
’ ” “Brave Teacher Stopped Gun Rampage,”
cnn.com
, April 27, 2002,
http://bit.ly/11gZA7Q
. • “
a fourteen-year-old murdered two of his fellow students in his school in Rauma
” “School Shootings Rare in Finland,”
yle.fi
, July 11, 2007,
http://bit.ly/11gZEUU
. • “
in Tuusula, an eighteen-year-old student murdered eight classmates in his high school
” “School Shootings Rare in Finland,”
yle.fi
, July 11, 2007,
http://bit.ly/11gZEUU
. • “
a twenty-two-year-old student murdered ten people at Seinäjoki University
” Attila Cser, “ Gunman Kills 10, Self in Finnish School Shooting,”
reuters.com
, September 23, 2008,
http://reut.rs/11gZLzV
. • “
two people were murdered by a student at Monash University in Australia
” “Two People Shot Dead, Five Wounded at Monash Uni,”
smh.com.au
, October 21, 2002,
http://bit.ly/11gZOf5
. • “
Two more were murdered by a seventeen-year-old student in his school in Thailand
” “Schoolyard Killings: Second student dies; security beefed up,”
thenationmultimedia.com
, accessed March 2, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11gZPQg
. • “
Four people were killed by a fifteen-year-old student in their Argentina high school
” “4 Die in Argentina School Shooting,”
cbsnews.com
, February 11, 2009,
http://cbsn.ws/11h7NZN
. • “
a former student returned to his old middle school with two .38-caliber revolvers
” Jeff Fick and John Lyons, “Rio Shooter Kills at Least 12 Young Students,”
Wall Street Journal
, April 8, 2011,
http://on.wsj.com/11gZWeH
. • “
murdered sixty-nine people and injured at least 110
” Australian Associated Press, “Norway Marks Anniversary of Twin Attacks that Claimed 77 Lives,”
Herald Sun
, April 23, 2012,
http://nyti.ms/11gZXiH
. • “
In the year before the massacre, he would play World of Warcraft and Call of Duty extensively, sometimes up to sixteen hours a day
” Paul Goodman, “Norwegian Mass Murderer Defends Gaming Habits,”
escapistmagazine.com
, April 19, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11gZZqE
.

DENYING THE SCIENCE

“ ‘
there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life violence
’ ”
American Academy of Pediatrics: Committee on Communications, “Media Violence,”
Pediatrics
95, no. 6 (June 1, 1995), 949–51,
http://bit.ly/11h0mBK
. • “
American children ages two to eleven see the first hour of prime-time shows on weekday evenings
” JT Hamilton,
Channeling violence: The economic market for violent television programming
, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998). • “
American children under eight years old spend an average of two hours and fourteen minutes a day consuming digital media and television
,” Common Sense Media,
Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America
(San Francisco: Common Sense Media, Inc., 2011),
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/zerotoeightfinal2011.pdf
. • “ ‘
Nonviolent video game play also did not predict higher levels of aggressive behavior over time
’ ” T. Willoughby, PJ Adachi, and M. Good, “A Longitudinal Study of the Association Between Violent Video Game Play and Aggression Among Adolescents,” (study, Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 2012);
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22040315
. • “
virtually mimic what has been found in other longitudinal studies
” Douglas A. Gentile,
Media Violence and Children
(Westport, CT: Praeger, November 30, 2003), 69–70. • “
there have been thousands of studies performed and opinions issues over the last half century
” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano,
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence
(New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 132–36. • “ ‘
it is the single most easily remediable contributing factor
’ ” American Academy of Pediatrics: Committee on Communications, “Media Violence,”
Pediatrics
95, no. 6 (June 1, 1995), 949–51,
http://bit.ly/WW2Vv3
.

STIMULUS/RESPONSE

“
youth had witnessed an average of 200,000 acts of violence on television by age eighteen
” Aletha C. Huston, Edward Donnerstein, Halford Fairchild, and others,
Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society
(Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992). • “ ‘
media consumption among youth in the psychiatric population is 6 hours per day
’ ” Matt DeLisi, Michael G. Vaughn, Douglas A. Gentile, and others, “Violent Video Games, Delinquency, and Youth Violence: New Evidence,”
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
10, no. 4 (October 17, 2012). • “
They quickly learn that violence is an acceptable solution
” Aletha C. Huston, Edward Donnerstein, Halford Fairchild, and others,
Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society
(Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992). • “
determine if those who’d played the violent games would be more aggressive
” Christopher R. Englehardt, Bruce D. Bartholow, Geoffrey T. Kerr, and others, “This Is Your Brain on Violent Video Games: Neural Desensitization to Violence Predicts Increased Aggression Following Violent Video Game Exposure,”
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
47, no. 5 (September 20011), 1033–36. • “ ‘
predicted an increase in aggression
’ ” Christopher R. Englehardt, Bruce D. Bartholow, Geoffrey T. Kerr, and others, “This Is Your Brain on Violent Video Games: Neural Desensitization to Violence Predicts Increased Aggression Following Violent Video Game Exposure,”
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
47, no. 5 (September 20011), 1033–36. • “
we can ‘detox’ a child in a couple of days just by turning off the TV and video games
” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, personal communication. • “ ‘
young adults showed less activation in certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games at home
’ ” “Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men,”
Medical School News
at
indiana.edu
, December 1, 2011,
http://bit.ly/11h0uB6
. • “ ‘
are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior
’ ” Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men,”
Medical School News
at
indiana.edu
, December 1, 2011,
http://bit.ly/11h0uB6
. • “ ‘
effects may translate into behavioral changes over longer periods of game play
’ ” Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men,”
Medical School News
at
indiana.edu
, December 1, 2011,
http://bit.ly/11h0uB6
.

