For today's editorial roundup we find Brian Slupski (left) of the Northwest Herald (Illinois) wondering why video games have become a cultural whipping boy.

Slupski writes:

"It has become fairly routine in this country to decry the state of this nation's youth... I thought about this again in the wake of recent congressional hearings... on video-game violence."

"In case you missed it, video games have surpassed rap music as the leading bogeyman out to suck the innocence out of America's youth. The theory goes that kids will play violent video games and become violent..."

"Surely, if violent video games are a dangerous influence... there should be some indications of that. Juvenile violent crimes, particularly homicide, should be getting worse..."

"From 1994 to 2003, violent crimes by juveniles dropped 32 percent... Murder committed by juveniles declined by 68 percent... the number of juvenile arrests in 2003 was the lowest since 1987. Even more good news, the number of juveniles murdered in 2003 was at its lowest since 1984. Hmm."

"Maybe juveniles are too busy playing video games to go outside and kill each other... the current generation of youth deserves praise. Instead, we hear about how today's youth are so easily manipulated that if they play a game, they somehow will be transformed into drooling sociopaths."

"We often tend to think that the times we live in are uniquely bad, while nostalgically thinking that yesteryear was uniquely good. Neither is true. As for today's youth... I applaud them. They seem like pretty good kids."

GP: We note that our pal Duke Ferris at Game Revolution offered a much more detailed version of the same argument in this well-regarded piece from July, 2005.

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