Calm has finally returned to the streets of France after about six nights of violence following the fatal shooting of a teenager by the police in late June. At the peak of the protest, President Emmanuel Macron blamed social media and video games for fueling the unrest.
“It sometimes feels like some of them are experiencing on the streets the video games that have intoxicated them,” said President Macron in a press conference on July 1, 2023.
The 17-year-old victim of Algerian descent identified as Nahel M. tried to drive away from a traffic stop when one of the officers fired into the car. Nahel’s mother alleged that Nahel was a victim of racial prejudice.
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Residents of Nanterre took to the streets in protest which eventually resulted in violent clashes with police. The officer who fired the shot is being investigated for voluntary homicide. In his speech, Macron also said that the demonstrators were mostly young people and called on parents to keep them at home.
Claims that video games encourage violence in real-life is not new. The debate goes back to the 1970s—although there has been no scientific proof to support the claim. Thus, it appears, government officials are quick to use video games as scapegoats to hide their cluelessness.
President Emmanuel Macron is not the first high-ranking government official to pin violence on video games. In 2022, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz said video games were responsible for mass shootings in the United States.
In 2019, former President Donald Trump said, “We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace,” after two mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas.
President Emmanuel Macron’s statement came as a surprise
Many people were shocked to their bones by Macron’s statement because the French President had previously been a promoter of video games and esports in his country. In 2022, he said France was “The country for video games” and said the gaming industry was an important part of France’s cultural export.
Notwithstanding the negative view of the French President, there are no indications that he would push for reforms that will target the gaming industry. However, he expressed stronger views about social media and outlined some of the changes he would like to see in the social media space.
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The school of thought that games promote violence goes back to the release of Death Race in 1976. The arcade game allows players to run over humanoid figures using a car—for points. The argument has become stronger as video game graphics become more realistic.
In April, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticized video games. “I doubt there is a kid of 8, 9, 10, 12 years old, who is not used to spending a great deal of time playing this rubbish… [that’s] teaching kids to kill,” the President said at a conference.
Why do politicians believe video game breeds violence?
Growing up, I remember when my father wanted us to stop playing video games because he thought that my siblings and I spent too much productive time on them. When all his pleas failed, he came up with the theory that video games were harmful to televisions. That excuse was reasonable enough for him to finally enforce a form of embargo on playing games in the house.
I can imagine it is a similar scenario playing out here. It appears politicians don’t know the best way to say that young people are idling away and would rather pin it on video games. Perhaps, what President Macron wanted to say was that young people would not have had time to be on the street if they were meaningfully engaged.
Stetson University professor, Christopher Ferguson, who has studied the impact of video games on the public for a long time also expressed dismay at President Macron’s words.
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“The evidence is very clear. Whatever may be going on in France, whatever violence is occurring, it certainly is not due to violence in video games,” Ferguson said. “[Decades of research has consistently shown] that playing violent video games, do not cause even prank-level aggressive behaviors, let alone violent crimes.”
Ferguson also pointed out that the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan are the highest consumers of video games per capita but have remained the most peaceful countries on the planet. He argued that if there was a correlation between violent games and crimes that these countries would be a bloodbath.
So, what causes violent behaviors?
Ferguson fingered mental health disorders, poverty, and an environment filled with abuse and neglect as the key factors that tend to breed violent behaviors. These are the issues that Ferguson wants politicians to deal with rather than shifting blame.
“It gets people talking about the wrong thing,” said Ferguson. “They’re thinking about video games. They’re not thinking about gun control or whatever inequalities are happening in France.”
Do you agree with Ferguson that video games are not the cause of violent behaviors in society? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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