As the Democratic candidates vie for primary dominance, the positions of Clinton and Obama become clearer (or fuzzier) for the voting populace as time passes. One of the issues that seems to be a lightning rod for politicians are video games.
During Obama’s victory speech in the Wisconsin primary, he made, what some might consider as coded references to video games and how he obliquely connected them to underachievement in children.
"I know how hard it will be to alleviate poverty that has built up over centuries, how hard it will be to fix schools, because changing our schools will require not just money, but a change in attitudes.
"We’re going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children, and that’s going to take some time."
But Obama’s stance regarding video games is extremely tame when compared to Hillary Clinton’s views. In statements made to Common Sense Media, among other things she said,
"When I am president, I will work to protect children from inappropriate video game content. Research has shown that violent and sexually explicit media contribute to aggressive behavior, early sexual experimentation, obesity, and depression."
If anything, what research shows about the influence of video games on behavior in children is that it is inconclusive. What is conclusive, however, is that politicians continue to use the issue of video games as a convenient whipping boy to gain votes–an issue that evidently, politicans know very little about.
[via gamepolitics]
