gaming Joe Biden wants to tax violent video games.

[Quill The Pony. 175]

As you can tell by the title, Biden wants to impose a tax on violent video games. In case you don't know, which I'm guessing is like 5 of you at this point, I disagree with the statement that violent games cause people to commit violent acts. The general reason I consider that to be bullshit is due to the fact that games are now fucking everywhere. If there truly was ANY sort of correlation between the 2, we'd be seeing much more violence. Also, I've found NO evidence supporting that claim.

Anyways, what are your thought on this? Please explain as to why you feel this way too.

[Nohbdy 4,108]

For anyone curious, here's a source from Forbes. 

 

Anyway, I don't support this, and not just because I don't want prices to get any higher. I also dislike how people claim video games cause violence. If somebody can be influenced to such an extent that they become violent, then they clearly have more serious problems. Video games are not the cause. We shouldn't have to be punished for something that doesn't apply to us. 

[MiStErUnMeRry 328]

Old man desperate for political attention bringing up old, outdated and endlessly discussed and recycled political tropes/myths. Great. Like we haven't got enough people trying to play the attention whore these days.

[Fox 5,331]

I only think violence is promoted from a person who can't control themselves. People labeling gamers typically because some person decided to kill a few dozen people is a lame excuse to generalize all us gamers as psychopaths. 

 

Screw the tax, screw Biden, and screw the people who believe that all violent acts are all lead by violent videogames.

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

This is an example of a politician being a try-hard. The only tax on video games thats legal is Sales Tax. Video Games are a form of entertainment media. Media cannot be censored...taxing and making Video games the are violent harder to buy is a form of censorship... therefore this won't work.

[Veylon 255]

Here's the key context in the article:

Graham, two people in the meeting said, told Biden the government should consider taxing media companies that broadcast violent images and produce violent video games.

“He floated the idea that media and entertainment that portray violence should be subject to a special tax, with the proceeds going to help victims and their families," said Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly.

Biden told Graham that there was “no restriction on the ability to do that, there’s no legal reason why they couldn’t” tax violent images, Clark added.

Shouldn't the title of this thread be "Franklin Graham wants to tax violent video games"? Biden may not be against the idea (though he should be), but he isn't the originator.

[ParsoOfEquestria 1,490]

funny, I was watching the news the other day, some guy committed a couple murders in plain sight before offing himself. the police checked his house, they found an xbox, the media blames video games yet again, but the funny thing is, they showed all the games he played on the shelves heres what they were:

Forza Motorsport

Forza Motorsport 2

Forza Motorsport 3

Forza Motorsport: Horizon

Kinect Fitness

 

the main focus is the Forza games, HOW THE HELL can someone become crazy and kill people because of racing games? the media and government are a bunch of friggin' idiots

Edited May 16, 2013 by ParsoOfEquestria

[Lisa 5,553]

Same shit, different day.

 

I personally do not give one single fuck about this. I cannot even comprehend the amount of times I've heard the unsupported statement, "Games cause violence." There is currently no evidence to support that statement. So, basically he wants to tax violent video games for a lie... 

 

To me, this just seems like another idiotic and useless tax for the government to receive income. 

 

As I said above, he wants to tax violent video games, for a lie. Seems pretty corrupt to me. As always, the governments around the world will do anything in their power to receive money, it's almost just an ordinary event that we have to forget about and let it pass.

___________________________

 

This is just a stupid tax to gain money. That is all.

Edited May 16, 2013 by Lui

[Jammo 986]

As long as they don't cancel Call of Cutie: Modern Mare Affair. (A shooter where Lyra and Bon-Bon have a one on one showdown with automatic weapons) I'm good.

 

Naw just kidding. You know I'm sure 300 years ago there was some nut shooting innocent people with crossbow for no other reason than "Oh it is such a beautiful night, good time as any to murder people I guess". There's some really sick sociopaths out there. I happen to be one of them but at least Dr. Friendly's magic balance pills keep me even enough to know what does and doesn't cause violent behaviour.

[Fluttershyfan94 5,744]

Taxes and more taxes, guys this is serious.. If the government says something, it must be true you guys..

 

Nah just kidding, this is the same old boring, pointless discussion that never leads to anything. In Norway they took actions, because the idiot told the media that he trained on cod mw2, obviously just to do more damage.

