(07-27-2012, 08:48 PM)the dark side Wrote: Prelauncher. i quess i should have used a different word to evil, its just, i dont know what other word to use, i only see things "in black and white" i cant differentiate the shades between good and bad, and being a christian (albiet one who plays horror games, i find it fascinating that one of the most unchristian genres is also the one that uses the most biblical themes) evil is the only explanation i can understand.
Being able to see in shades of gray is as simple as recognizing that moral concepts such as good and evil are relative, and exist only because they have been taught to you. The easiest example of this is to simply consider any totalitarian regime that has ever existed. A lot of people use Nazi Germany as an example due to its iconic image in western society as the epitome of "wrongness". Children who grow up under Nazi society would be taught many different ideas than in our current society. They would probably believe that the idea of the extermination of the "lesser races" as well as Aryan supremacy are examples of "good," even though most people in our society would abhor such ideas. But what if you had grown up under Nazi influence? Wouldn't you believe then that the genocide of people such as Jews is inherently "good" as well? If you disagree, consider why you believe in today's standard of "good," that is, the laws that we have in our current society. Those were all taught to us as well. If you want a more modern example, check out North Korea. Children in that society believe that individuality and capitalism are inherently "evil" and that "goodness" is probably complete, unquestioning obedience to the State and its leader. Our minds are very malleable and can be taught to believe in a lot of different things.
Anyways, I find that hatred for humanity is rather pointless. A lot of what we end up doing in our lives as well as the morals that we believe in are a result of circumstance, such as the family we are born in. Sure, when I see gangs prowling the streets or teenagers engaging in rampant violence, I can't help but feel hatred for today's society. But what if I had been born into the family, neighbourhood, or society that created them? What if I was raised a different life, and ended up joining a gang as well? If anything I feel lucky for my current circumstance of living a more stable life with a decent education, which makes me feel pity instead of hatred for the more lawless members of our society. But if you want to get really relativistic, you could argue that there is no "better" life to live; equal amounts of happiness and satisfaction can be acquired from following the law and not following the law. Of course, the law-abiding would abhor those who do not follow laws, but since laws are merely taught to us, we can't necessarily assume that the laws we follow are the path to being "good" either. Then there is the whole philosophical debate of what "good" is and I'm not even going to touch that issue because it's terribly long-winded.
@Topic: I don't play the games that Jack Thompson accuses of causing violence amongst teenagers, so I really don't have much of an opinion on the matter. However, based on the old "correlation does not indicate causality," I would argue that aggressively violent video games should not be banned. Even if higher levels of aggression are recorded amongst those who play games like GTA, the video games cannot be assumed solely responsible for IRL violence. And, as what so many other members of this forum have already said so far, whether or not we really want to imitate violence from video games is based on our maturity level, so we would not say that violent video games are an accelerant either.
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