Let's hypothetically take two sets of kids, raise the identically, and show one set snuff movies every day and the other sesame street. I am so bold to say that just perhaps the latter might grow up better adjusted. David Spitz -Obviously not all media effects research falls prey to all the pitfalls Gauntlett mentions. I think this guys critique could use some critique himself. While this is not causing a person to go out and murder someone, it is generating fear in people, and that is a strong effect.
Current discussions seem too reductive and simplistic.
Joanne Cantor -OK, so the effects model seems pretty flawed. I mean, our country is pretty reactionary as it is. The URL itself seems to imply that it has been at least in part sponsored by Nintendo, though the front page claims no association. Sherry Turkle writes of how her children are not impressed by the real lions in the zoo because the lions they have already seen on the Discovery Channel were so much more lively. It feels as if video game violence in things like Super Mario Bros. is equatable to, say, Road Runner cartoons.