Even though this does not effect my country I dislike nothing more then taxes, especially stupid taxes, like taxes on fuel, video games and even energy drinks. Those taxes don't do anything for the people, oh no, they just take away all our money and throw it in a box for safe keeping. Then suddenly that money in the box is probably in their pockets, then they grin as they say "moar taxes". While people starve because they can no longer afford to live because of taxes. You can obviously see that I dislike taxes.

 

They have no evidence, all they have is a greedy government that doesn't trust the people in their own country and loves nothing more then taxes. What has happened to the world, I just want go back to the 1950s and take the Dhx and the cast with me. Where we could live happily ever after. >.< I don't like taxes!

[____ 156]

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Edited August 10, 2020 by ____

[Fluttershyfan94 5,744]

@, Sure, sure taxes may have some cause. But it's still stupid putting taxes on products like fuel, games like common do we really need that, we will just download it if it's too expensive, products like food, products like building material, car parts, cars and whole lot of other. The problem with living in the nordic countries is that the taxes are as high as they can get. Sure the other scandinavian nations have their fancy high living standards and all that stuff. Well not here, the taxes are so bucking high and it's not even doing anything.

 

It all began when the financial crisis hit, a left winged government got elected, not like the right wing was doing any better, but they sure made it worse.. I can tell you and probably everyone else would tell you the same.. Biggest mistake my country has made, they put taxes everywhere they made cuts where not needed and all for that Icesave stuff, which we did not legally have to pay. Noone in my country was going to pay that stuff, but the government had no balls. Except our president, I salute him. He is the best president we have ever had and he has saved us so many times from that evil government. They were going to pay it for no good reason, but we did not give up.. Just like you should not give up due to this tax on violent video games. We fought that stupid government and finally it went to court and we won. There was never any doubt and we saved our asses from a high debt we could not have payed back. We should not trust our government it's naive to do so. They don't think about what's good for the people they just think about themselfs. You know what happened in the last election, huh the government lost so much following that they actually hit a new record. Congratulations, now they must have seen how bad they did. Hopefully the next government will do better or I will personally take them out of the parliament and throw them on to the streets. We are the people, the government is suppose to serve us. If it does not do that, people should not just let it go by. We need to fight for our rights people, you should not obey everything your government tells you, question everything they do. Because know that they are not doing it for you, if that happens we the people have the right to make our voices heard.

 

So question everything, never follow your government blindly.

 

Always be ready to fight for your rights.

 

If you think the government is doing something wrong, then don't just wait for them to finally figure it out. Tell them, because they are too caught up with greed to even figure it out themselfs.

 

Remember the goverment works for you, you are their boss, they are your employee.

 

Sorry for such a long text.

Edited May 16, 2013 by Fluttershyfan94

[____ 156]

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Edited August 10, 2020 by ____

[Fluttershyfan94 5,744]

@, Well my country is now getting back on it's feet, with a new government and stuff. Hopefully they will do better, well they have to.

 

On brighter notes, I like kangaroos.. Humm maybe one day.

 

Still just in case that the other was off topic, which I think it's not. What I basically mean, is to not let them put taxes on violent video games. You know, not just let them do it.. Because if you see that they are doing something wrong, the best would probably be pointing it out. Although this only effects americans, I'm sure that it would spread because if USA starts doing it, everyone will follow. Since that's just how it is sometimes. That is why it effects everyone.

[____ 156]

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Edited August 10, 2020 by ____

[Mudkip 100]

I believe people are violent because they were born to be sociopaths. I'm sick of people treating it as a disease that you can "catch" from exposure to violent media. When the massacre happened in Connecticut, they instantly tried to blame Blizzard because the gunmen played SCII occasionally. They din't look to see if he had any mental illness.  

[MeanBlackHawk 147]

I think it's safe to say that so far we all agree with this claim being bucking stupid. 

 

Unless there was someone's post I missed...

 

I'd hate to be the guy who disagrees with everyone else here.

[Betez 1,734]

I don't like this, mostly because like others of you have already said, I don't believe that violent video games lead to violent actions. (Unless maybe you're insane).

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,018]

I played me some Sleeping Dogs finally last night. I now have two objectives....

 

To kill everyone and learn to speak Cantonese. Gee, aren't video games just pure inspiration for everything?!

