Fox News reporter John Stossel stumped Franlkin Graham on his stance over violent video games.
Violent video games have been in the political cross-hairs for decades now, and the debate just won’t go away as most news reporters and Congressmen continue to use them as a scapegoat for real life violence. As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Fox News reporter John Stossel confronted Franklin Graham, the son of televangelist Billy Graham , about his stance on the issue.
Franklin Graham said it’s unconstitutional to ban violent video games, but we can still tax them.
John Stossel responds, “Now I noticed that the head of the National Rifle Association agrees with your point. He says the video games business is a corrupt industry.” He plays a clip of said person referring to violent video games as “filthy pornography.”
Fox News reporter John Stossel continues, “Filthy porn sowing violence. Come on, he’s right to defend gun rights, but there’s no good evidence that video games cause violence! I push back to both of you.”
Franklin Graham smiles again and responds:
“John, I appreciate that, listen. I had guns all my life, my father gave me my first gun when I was nine years old. Everyone I grew up with had guns, we didn’t go around shooting people. And today, these young kids want to dress like the [actors on] TV and what they see in these video games, and they arm themselves with rifles and guns, and they go out and commit these killings.” He starts nearly cursing as he goes about stating his point.
John Stossel counters, “You talk about all this stuff coming into our homes in the past 30-40 years and you’re right. There’s much more violence, much more horror. But crime is down! Youth offenses are down! Maybe it’s good for kids! We don’t know!”
Franklin Graham replies, “John, I was saying it’s not good for anybody to watch murder. These video games to me are murder simulators, is what they are. It’s very dangerous, John. Very dangerous.”
John Stossel counters again, “In Japan, they watch twice as many of these video games, and the murder rate is a fraction. … Ten firearm deaths in the United States, less than one in Japan, and so on. There’s just no evidence that playing the games causes people to run around and shoot people.”
Franklin Graham says, “John, I understand what you’re saying, and I agree with you that we do need evidence … and we need to have a national study of this. The President and Congress need to get behind and try to find a way to curb violence. It’s [an] epidemic in our country.”
John Stossel continues, “In the 1950s, the villain was the comic book. The Senate claimed comics were causing juvenile delinquency. And at one hearing, so-called forensic scientists said one comic promotes sadistic fantasies to kids. That comic was Superman .”
Franklin Graham responds, “I don’t know, maybe those comic books did have a negative impact. … We don’t know unless we have a study, do we? And our government is not focusing on that.”
John Stossel says, “I can’t imagine what more study we could have other than the fact that the games are more popular and crime is down.”
Franklin Graham did not look happy about how the interview ended at all, and all of his backpedaling and redirecting the issue didn’t help.
What do you think of Fox News reporter John Stossel’s interview with Franklin Graham? Is there a solid connection between violent video games and real life violence, or are the people in charge just using a coincidence to pin the blame?
