*Please see my references at the bottom of this page, as I do not in any way want to be accused of plagurism. I want to make sure credit is given where credit is due, and may I highly recommend killology.com/publications.htm.

Ya know, coming into this research of video game violence I highly expected to be overwhelmed with, "Video games will cause your children to WANT to be violent and act in violent ways." And while that may be true in some children, it isn't necessarily the most disturbing part for me.

In my readings of publications by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, I was made all the more aware of what it really does to subject children (at any age!) to serious violence. Lt. Col. Grossman is an expert on "training medical, law enforcement, and U.S. Military personnel about the realities of warfare," and was referred to me by a family member in law enforcement. He was the lead trainer for counselors/clergy/teachers in the Jonesboro, Arkansas school shootings and has done in depth research regarding the action of killing/violence in addition to spending almost a quarter of a century as an army infantry officer and psychologist, learning and studying how to enable people to kill. Hence why he coined the term "Killology." Much of what I will reference will come from him, as I couldn't have said it better myself!

1. Killing doesn't come naturally; you have to be taught to kill. And just as the army is conditioning people to kill, we are indiscriminately doing the same thing to our children. Lt. Col. Grossman's claim is also backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Juvenile Violence. "In more modern times, the average firing rate was incredibly low in Civil War battles...the killing potential of the average Civil War regiment was anywhere from 500-1,000 per minute. The actual killing rate was only one or two men per regiment...At the battle of Gettysburg, of the 27,000 muskets picked up from the daed and dying after the battle, 90% were loaded. This is an anomaly, because it took 95% of their time to load muskets and only 5% to fire...In reality, the average man would load his musket and bring it to his shoulder, but he could not bring himself to kill." He also talks about muskets being found with multiple loads in a barrel, even one with 23! Which you might find odd because muskets are single round guns. But when the time came to fire they couldn't bring themselves to fire so they just lowered their weapon and loaded it again. In WWII, US Army Brig. Gen. S.L.A. Marshall and a team did a study of what soldiers did when in battle.They asked individual soldiers what they did, and only 15-20% of the individual riflemen could bring themselves to fire at an exposed enemy soldier. The military saw this as a "problem", and by the Korean War about 55% of soldiers were willing to kill, and by Vietnam over 90%.

Children learn to kill from abuse and violence in the home, and most pervasively, from violence as entertainment in television, the movies, and interactive video games.

2. When one plays a "kill game" or a shooting type of game, what is the main super watered down objective? Kill. You get points for the number of kills, extra points for head shots, and the more depraved the more points you get. There is no option to NOT shoot, otherwise you'd die and the game would end. But what is such a game doing? It is REWARDING you for KILLING. So you learn to like it. Classical Conditioning. The Japanese did this with their Chinese prisoners in WWII. "Chinese prisoners were placed in a ditch on their knees with their hands bound behind them. And one by one, a select few Japanese soldiers would go into the ditch and bayonet 'their' prisoner to death...Up on the bank, countless other young solders would cheer them on in their violence." And this is how the Japanese got their soldiers to associate committing violent acts with pleasure. This is what we're doing with our children, they sit and watch vivid pictures of people being shot and killed. Meanwhile they're eating candy, drinking soda, hanging out with Dad/Mom (if they play). They're learning to associate it with those "pleasure" items like sugar, leisure time, and particularly that deep relationship that is with a parent. Do you really want your child associating special quality time with violence?

3. Now that they've learned to enjoy and associate violence/killing with otherwise normally good things, they derive pleasure from violence. Lt. Col. Grossman has coined a condition called "AVIDS" or Acquired Violence Immune Deficiency Syndrome. "It destroys your violence immune system and conditions you to derive pleasure from violence. And once you are at close range with another human being, and it's time for you to pull that trigger, AVIDS can destroy your midbrain resistance." So it's not like ALL kids/adults who play violent video games go out and intentionally PLAN to be school shooters or murderers, etc. But that when the opportunity arrises, they can't resist! They don't hesitate because they have been CONDITIONED to pull the trigger. It only takes one kid. Your kid may not be the shooter, but what about OTHER kids who have been conditioned and presented with the opportunity? That bully pushes them too far, or that girl breaks their heart, or that teacher who makes them feel inadequate. It's kind of like an alcholoic. Their judgment is impaired, because they've been conditioned to associate good feelings with alcohol and so it is often harder to resist a drink when offered.The same is true with violence, it is often hard to resist involving one self with it because they've been taught to enjoy it!

End of Part 2