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NEWS: Obama Calls for Study on Media & Violence

I'm pretty sure GTA is British.

I don't believe video games cause people to become violent, however I will say there is probably a reason those kinds of games get made and are popular in America. Media, and art in general, can be a good window into a culture or person's psyche. While playing a game like Manhunt where you have to use the motion controls to simulate ripping out a person's teeth and sever their limbs may not make them violent, there is probably basis for saying the the kind of people who make and play those games are probably fascinated by violence to begin with, or at least desensitized to it that it wouldn't bother them. Or to simply put it, video games don't cause the desire for violence, but that doesn't mean that desire isn't there in the culture to begin with. Correct me if I'm wrong but it's usually American games that get criticized for violence. Maybe they might use "Resident Evil" as an example once in awhile, but they always seem to cite things like Doom, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto... not Final Fantasy or Mario. In that regard, and considering America has a much higher crime rate than other countries, I think it's really just Americans love violence in general and it has nothing to do with video games at all. I think a study focusing on that would be more beneficial to the root of the problem. Other countries which consume far more video-games than America don't really have those kinds of mass shootings or violence, America is an outlier if you compare the statistics. Something there, but who knows what.

(Heck, I use a similar argument when I mention that Japan is a patriarchal society, just replace "violence" with "sexism," e.g. sexism in J-media, and art in general, can be a good window into a culture or person's psyche... fascinated by sexism to begin with, or at least desensitized to it that it wouldn't bother them, etc etc. Fanservice isn't purely for escapism purposes, y'know - it's what they actually believe.)

enurtsol wrote:

(Heck, I use a similar argument when I mention that Japan is a patriarchal society, just replace "violence" with "sexism," e.g. sexism in J-media, and art in general, can be a good window into a culture or person's psyche... fascinated by sexism to begin with, or at least desensitized to it that it wouldn't bother them, etc etc. Fanservice isn't purely for escapism purposes, y'know - it's what they actually believe.)

Do you just sit on these forums all day looking for every little chance to give your typical anti-Japan soapbox or what?

enurtsol wrote:

(Heck, I use a similar argument when I mention that Japan is a patriarchal society, just replace "violence" with "sexism," e.g. sexism in J-media, and art in general, can be a good window into a culture or person's psyche... fascinated by sexism to begin with, or at least desensitized to it that it wouldn't bother them, etc etc. Fanservice isn't purely for escapism purposes, y'know - it's what they actually believe.)

Do you just sit on these forums all day looking for every little chance to give your typical anti-Japan soapbox or what?

I'm pretty sure GTA is British.

What time of day is this stuff shown? I get the ability for the show to be targeted at kids, but there's a lot more adult stuff here. Broad appeal is possible, since you have a boatload of references to older animes (Space Battleship Yamato and Voltron come to mind) along with the gags involving all the lady parts but I just wonder how this could qualify as a kids show. Anyone know if there's a way to find what a shows regular timeslot was when it originally aired?

@TitanXL

It's not that breasts are adult stuff, it's just that I can't remember a time in my childhood where shows just had underage boys being smothered by giant boobs, or fondling them, or really having anything centered around it. I'm not saying it's evil or particularly bad, but I am just rather interested how women just throwing themselves into situations where kids have their faces planted into their chests while being exuberantly happy is kids' television. Now of course, I grew up in America so the standards are different here (we can't have people killing each other for example, if it's robots it's okay and that was a reason that American companies had a hard time airing Astro Boy here was because the robots seemed too human) and I'm not trying to just blanket Japan as some sexist/misogynist country, that would be silly. I'm just surprised that this sort of stuff is more accepted on normal kids tv, my mom would have flipped out and grounded me for a week from tv for it. That's personal experience of course but I'm trying to show a reference point here.

It is just America that is different, hate using the word, but our culture is more puritanical than most of the world. I've worked in several European countries over the years and you would be surprised at some of the stuff that airs on TV over there. Still wished I never saw the Granny commercial in Germany.

@TitanXL

and I'm not trying to just blanket Japan as some sexist/misogynist country, that would be silly.

I'm just surprised that this sort of stuff is more accepted on normal kids tv, my mom would have flipped out and grounded me for a week from tv for it. That's personal experience of course but I'm trying to show a reference point here.