Ban Killer Video Games
And Internet Violence!
by Helga Zepp-LaRouche
Mrs. LaRouche is the chairwoman of the Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo) in Germany. This statement was issued on Dec. 8, and has been translated from German.
While horrific news reports accumulate about young people running amok, killing their fellow students and teachers; young sharpshooters who knock off unknown victims; and young psychopathic murderers who kill people after perverse film showings, all these incidents demonstrate in a dramatic way, how urgent it is to pass adequate laws to ban and make punishable by law the production and marketing of violence-glorifying computer games, as well as the use of the Internet to circulate violence-glorifying materials.
Finally, the Society for Scientific Person-Centered Psychotherapy (Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Gesprächpsychotherapie e.V., GwG), has come out with a demand for a total ban on these computer games. A representative of the society explained that "killer games are like land mines for the soul." And the GwG demands that politicians act, "before an entire generation of children and teenagers is sucked into a maelstrom of violence." Unfortunately, this is already happening.
Already in 1972, that is 35 years ago (!), the American Surgeon General, as well as the American Psychiatric Association, explained that there was an indisputable connection between violence in the media and violence committed by children and youth. And in virtually every case in which young people shoot and kill their fellow students and teachers with great precision, it turns out that there is an addiction to violent videos and to Internet sites that glorify violence. It is unfortunately the case, that the better part of two generations of children and teenagers have been exposed to the circulation of this mind- and soul-killing "entertainment."
The commercial killer videos stem from the military training models used in the killing simulators of the U.S. Army, to overcome the natural reluctance of soldiers to kill. The same thing happens with a video game, which makes killing a conditioned reflex. The use of murder simulators for military training corresponds to the bestial concept of the mercenary army, modelled on the Roman Legions, which was put forward by Samuel Huntington in his book The Soldier and the State, whereby soldiers are to be trained to carry out orders like zombies, who never challenge what they are told to do. If such a conception is barbaric in the army, then for children and youth, who are emotionally much more vulnerable, it is an absolute catastrophe. The result is children and youth who are emotionally completely crippled, who can only express aggression, and for whom the uniquely human capacity for sensitivity, and the ability to feel compassion, are completely absent. In the worst cases, they become autistic, or even murderers.
The European Union Committee for "Human Rights in the Internet Society" is responsible for dealing with these issues, but has up until now failed to provide any effective guidelines for video games and Internet sites. If those who are in responsible positions fail to protect children and youth, they render themselves guilty of the violation of human rights. We demand an immediate ban on killer videos and an effective blockage of the aforementioned Internet sites!
