Quote of the day
6 Responses to “Quote of the day”
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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September 7th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Regarding the link:
Grossman is an expert in a very narrow field- psychology (especially as it relates to military conditions) and maybe (if you’re feeling generous) military history. As far as I know, he has never actually participated in combat.
Now, there are plenty of experts on firearms and military matters that haven’t participated in combat. Unfortunately, because of his fame, Grossman has drifted into a lot of areas that are very far outside of his area of expertise (such as violence in video games) and the quality of his publications has fallen as a result.
A lot of Grossman’s work, even the good stuff, is based almost entirely off anecdotes and rhetoric- it isn’t like Lott’s stuff that uses regression analysis to determine cause and effect.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:19 am
You’re right about Grossman not actually experiencing combat, Jim. I’m not convinced about his conclusions about video games yet, but his conclusions are based on medical evidence (see his killology.com site).
To my understanding, even the anecdotal stuff is based on a large number of interviews (not sure exactly what number). He also provides references to work from others like Bruce Siddle that do use hard data or have been in actual combat.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:04 am
I read his On Killing book and some parts of it seemed very well researched and a lot of his early conclusions made a lot of sense.
What didn’t make sense was the notion that games like counterstrike or grand theft auto were teaching kids to kill in the same way that boot camp teaches recruits to kill. Practicing swinging a mouse around and clicking to shoot a virtual person in the head is very different from swinging a gun around and shooting a real person in the head. Besides the obvious difference in motor skills, the actual experience of firing a weapon is worlds different from firing one in a game, even one that takes pains to be realistic. And this doesn’t even touch on the difficulties introduced by having to aim that weapon after running 100 meters and faceplanting into a sandbag while people are shooting at you. Video games are played in a soft chair in an air conditioned room with adjustable speaker volume.
To put it another way, does playing sega bass fishing make you a skilled bass fisherman? No, it makes you a skilled player of sega bass fishing. While some racers have found that playing racing simulations on realistic tracks does help them learn the line, the only way you can learn racing in the first place is through seat time to build up the right habits and the right motor skills- otherwise you just become a skilled player of racing games, which is an entirely different beast.
While killing virtual soldiers every day might make children less morally repulsed by the notion of warfare, I think that Grossman overestimates the transferability of habits and skills between entertainment focused combat simulators and actual weapon handling skills. I’m also not sure this is a bad idea. So long as children grow up to become law abiding adults who aren’t complete assholes, having them skilled with weapons and willing to fight can’t possibly be a bad thing. It will give bad guys more to worry about.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Dave has never been in battle, & he states such in his introductions.
Nor does he make a blanket statement that all those who play video games do anything wrong.
He has stated that all of the school shooters did play video games & some as much as 10-12 or more hours a day.
I have seen several young men that never fired a firearm, but played a lot of shooting video games, blow the center out a target over & over.
Next time Dave is in your area, try to attend his seminar, it is always changing, with current information, I try to get to one at least once a year
September 8th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Good points Jim.
September 8th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I don’t trust Grossman’s opinions regarding 18th and 19th Century battlefields.