Not every bad influence should be banned

[cthulu2016]

Do video games and action films contribute to teenage emotionally dissociative violence?

There are two ways to read that question.


One way to read it is for what it says.

Another way to read it is, "Should video games and movies be censored or otherwise regulated?"


Those two questions have only one thing in common. They are both incredibly easy to answer.


Of course the widespread cultural ideation of mass violence affects how some people think.

Of course. No way around it.


Should the government regulate media?

Of course not.



As a staunch civil libertarian who is not a self-appointed propagandist I have never felt obliged to say that art is harmless.

[Skinner]

1. "I have never felt obliged to say that art is harmless."

Indeed. I think what makes art so compelling and important is the fact that it can be disruptive and dangerous. If art had no effect, then what's the point?