1. Thesis
Morgan Luck argues that there is no distinct difference between virtual murder and virtual pedophilia. As a result of their reasoning either both are morally forbidden or both are morally just.
2. Support for Thesis
Luck disputes five the most common arguments people use to justify virtual murder over virtual pedophilia. Claims people often use are those of social acceptability, significant likelihoods, alternative motives, group targeting, and how children are different from adults. On the case that virtual murder is socially acceptable and virtual pedophilia is not: Luck states that morality is not relative in this sense because at one point in time slavery was also morally just. Some people may argue that virtual murder does
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Another argument often used is that people often play games, some of which may include virtual murder, to fill their competitive needs, in contrast, there is nothing competitive about virtual pedophilia. Luck invalidates this by stating that enjoyment is often derived from competition which means that people enjoy virtual murder to some extent, thus, making it immoral as well. Others may use the argument that virtual pedophilia targets children where virtual murder does not target anyone. Luck quickly shuts this down by stating that this suggests that it would be morally admissible if games allowed players to molest people of all ages. Lastly, players may also use the argument that virtual murder does not directly mean virtual child murder. Luck disputes this by …show more content…
Due to this fact, children are not capable of surviving on their own. Since they are innocent and defenseless, they are constantly relying on those around them to make the best choices for them. Virtual pedophilia is wrong because there are clear ulterior motives to it. In today’s society it is a lot easier to molest someone, especially a child, and get away with it than it is to get away with murder. The only reason I can think of for a person coming up with a game that includes child molestation is that they actually wanted to act on those intentions. Maybe the child that this person kept creepily fantasizing about is never left alone, so the likelihood of this person getting caught are really high. This person then turns to virtual pedophilia because, in their mind, it is the second best thing to fulfill their need without actually acting on it and getting caught. Luck may argue with me and state that virtual pedophilia is the lesser of two evils because it is saving real children from harm. To this I’d say that that just because virtual pedophilia is the lesser of two evils does not justify the making or playing of this game. For example, woman never asked to be sexualized in every form of media there is today, but most people have been lead to believe that this is normal and okay. If virtual pedophilia were allowed to be morally just, then eventually it would
I happen to sympathize with the children, though, perhaps because they’re getting hooked on these games and some have aggressions problems because of them. Increased exposure to violent or “action packed” vide...
In the short article titled “Virtual Morality” by Andrew Tuplin, Tuplin compares both video games and movies that violate moral beliefs according to the social norm. He argues the fact that technology is and will continue to challenge moral beliefs as well as the norm for what we see as acceptable in the real world. I for one see this issue to be harmful and threatening to the way we interact with the world on a daily basis. These so called “fantasy worlds” are confusing young minds and allowing them to create their own image to what is both morally right and wrong in society. This essay will explain why I feel that children should not be allowed to participate in violent video games and movies because the violence they learn will eventually introduce itself in society in one way or another.
Our text describes pedophilia as a person who “gains sexual gratification by watching, touching, or engaging in sexual acts with prepubescent children, usually 13 years old or younger” (Comer, 2013, p. 411). The movie, The Woodsman describes the story of a convicted sex offender recently released from prison. Walter, depicted by Kevin Bacon shed some insight into the motivations and thought processes that a sex offender, specifically a pedophile might have.
“...an individual with [pedophilia] has the same ingrained attraction that a heterosexual female may feel towards a male, or a homosexual feels towards their same gender.” (Johnston, Pg. 1). Pedophilia - “the fantasy or act of sexual activity with children who are generally age 13 years or younger” (American Psychiatric Association, p.1) - a word that holds multiple negative connotations, is often seen as aberrant thought process or behavior, and is under debate as to whether or not it’s a sexual orientation. But can it be considered a sexual orientation? As a member of the LGBT community, this issue has surfaced among us and shocked the majority.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIV), defines pedophilia as a person having an intense and recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about prepubescent children and on which feelings they have either acted or which cause distress or interpersonal difficulty.
In her article “Parents Fear That Children Are One Click Ahead”, Amy Harmon(1999) claimed that the two boys who killed 13 students in the Columbine high school shooting played violent video games. She is hinting at the fact that people who play violent video games, mostly boys, it might teach them to be violent in real life. Amy starts off the article by talking about a parent that cracked down on her children's internet use due to the findings of the internet history of the two boys that were the shooters of a high school shooting. The parent sat her two children down and had a heart to heart with them and found out all she could know about what they have learned on the internet.
