by David Aaron White

Created on: June 24, 2008   Last Updated: August 13, 2010

Blame is thrown around so much these days that an accusation has almost lost its true "value" and meaning. An accusation used to be something serious, such as a report stating that Mr. Green killed the butler in the ballroom with a revolver. People used to hold their breaths on the news when a crime was committed and the anchor was about to reveal who had caused it. But today, our modern society has grown so used to hearing accusations that we are now almost numb to it, so it is no surprise to find out that blaming video games for many of society's problems is an idea that is commonly relayed by the media and government. For several reasons, people are quick to blame video games for how youths can act up, but they are still not able to prove that video games really cause these problems.

One reason as to why video games are used as a scapegoat is that people in today's society, particularly parents, refuse to believe that children are to blame for their actions, and therefore try to find something else to pin the blame on. A parent will say, "My kid wouldn't do that! He must have gotten that idea from a video game!" Yet no matter how much the parent may think this helps a child, this argument holds a few major flaws. For one, we are all exposed to countless murders, drug deals, suicides, and other crimes on the news each and every day. No matter how morbid or cynical it may seem, we are all given terrible, horrifying ideas on a daily basis, so a parent cannot argue that his or her child decided to re-enact Grand Theft Auto just because the idea was in his head. Everyone has ideas like that in their head, yet most people do not shoot cars with paintballs at midnight. In addition, part of growing up is learning to take responsibility for your actions, and a parent cannot tell a child that he or she is not at fault after committing a heinous act. This will give the child the idea that they cannot control anything they do, and will significantly damage him or her in later life.

A major problem in today's society is its willingness to blame the largest force as humanly possible. For example, the film Runaway Jury (2003) is a perfect depiction of how many bogus lawsuits can be pushed through and won in our modern judicial system. The film is about the aftermath of an office shooting. The shooters kill a man and are taken into custody, yet they aren't the only ones in trouble. The large gun manufacturing company who gave the shooters the guns is blamed for the incident

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