Video Game Violence: The Scapegoat

In a country so based on Christian beliefs and ideals, it seems these days that most people are forgetting the definition for “Scapegoat”. As defined by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a “Scapegoat” is:

a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur

Basically the goat has all the sins of the populace placed on him, and then is sent out to die. Traditionally with rocks, sticks, and curses thrown at him to drive him on. Such things have been common in all societies, such as dragging a lonely old woman out and burning her at the stake for a witch when some of the town’s populace came down with sickness or sinful acts, whether she had any blame or not.

It does my heart proud to see these age old traditions brought forth again today with Video Games. Games in general have been blamed for years, whether it was claiming that Dungeons and Dragons (a game in which you commonly destroy evil, fight demons, and protect the innocent) was at blame for Satanic rituals and domestic abuse, or claiming that all Renaissance Fair enthusiasts are degenerate drunken rapists. History shows that Americans don’t seem to have much of a love of the imagination, even if that was what our country was founded on.

While some of these claims, sadly, can prove true, it is completely besides the point. Video Games are being blamed for the bad actions of bad people. While inspiration may come from violent video games, it’s true, can it not also come from television, books, or possibly even the newspaper itself? Violent acts are not uncommon in history, and sadly neither is attempting to pass the blame.