Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Video Game Violence


Visual Literacy
            In our society video games have become massively popular over the last two decades. With their growing popularity numerous people have become concerned with the digital violence the players can perform. Games such as Mortal Kombat, Grand Theft Auto, and Call of Duty have been in the media spotlight before with their portrayal of violence and gore. With kids playing these types of violent video games up to several hours a day, people concluded that this interaction will cause them to act more aggressively and violent in behavior. However, there has been no scientific study that has found any concrete correlation that video games alone will cause anybody to act more aggressively or violent.
            The most infamous example of video game getting attributed to causing violence came from the Columbine High School massacre. The two gunmen had both played violent video games. In the ensuing investigation of the event, people pointed this fact out. The assumption was then made by some of the victim’s parents that violent video games had influenced the gunmen’s decision to bring weapons to school and cause this tragedy. The assumption is if violent video games caused these two to go on a killing spree then violent video games will cause this type behavior in more people. This assumption was made before getting scientifically supported.
         “Defending the Morality of Violent Video Games” written by Marcus Schulzke, a PhD student at the University at Albany. This essay was published in the Ethics and Information Technology journal. Schulzke writes about how violent videogames have been criticized for teaching players weapon skills and how they directly cause violent actions. He addresses these criticisms by saying they are misguided and flawed.
            Schlzke refutes several claims of that video game critics have made. The most common claim is that video games make the player more skilled at hurting others. The argument depends on the plausibility of the analogy between actions in a game and the real world. In order for this criticism to work, there must be a high degree of similarity. Schlzke says that the time spent playing video games trains the gamer to be close to the machine, to be quick and responsive, to understand interfaces, to be familiar with simulated worlds. There are very little similarities between the acts of violence in games and in the real world to maintain the mechanics are the same in each.
            Another claim is that the video games cause the player to become less empathetic. To test this, researchers used a MRI scans to take images of the brain while playing violent or non-violent video game. They also monitored heart rate and galvanic skin responses. Then after this they showed the test subjects “real-life violence”, which is just a video. Researchers concluded that violent video games do desensitize players because those exposed to violent games showed lower heart rates and galvanic skin responses. It assumes that desensitization can be measured by these two scales. This experiment only had 13 subjects to test on from the beginning, too few to make such a generalization.
            The amount of violent crime and crime in general in the United States has decreased dramatically from 1992 to 2008. In 1992 violent crimes were 757.5 per 100,000 went down to 454.5 in 2008. Crime statistics show that every year video games get more graphic and violent the amount of violent crime decreases significantly. It is doubtful that video games have any effect on crime rate, but does correlate violent gaming with a decrease in crime.
The image that I choose depicts the video game killing the player. The hand with the gun exiting the virtual world is at the center of the picture, but what draws attention to your eyes is the man with the exploded blood spatter spot behind his limp head. The room is all white and the bright red blood contrasts better against the background to provide better emphasis on the violence.   
            The possible consequences of thinking that video games cause people to act violently and hurt others, people will want to ban violent games from ever getting made and sold to the public.



Works Cited

Schulzke, M.. "Defending the morality of violent video games. " Ethics and Information          Technology  12.2 (2010): 127. ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web.  25 Oct. 2011.

HOGBAR, “Media Violence” Photograph.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/hogbard/316622682/  7 Dec. 2006
       

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Updated Cultural Literacy

Everyone who grew up in America should be culturally literate and given the chance to succeed in this country. That however is not always the case and if you come from an ethnic background the odds are usually stacked against you. Society of this nature is wrong, but this is the sad truth how our culture operates. A person from a lower socioeconomic status is going to have to work harder to overcome obstacles set in place by our society to become culturally literate. This type of segregation is harmful for our progress to become a unified country where everyone truly has an equal chance of succeeding.
 In “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” an autobiographical account of bell hooks experiences at college. She had to overcome the issue of her race and the fact that she came from a lower social economic class. Both of these components made her feel out of place at college and she found it very difficult trying to belong there.
            Bell hooks first went to a nearby all girls college that had mostly all white students. She made a friend, but her friend envied the high class girls. Bell hooks desired nothing that they had while her friend did. Most girls tried to blend in by using their beauty or style, but bell hooks being black, got automatically placed as an outcast by her peers.
            After her first year, her English professor suggested that she go to Stanford University. Hook’s mother told her that the desire of going to Stanford did not fit within the family’s constricted budget. Attending Stanford would be impossible her mother told her.
            Hooks succeeded getting to Stanford, once there she thought she could learn about class because the college was founded to teach of people of equal calss. However it did not turn out that way, hooks had black professors. She found them elitist and who only cared about teaching to other elites. Since hooks came from a poor family and had no class from her background she fell into the shadows.
            Bell hooks came to realize that there was no place for low class folks in the academic world. They could join it, but would have to leave their past behind to succeed. The students who did not forget, did not last in college. Hooks made it because she was taught that hard work, honesty and respect for everyone no matter your class was the most important value to have. She graduated with her class intact.
            Growing up in central Kansas, I did not experience much cultural diversity. Coming from a white middle class family and going to a small rural school with very few minorities there was little cultural difference in my life. The public education gave me a good education and I was sent on my way to follow my life-long dreams. Never having to overcome the challenge of being different or coming from a poor family, I had it easy. Connecting with others who had a hard life is challenging for me, but I do not see why anybody should receive a different education just based on where they came from or are who they are.
            “Preparing Minds for Markets” by Jonathan Kozol writes about the public education systems in urban school in America. Kozol is a Harvard graduate in English literature and a former teacher. He writes about how education has shifted to preparing students to enter the work force right after school. Not all students get the choice to pursue a college education. Schools with a curriculum that is job orientated have a large ethic majority of students. Students who get taught this way, do they end up getting trapped into lower paying jobs?
            Job focused education is starting in the kindergarten classroom where the students are asked what kind of a manager’s job they want. Kozol is taken back in the fact that there are not options for choosing a job of a teacher or an engineer’s job. The principal at this school wanted the children to understand that they could become mangers in this country no matter what they have done, as long as they work hard to get to their goals. That meant even if they had a felony they could overcome that obstacle.
            The students are sometimes mentioned as products and the work skills they have learned. Kozol wonders if students should be viewed this way and worries that some students would be viewed as a bad investments. The schools in poor neighbor hoods usually settle for a different set of goals than schools have children from middle-class families. These curriculums are sometimes swayed by local corporations to adapt the curriculum to their needs. There are schools with posters from corporations covering the walls.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Cultural Literacy


