M.I.A. on Games
I used to care what M.I.A. thought. Her music had this edge to it, this sense that she was actually aware of things. Then somewhere she started sounding like every other celebrity with a half-formed opinion about what’s wrong with kids today.
Her thing now is that video games are making children violent. She’s got this quote where she’s talking about American kids watching violence on screens and then getting deployed to Afghanistan, and because they’ve only experienced it through pixels they don’t understand what real violence feels like, which makes it easier for them to inflict it. There’s a kernel of truth in there—desensitization is real—but she uses it to blame the games, as if the problem would go away if we just deleted them all.
But the Middle East is lousy with violent young men who’ve never played a video game in their lives. Never owned a console. Never saw any of it. Their violence didn’t come from a screen. It came from actual conditions, actual desperation. So how does that fit her theory?
What bothers me is that this is just the same argument recycled for the millionth time. Psychologists with zero evidence. Politicians desperate for something to blame. Now celebrities piling in because it’s safe and easy. Just point at the screens, nod seriously, and act like you’ve discovered something. Don’t look too hard at the real causes. Don’t think about anything difficult.
She delivers it like she’s had a genuine insight. But she’s not paying attention. She’s just speaking.