The publicity about online predators that prey on naive and inexperienced young children using trickery and violence is largely inaccurate. Internet sex crimes involving adults and juveniles more often fit a model of statutory rape which is adult offenders who meet, develop relationships with, and openly seduce underage teenagers than a model of forcible sexual assault or pedophilic child molesting (Wolak et. al., 2008). However, prepubescent children are even less vulnerable because their internet use is generally more supervised by the parents and guardian. In addition, they use the internet less for communication and are for developmental reasons, less interested in sex and relationships than adolescents.
In the news today there is an article about a high-school boy who brought guns to school and shot several students. The parents of the victims are suing various computer game companies saying that the violent games present shooting and killing people as pleasurable and fail to portray realistic consequences. A representative of one of the companies released a statement saying that this is another example of individuals seeking to elude responsibility that has become so common in our society. This case is not about software. What is on trial is the age-old debate between nature and nurture, which also lies at the center of Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.
Maker, J., Brittain, J., Piraino, G., & Somtow, S. Children Who Kill. World Press Review. June 1993 v40 n6 p21-23.
"There is a feeling that if you commit murder, you can get away with it." (Filkins 2) There are several thoughts about murder, mainly discussed is the question why? "Rather than rehabilitating juveniles who have gone astray, the system often seems to release hardened criminals." (Glazer 1) One consideration on headlines worldwide was discussed by Sarah Glazer is Children killing Children.
Although children are constantly being exposed to violence through movies, television, and video games which could influence the harm done, kids today are more sophisticated at a younger age; they understand the implications of violence and how to use violent weapons. In the article “Kids are Kids- Until They Commit Crimes”, Marjie Lundstrom explores the stories of two young boys, Lionel Tate and Thomas A. Preciado, who both commit violent crimes and try to play it off. Tate unsuccessfully tried to put pro wrestling on trial for “savagely beating a six-year-old girl..” and Preciado claimed he was mimicking a TV show of robbing a bank and was tried as an adult for stabbing the mini mart clerk to death. The real question is how do we know if these indications are true, if these children really were imitating or if those are all just excuses. It is absurd to argue that a modern child, who sees the effect of violence around him in the news every day, does not understand what it means to kill. The fact that child killers know how to load and shoot a gun is an indicator that they understand exactly what they are doing and should not be able to make excuses as such. With this it is proven that a child's surroundings do not fully influence their wrongful doings and the Supreme Court Justices shall retain their
video games often warp their sense of reality. The kids think that if they shoot a person in a game and nothing really happens then nothing will really happen if they shoot a person in real life. When video games first became popular, people may not have seen this as much of a problem because games were not very realistic. With the advancement of technology, however, video games are becoming more and more realistic. If video games become more realistic, children will forget what is real and what is simulated; a child seeing somebody violently murder another human being in a video game will have the same effects as seeing somebody murder another human being in real life. Witnessing these brutal acts of violence either will traumatize or desensitize them to violence. However, this is contradictory to the “Play is labile” theory (Schroeder 4), which will be discussed, in further detail.
When someone is young they are unaware of some of their decisions and are unaware of the things that will scar them for the rest of their lives. In the article by Margo Kaplan, she discusses what pedophilia actually is, the laws that are currently in place, and how a child’s wellbeing is at risk. This article is highly credible considering that the author is a well-known researcher in the field of criminal law with a concentration in sexual crimes. Pedophilia’s recursive nature is to perform harmful acts to children; while pedophiles can put a child in the physical harm they are also prone to psychological harm (Kaplan 43). Kids are the main victims of these heinous acts, but there is no precaution to those that cause the harm resulting in them hurting more children than necessary in the process. While the following article is not that credible seeing that there is no clear citing from where they acquired their research, they were able to assemble a valid point about pedophiles going against a kid’s desire (Duke 5). According to the author, Judith Levine, in the same article, parents have the proper say about whether a child is being molested or not. While this relates to the previous article by Kaplan, it does so in the nature that puts the
Kline, S. (1999). Moral panics and video games. In Research in Childhood, Sociology, Culture and History Conference, University of Southern Denmark, Odense.
Leung, R. (2009, February 11). Can a video game lead to murder?. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-702599.html