 

(Disclaimer: The above text is not true. So please US government, do not break into my home)

 

I think just the fact that there were 7 (I think) SAW films with little controversy destroys this useless and petty complaint about 'video game violence'. The SAW films depict horrid acts of torture and murder with almost no clear point (After Saw 2 especially). Why aren't these targeted with such ignorance? I am not saying that they should, but if they want to be ignorant, than why can't they at least not be hypocrites as well. America has a knack for doing that. Tobacco is legal yet marijuana is illegal. It advertises freedom of religion yet the fundies are constantly allowed to ram things down our throats. Yay A-meh-rica.

 

I want to say that this will not get passed in any way, but given the fact that CISPA passed even with it's opposition, I am not putting anything past the government.

Edited May 16, 2013 by Kyoshi

[Prince Midnight 817]

here, im going to let my favorite two people explain this for me, i like my violence, and have not found anything wrong with it (long as it stays in the games and the movies), i mean hell, that kid did not like the AR-15 even though he plays plenty of violent video games.

 

(NSFW)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaF9nbLo8as

Edited May 16, 2013 by Midnight Moon

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

Video games cop way to much heat on the topic of encouraging violence in my opinion. Why does no one complain (they do, just not as much) about the violence in movies or books even, movies in particular impose a far more realistic representation of violence, quite  often in more life-like scenarios as well. Last time i checked there was never any scientific proof to support the argument against video games anyway, until there is it shouldn't even be brought up. 

[Veylon 255]

Video games cop way to much heat on the topic of encouraging violence in my opinion. Why does no one complain (they do, just not as much) about the violence in movies or books even, movies in particular impose a far more realistic representation of violence, quite  often in more life-like scenarios as well. Last time i checked there was never any scientific proof to support the argument against video games anyway, until there is it shouldn't even be brought up. 

They used to complain, back when I was a kid. The "violent media is corrupting our youth", they'd say, and eye everything we saw or read with suspicion and dread. But then, guess what, my generation grew up. We (and some of our parents) liked the violent movies. We weren't scared and laughed off the scaremongers. Ten or fifteen years down the road, the handwringing over games will sound as quaint and peculiar as that over Elvis's hip gyrations, the Beatles popularity, and 80's hair metal. The news media just hasn't latched on to the next new scare yet.

[Freewave 1,145]

Meh, i can see why he might want to lower the amount of violent games thru a tax. There's not a great societal benefit and yep there are a few people (a very small minority) that will take that bloodlust with them into the real world. That said it's a poinless and futile endevor. If anything it's just going to make the gun nuts and younger demographic united that its stupid and its only going to raise prices. If he needs to tax violence and stupidity then i think we should simply tax all Michael Bay movies instead. That clearly would be a far better societal impact.  

[Champion RD92 8,658]

Why the fuck would you put a tax on violent video games? It's not like that's gonna stop the games from having violent content. Plus is that even legal to do that??? And most importantly, what is the fucking point????

[Gay Bird 421]

I'm starting to get annoyed.

 

The american government has been doing things that would directly influence other countries negatively. Many game studios are based outside of america, and taxing these games would make the games less affordable, less people will buy them, and studios will have trouble paying bills. Other things like SOPA (although a bit more destructive) are similar. I have no idea how long this has been going on, but we shouldn't have authority over everyone else. This tax just won't work.

 

Also, if they're doing this in an attempt to get us out of debt, they're absolutely wrong. The only way to pay off our debt is to Actualy PAY IT OFF. which means we shouldn't be spending dollars on things that we don't have to spend on until we have this debt paid off.

 

Finally, the average person doesn't know what video games really are today. They think of it as just mindless shooting of people. Although some games are like this, most are based on a story and character development, where you have to overcome challenges. Some games even have moral value hidden in them. We need to get people to understand what today's games are all about.

 

One  more point, if you tax violent video games, why not films? art? books? even music?

 

I just read the title of the article, and what I got was "Let's tax videogames. Why? Cause we can" when they actually can't for any company based outside of the US.

 

People say we should blame violent people on violent video games, but we should really be blaming violent video games on violent people. You think those knights who fought in the crusades for Jerusalem ever played skyrim?

Edited May 16, 2013 by dudeguy676