Trump's Meeting with ESA is an Inconclusive Distraction

As we reported just the other day, the president met with leaders in the games industry to discuss the issue of violence on video games and how it may have contributed to the rise in violence in today's youth. While the session was held behind closed doors away from the eyes of the press, the White House did release a quick YouTube video that showed a compilation of extreme violence in games to perhaps bolster their stance that video games have a corrosive effect on young minds.

Here's the video, and I'll admit, it's a little uncomfortable to watch.



The video was released on the White Houses official channel, and the reaction is unsurprisingly negative, sitting at 916 thumbs up and 26K thumbs down, though this is not because people are disapproving of the violence. From my favorite comment:

It's about time someone pointed out that video games cause violence, now I can tell my son to go outside and play with his semi-automatic rifle like a normal child.

Regardless, the White House followed up the video with a statement following the meeting:

During today's meeting, the group spoke with the President about the effect that violent video games have on our youth, especially young males. The President acknowledged some studies have indicated there is a correlation between video game violence and real violence. The conversation centered on whether violent video games, including games that graphically simulate killing, desensitize our community to violence.

Such studies, of course, don't exist. The closest we've gotten is proving that video games can temporarily make people more aggressive (surprise surprise), but that could manifest either as rage or as confidence.

The ESA followed the White House's lead and also commented on the meeting:

We welcomed the opportunity today to meet with the President and other elected officials at the White House. We discussed the numerous scientific studies establishing that there is no connection between video games and violence, First Amendment protection of video games, and how our industry's rating system effectively helps parents make informed entertainment choices. We appreciate the President's receptive and comprehensive approach to this discussion.

While this has been all well and fun, I very much doubt the objective was actually blame video games. More likely, its an effort to take eyes away from the NRA and derail the national conversation. The frustrating thing, though, is that it's probably going to work. After all, when was the last time you saw those Florida survivors on the news?

Something is wrong with this country.