Now a days the good guy always seems to be the bad guy, in movies, video games and even music. The ones who play crooks always seem to be the one everyone likes. In video games such as the grand theft auto series, you are the crook. The people who these violent games and movies seem to affect the most are kids, who are exposed to this everyday of their lives. But what I am going focus on the most is the GTA series.

STOP!!! OR I”LL SHOOT!!!

EAT MY DUST PIG!!!

Violence and crimes are promoted in this series. Based on the content alone it isn’thard to see why I am saying so. This game possesses missions that involve carjacking, prostitution, disregard for human life and multiple versions of theft thatare to be fulfilled in order to continue on missions.

First thing that I bet you thought once you looked at these pictures is “that looks pretty cool.” These games are designed to make criminals look like hero’s/ idols. In the picture above you are pursued by police, you are supposed to do what ever it takes to get away, the best thing to do in this situation- according to the game- is to kill the officer because your respect level goes up, and therefore becomes easier to run the streets.

At first glance you may think that even though the sales are going up crime seem to drop. But this graph is bias because it is only talking about car theftfigures in the USA. This doesn’t include robberies, prostitution, murder or even drug use among youth, it would look a lot different if it did include all of this among not only theUSA but also in Canada. It doesn’t even include small details such as the increase in security technology.

Impressionable youth in today’s society are being exposed to violent crimes everyday they look at their televisions or computers. Even though games and movies give descriptions about what age the content of the media is suitable for, children are still getting a hold of them. I’m not saying get rid of all these games or get rid of violent movies, I like action packed movies and games, what I’m trying to promote is awareness among people who expose young ones to his type of hype. Before you go out and buy a child a game, check if it is inappropriate or not.

CREDITS

timesonline.typepad.com/.../grand-theft-aut.html (bar graph)

www.emsc.nysed.gov/.../2004/report.htm (pie chart)

www.google.com (images)