The CA Legislature Strikes Back

[Joust Williams]

OK, so you don't think kids mimic glorified acts.

Now I know who not to get into a discussion with.

[g0zen]

OK, so you don't think kids mimic glorified acts.

I'm saying it's not that simple. Which it isn't.

Now I know who not to get into a discussion with.

Actually, I thought this debate went pretty well until you decided everything had to be in stark terms and that any deviation from your POV was wrong. Although, I guess I should've expected that.

[Joust Williams]

I have never met, nor will ever meet, a kid that has not mimicked any glorified act. That makes the answer between "yes" and "no" to "Do kids mimic glorified acts?" a very simple one.

This argument became silly once "GOVERNMENT CONTROL = BAD BAD BAD" was part of it, because nothing good can come of arguments after that because of the polarized opinion.

[g0zen]

I have never met, nor will ever meet, a kid that has not mimicked any glorified act. That makes the answer between "yes" and "no" to "Do kids mimic glorified acts?" a very simple one.

This is where the problem lies. You're taking your own personal experience and saying that's the be all end all. It's not. One of the first movies I ever watched as a kid was Predator and not long after that Aliens. Now, after seeing those I didn't automatically try to skin my parents alive and hang them from the rafters, nor did I attack them with heavy duty weapons thinking they were an alien horde.

So you can't just say every kid is going to emulate every violent act they see on television in every circumstance without exception. It's not a valid argument nor even a feasible one.

nothing good can come of arguments after that because of the polarized opinion.

And on this we agree, though obviously from opposite sides of the issue.

[Joust Williams]

"So you can't just say every kid is going to emulate every violent act they see on television in every circumstance without exception. "

Yeah but I didn't say that. I said that everyone mimics, and helping parents out isn't such a bad thing (or a big deal, to me).

[g0zen]

Yeah but I didn't say that.

Did you use those words exactly? No. However, you did say that you would never meet a child that didn't emulate 'glorified acts'. Which is the same thing. Even if you never meet such a child, that in no way means they do not exist.

I said that everyone mimics

Once again, too broad a statement.

and helping parents out isn't such a bad thing (or a big deal, to me).

To you, no. To me, yes. I think this is a circumstance where the parents should take responsibility themselves rather than have the government step in (ugh, now I sound like a Republican).

[Joust Williams]

"However, you did say that you would never meet a child that didn't emulate 'glorified acts'"

I won't though. The severity of the act and the act will be different. You never wrestled with people? Some kids just take it too far, and with worse acts.

Do I wish that parents would be more responsible? Yes. This law isn't a substitute.

[g0zen]

I won't though. The severity of the act and the act will be different. You never wrestled with people? Some kids just take it too far.

I would submit that horseplay and such like that are biological rather than a learned or emulated behavior. It's something seen countless times in the animal kingdom, particularly among mammals. You show the wolf cub that had to watch a WWE Pay-Per-View before it decided to rough house with its siblings, and I'll concede the argument.

[Joust Williams]

So you never played guns or anything that you saw on TV? I'd find that hard to believe.

[Tracer]

I'll bet there's more deaths related to children emulating wrestlers than those emulating video games, because the out come of violence in a videogame is death - something which, to any person who isn't already a sociopath or newborn, is considered bad - generally. Wrestling is in more dire need of regulation. Horseplay is the usual and typically healthy result of emulation from movies or videogames. Largely because they don't encourage hate or physical competition on any regular basis. If the kid was stomping on frogs and shooting the neighbors dog with a pelet gun before playing games then violent games aren't going to help him, but not playing them won't change his already inherent sociopathic personallity.