THE TRUTH ABOUT (NO) CONSEQUENCES

“ ‘
points are awarded for the murder of female prostitutes
’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano,
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence
(New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 70. • “
(and actually
was
banned in Australia)” Tony Smith, “Australia Bans Manhunt,”
theregister.co.uk
, September 30, 2004,
http://bit.ly/11h2rxx
. • “ ‘
sticking axes into dudes, etc. It’s all really standard fare, actually
’ ” Josh Wanamaker, “14 Most Offensive Video Games Ever,”
gameranx.com
, September 28, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11h2wkT
. • “
Grossman’s
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill
” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano,
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence
(New York: Crown Publishers, 1999). • “
Josh Wanamaker of Gameranx.com
” Josh Wanamaker, “14 Most Offensive Video Games Ever,”
gameranx.com,
September 28, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11h2wkT
. • “
games that allow the player to be the killers in horrific real-life events
” Josh Wanamaker, “14 Most Offensive Video Games Ever,”
gameranx.com
, September 28, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11h2For
. • “ ‘
a “reward” for youth to spend their free time, it can be problematic
’ ” Matt DeLisi, Michael G. Vaughn, Douglas A. Gentile, and others,
“Violent Video Games, Delinquency, and Youth Violence: New Evidence,”
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
10, no. 4 (October 17, 2012).

TRAINED TO KILL

“ ‘
The violence in games hadn’t prepared them for this
’ ” Jose Antonio Vargas, “Virtual Reality Prepares Soldiers for Real War,”
Washington Post
, February 14, 2006,
http://wapo.st/11h2Lwd
. • “
in World War II only 15–20 percent of individual riflemen fired their weapons in close combat
” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman,
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
(New York: Back Bay Books, 2009), 36. • “
to 55 percent in Korea, to upwards of 95 percent since Vietnam
” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman,
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
(New York: Back Bay Books, 2009), 36. • “
spent $1 billion on games technology that gets soldiers combat ready
” “Moving to the Dark Side of the Screen,”
Sydney Morning Herald
, May 13, 2006,
http://bit.ly/11h2PMx
. • “ ‘
combat simulators [are] . . . the fastest way to train troops and the easiest way to save money
’ ” “Moving to the Dark Side of the Screen,”
Sydney Morning Herald
, May 13, 2006,
http://bit.ly/11h2PMx
. • “ ‘
the U.S. Army has created their own violent video game as a recruitment tool
’ ” Douglas A. Gentile,
Media Violence and Children
(Westport, CT: Praegar, November 30, 2003), 136. • “ ‘
This is simply astounding [for an untrained gunman]
’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, “Statement of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Before the New York State Legislature, October 1999,”
thefreeradical.ca
, accessed March 3, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11h2XeZ
. • “ ‘
This is what should be expected from an untrained shooter
’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, “Statement of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Before the New York State Legislature, October 1999,”
thefreeradical.ca
, accessed March 3, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11h2XeZ
. • “ ‘
behaviors that could only have been learned in a video game
’ ” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, “Statement of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Before the New York State Legislature, October 1999,”
thefreeradical.ca
, accessed March 3, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11h2XeZ
. • “ ‘
they did that naturally because the violent shooting game they played rewarded head shots
’ ” Bradley Cornelius, “Dr. Brad Bushman, Ohio State University—Video Games and Shooting Skill,”
wamc.org
, July 19, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11h7spY
. • “
who reportedly shot his own mother several times in the head
” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman,
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
(New York: Back Bay Books, 2009), 128. • “
the ‘Fire Arms Training Simulator’ is . . . similar to the violent video game
Time Crisis
” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano,
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence
(New York: Crown Publishers, 1999), 66. • “ ‘
You have no choice but to shoot him and hope for the best
’ ” Alan Feuer, “Ready, Aim, Ready?”
New York Times
, December 8, 2012,
http://nyti.ms/11h3766
. • “ ‘
and unless you do scenario and role-play training, they’re not going to have the experience to fall back on
’ ” Alan Feuer, “Ready, Aim, Ready?”
New York Times
, December 8, 2012,
http://nyti.ms/11h3766
. • “
admitted that
Rage
was known to each of these killers . . . was a ‘possible accelerant
’ ” Stephen King,
Guns
(New York: Kindle Singles, 2013), Kindle edition.
• “ ‘
[the book’s main character] had to go. He was dangerous
’ ” Stephen King,
Guns
(New York: Kindle Singles, 2013), Kindle edition. • “ ‘
America’s so-called culture of violence plays a significant role in kid-on-kid school shootings
’ ” Stephen King,
Guns
(New York: Kindle Singles, 2013), Kindle edition.