Are video games like Grand Theft Auto a major threat to the moral health of society?
This was the charge levelled by Hillary Clinton in 2005, when she suggested that violence, and in particular the demeaning portrayal of women, has a desensitising effect [Ref: The Times]. Exposure to violence in the media, it is argued, makes people less able to empathise with the suffering of others, and therefore more likely to act violently towards them. This could be especially pronounced in the case of video games in which players take the role of an aggressor. But the authors of the book Grand Theft Childhood disagree, suggesting that many children use games to vent anger and relieve stress. Sceptics say blaming media violence is simplistic and ignores complicated social factors. The results of experiments should be treated with caution since people behave differently in the laboratory, freed from normal restrictions on behaviour, than in real life. Can violent song lyrics increase aggression or even incite murder? Some evidence has linked violent lyrics with aggressive behaviour
