I think this year's"Oppenheimer" discussion taught me something I should have figured out a long time ago: a majority of Americans don't think of dropping bombs as "violence." We basically imagine it like Missile Command.
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back in the 80s when video games were first starting to be everywhere (Space Invaders but still) I dimly remember my parents worrying that it would desensitize kids to actual violence. arguably that was the plan, & arguably it worked.
Similarly, one of my earliest political memories was watching the first Iraq war on TV. I remember so well how news media sold the lie of "smart bombs" and this idea the west can wage war safely without civilian casualties.
My earliest political memory is my folks telling my Ronald Reagan was a bad man when he was running for pres, & replying that I wished someone would kill him. My folks were shocked & told me that was the wrong response, but I maintain I was right! (I was maybe 3-4yo)
Yup. First person shooter games like Call of Duty were used to market black rifles like the AR-15 and semiautomatic pistols, which are the driver of deaths by suicide and violence.
So while there isn’t a link between video games & violence, some companies were willing to sell weapons & militarism.
I think it’s because nearly all of us have no concept of what being in area that is being bombed or under the threat of it is like.
It’s like the Grand Canyon. You can hear about it, see pictures and videos of it, but you can’t really get the sheer scale of it unless you’ve been there in person.
I truly don't get how anyone comes out of that movie with anything but a visceral feeling of the sheer violence of the atomic bomb, and we're still the only country to use them against people
You're probably right about Americans, but Nolan's Oppenheimer, though not a perfect film, I think is pretty clear about the violence or threat of violence caused by the bomb.
He doesn't ignore the casualties. He shows Oppenheimer's horror at the injuries his weapon unleashed. I don't think any further depiction would have helped the movie, though I understand it's a legitimate point of contention.
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So while there isn’t a link between video games & violence, some companies were willing to sell weapons & militarism.
a cultural shift toward *acceptance* of that violence is something else again.
It’s like the Grand Canyon. You can hear about it, see pictures and videos of it, but you can’t really get the sheer scale of it unless you’ve been there in person.