This lawyer is bad. I mean literally bad. I want to talk about this interview between CBS news and Jack Thompson, the current lawyer attempting to say that violence in video games leads to violence in society.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/24/tech/gamecore/main676446.shtml
Every philosopher reading this interview is going to love this little tidbit exherted out for your convienience:
Quote:
Does age or sex play a factor in violent, aggressive behavior?
Sure, the sex and violence centers of the brain overlay one another, which is why the increasing mix of sex and violence is troubling. Armies have been known to go on rape rampages after battles because the violence stimulates sexual aggression. How lovely that GTA weds sex and violence in the same game. We are training a generation of teens to combine sex with violence, just what America needs.
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Ok i will start here. First off technically speaking i think the fallacy he commits is amphiboly. Jack is reacting to one interpretation of the word “Sex”. See he thinks the reporter is talking about the act of sex, when in actuallity the reporter is talking about the adjective use of the word “sex”. It is all very ammusing to me to be honest. He goes on this rant that is completly unrelated to the question at hand. :
Quote:
Is there a correlation between playing violent video games and acting in a violent manner?
Of course. Every parent who is paying attention knows that it is garbage in, garbage out with kids.
The heads of six major health care organizations testified before Congress that there are “hundreds” of studies that prove the link. All the video game industry has are studies paid for by them, which are geared to find the opposite result. Lawyers call such experts “whores.”
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Does he even understand what a correlation is? Not to mention fallacies abound here lets keep a listing of them:
1) First there is an appeal to authority, the authority first used is the parents.
2) There is an attempt at poisoning the well for any kind of response against his argument. The statement “Every parent who is paying attention knows that it is garbage in, garbage out with kids. ” Is setup to perform two tasks, the first is to tell you as the reader that if you are a parent and recognize his underlining conclusion then you are in effect a parent who pays attention. Second if you don’t recognize this and happen to be a parent you must not pay enough attention to your children. Shame Shame Jack. His mini-argument can also be shown to demonstrate false dichotomy traits.
He is saying that for all things that x, If x is a parent and x is someone who pays attention to a child then x knows proposition p. (Proposition p is simply shorthand for the phrase “it is garbage in, garbage out with kids.”)
3) Next he suggests that the heads of health care organizations have access to “hundreds” (source unknown) of studies that the gaming corporations do not in fact have access to. My first question is what kind of appeal to authority goes to the heads of health care organizations, and are there in fact any other kinds of motives behind the heads of health care organization’s testimonies? Wouldn’t it be concievable that if the HoHCO could prove in fact that these individuals don’t suffer from mental instability but programming outside of the HoHCO’s control that the HoHCO could in effect not have to cover damages accrued by such actions?
4) Then of course he calls the scientists performing the studies for the Game Corporation’s “Whores”. adhominem of course. Couldn’t it be the case that such an attack be used against the experts for HoHCO?
I had to come back and put this:
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Quote:
Is gaming escapism?
Yes, just as Ted Bundy escaped into pornography. It is not a release of aggression. It is training for aggression.
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COME on this is great. How many doctor’s have testified that Sex and Masturbation are actually great stress relievers? What is more is how many studies have proven that aggression is usually caused by intense stress in their daily lifestyle?
I’m just positing a potential counter claim. Wouldn’t pornography lead to less aggressive behaviour? OH wait that is of course assuming our society didn’t have such a stigma attatched to pornography which causes you to feel guilty about expressing yourself sexually. SO in the end it must be the pornography industry that is the root of all our evil right?…… right? Let me hear an AMEN!
I need to stop this fun.. i might continue analyzing the interview.. it is horrible from first glance… oh well