Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy (D) criticized video games for “destigmatizing” violence. He said this at the US Conference for Mayors over the weekend, and it was originally reported by Eddie Makuch for Gamespot on Jan. 21, 2013.
"If we spent as much time and energy on destigmatizing mental health treatment as we do in the proliferation of these video games that destigmatize violence, we as a society would make great gains," Malloy said.
Malloy recalled the Newtown School Massacre, which occurred a little over a month ago—where 26 people, including 20 small children, were murdered in their elementary school. He says that "the day that Newtown happened, there were games available that actually allowed people to go into a school in the game and shoot 'em up."
"Why do we do that?" Malloy added. "When we're willing to destigmatize violence and willing to bring it home to your living room or your den and put it on a 50-inch screen [and play games that award points for] when you hit someone with your semiautomatic and more points depending on how many times you hit someone with your semiautomatic, where is the social value in that? Is this the kind of thing we want to be involved in as a nation?"
President Obama, earlier this week, announced a 23-point plan, totaling nearly $500 million, that would help decrease the level of gun violence in America. The plan includes starting an investigation into the relationship between real-world violence and violence in the media, one of the first serious investigations into the matter.
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