Now, for me, the wanton violence isn’t much different than the genocide in Dr. Mario. However, I suspect that GTA’s problem is that it makes the whole process transparent. “I’m only shooting badguys” is the same kind of figleaf of justification that, say, Pirates of the Caribbean the Ride had with its “moral lesson” which purges the conscience that revelled in what was a loathesome criminal act.

Yet that same figleaf is employed by our whole society in the broad sense anyways. We generally do think its alright so long as you only shoot the designated bad guys.

Thanks for your always thoughtful comments.

I would suspect that it’s part of a broader phenomenon of violence as entertainment that can only be enjoyed by a society that does not experience that exact sort of violence first hand. Military shooters aren’t a lot of fun when you’ve actually been through a war (though, man, do they ever want to use it to recruit… I did a double take when I saw the OFFICIAL US Army shooter in the arcade… NOW I’m convinced of the link between video games and violence). “Faces of Death” videos aren’t very entertaining when you have had loved ones die in horrible ways.

Even then, American society seems to have a weird thing where everyone is so confident in the Dream that even if they actually do live in squallor and violence, they are entertained by fictionalized versions of it. They can even be mobilized by how glamourous is can be made to look.

I always find it interesting to contrast these things against the experience of my dad, who was a German civilian in WWII. Needless to say, he doesn’t have a lot of use for any glamourization of violence that doesn’t involve John Wayne. Waitasecond…