Everyone who grew up in America should be culturally literate and given the chance to succeed in this country. That however is not always the case and if you come from an ethnic background they odds are usually stacked against you. Society of this nature is wrong but the sad truth is this is how our culture operates. A person from a lower socioeconomic status is going to have to work harder to overcome obstacles set in place by our society to become culturally literate. This type of segregation is harmful for our progress to become a unified country where everyone truly has an equal chance of succeeding.
 In “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” an autobiographical account of bell hooks experiences at college. She had to overcome the issue of her race and the fact that she came from a lower social economic class. Both of these components made her feel out of place at college and she found it very difficult trying to belong there.
            bell hooks first went to a nearby all girls college that had mostly all white students. She made a friend but her friend envied the high “class” girls. bell hooks “desired” nothing that they had while her friend did. Most girls tried to blend in by using their beauty or style but bell hooks is black and automatically placed as an outcast by her peers.
            After her first year her English professor suggested that she go to Stanford University. She was told that the “desire” of going to Stanford was impossible to achieve. Money would be an issue to her family.
            When she got to Stanford she thought she could learn about “class” because the college was founded to teach those of all equal class. But it did not turn out that way.  There were black professors who she found elitist and who only cared about teaching to other elites. Since hooks was poor and had no “class” she fell into the “shadows”.
            bell hooks came to realize that there was no place for low class folks in the academic world. They could join it but would have to leave their past behind to succeed. The students who did not forget, did not last in college. hooks made it because she was taught that hard work, honesty and respect for everyone no matter your class was the most important value to have. She graduated with her “class” intact.
            Growing up in central Kansas I did not experience much cultural diversity. Coming from a white middle class family and going to a small rural school with very few minorities there was little cultural difference in my life. The public education gave me a good education and was sent on my way to follow my life long dreams. Never having overcome the challenge of being different or coming from a poor family I had it easy. Connecting with others who had a hard life is challenging for me but I don’t see why anybody should receive a different education just based on where they came from are who they are.
            “Preparing Minds for Markets” by Jonathan Kozol writes about the public education systems in urban school in America and how they are preparing students to enter the work force right after school. Some students are not given the choice to pursue a college education. Schools with a curriculum that is job orientated have a large ethic majority of students. Are students who are being taught this way being trapped into lower paying jobs?
            Job focused education is starting in the kindergarten classroom where the students are asked what kind of a manager’s job they want. Kozol is taking back in the fact that there is no option for choosing a job of a teacher or an engineer’s job. The principal at this school wanted the children to understand that they could become mangers in this country no matter what they have done, as long as they work hard to get to their goals. That meant even if they had a felony they could overcome that obstacle.
            The students are sometimes mentioned as “products” and they work skills they have learned. Kozol wonders if students should be viewed this way and worries that some students would be viewed as a bad investments. The schools in poor neighbor hoods usually settle for a different set of goals than schools have children from middle class families. These curriculums are sometimes swayed by local corporations to adapt the curriculum to their needs. There are schools with posters from corporations covering the walls.
All students need to be given the chance to complete the same quality of education curriculum no matter their social economical class.
Nothing should limit any persons educational opportunities in America. Everyone needs an education to help contribute to society. When there are uneducated people in America who should we blame? Did they fail the education system or did the education system fail them? When these citizen who did not receive an education, there are even instances of people not being able to read, how can they better our culture and society when they are not even a part of it.
The essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”, written by Jonathan Kozol, centers on the challenges and fears that an illiterate person faces living in the American society. He asks why our society and government has failed these individuals while other poorer countries have higher literacy rates than America.
Kozol shows how an Illiterate faces several challenges a day, from trying to read a menu at a restaurant to not being able to read a pill bottle or pay their bills. Even trying to keep a job of a janitor is hard for an illiterate. If they get left a note to do something they cannot read and will not be able to complete the task.
            The author tells of how illiterates are afraid of many situations. Travel for illiterates is something most of them fear because if they get lost there is no way for them to read the street signs or read a map. If their child starts choking they cannot open the phonebook and look up the number to the hospital.
Kozol calls illiterates “half-citizens” because they do not know what rights they have so they cannot exercise them. Kozol states that the government keeps “malign neglecting” these citizens. He says that belief in our country’s “democracy” is not true when there are half citizens out there who are illiterate.
We need to treat everyone equally regardless of race, sex, and class. When we don’t we give those people disadvantages that not everyone can overcome and when they don’t they become culturally illiterate. How is a person in our society who does not fit in or understand our culture supposed to succeed? There is no simple solution to this problem but our current method is not working and needs to be changed.