An Editorial Response to John Michel's Attack

by Thomas Lipschultz 

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

John Michel seems to have forgotten about this quote when he said the following:

"I don't pretend to know how many parents will read this, but just for a moment, suppose that you have a ten year old child. How many of you out there would purchase a gun for that child and teach him how to shoot and kill his classmates at school?"

In this hypothetical situation, it's not the GUN that's killing the child's classmates, but the parent, for the parent is the one who told the child to kill his classmates. But if the parent instead tells the child what the gun can do, and details the pain and horror it can cause, the child will become frightened of the gun and vow never to use it.

This is what video games with mature content do. They hand the child a gun, but tell him never to use it. Final Fantasy VII shows corruption in the Shinra (the government), as well as corruption in the world at large (the Honey Bee scene, Don Corneo, etc.). Many people swear, and they have every right to: their situations are significantly less than desirable.

In the end, it's the corruption of the world's people that causes Meteor, and the purity of heart of one group of rebels that stops it. Still, Meteor kills a lot of people, and causes a lot of heartbreak.

What does this tell young children? To avoid corruption. To always be good and pure. If you have a 10-year-old child, don't try to hide the sex and violence of the world from him. Instead, teach him about it: let him grow up with it so that he's used to it and realizes that it's wrong. Let him play Final Fantasy VII, then clue him in on the messages carried with it. Tell him that the world of FF7 represents what the world will be like if we continue to abuse our planet and each other as we do. Maybe, if he grows up with the knowledge of where corruption can lead, he'll be less inclined to emulate it.

Remember: Sex, violence, and bad language exist in the world. If your child grows up in a world where he's managed to avoid these things entirely, then he will be all the more likely to experiment with them when he finally does learn of them. Let your child grow up knowing that these things exist in the world, and he won't be as interested in them.

Good example: Africa has been well-known since before my birth. However, if that were not true, and Africa were discovered next year, I might want to visit it, 'cause hey, it's a new discovery. But since I've known about it all my life, it just doesn't interest me.

The same is true of promiscuous sex and violence. My parents taught me at an early age the rights and wrongs of the world, and I've done my best to keep away from them. However, I feel it necessary to acknowledge their existence. Don't you?

Just remember that avoiding the problems of the world doesn't make them go away, it just makes them boil. Then one day... they explode.

Wouldn't it be better to just turn down the heat and let them simmer away?