1

In “When Life Imitates Video,” John Leo takes the position that “video kill games” (para. 2) can actually lead to violent behavior. In fact, he suggests a cause-and-effect connection between such games and the notorious 1999 murder spree at Colorado’s Columbine High School, which occurred shortly before Leo wrote his essay.

2

Although Leo acknowledges in paragraph 3 that there is no “direct connection” between video games and this crime and agrees that parents bear the “primary responsibility” for keeping violent games out of the hands of their children, he insists that our culture is also responsible. He is very critical of our society’s dependence on violent video games, which he considers “training in make-believe killing” (para. 4). This argument is convincing, up to a point. The problem is that Leo’s primary support for this argument is a reference to an unnamed “widely cited survey” (para. 4), for which he provides no date. In addition, his use of a weak rhetorical question at the end of paragraph 4 instead of a strong statement of his position does little to help to support his argument.

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3

Leo cites an opposing argument at the beginning of paragraph 5—the “conventional argument” that video games are harmless because children can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. He refutes this argument with unsupported generalizations rather than with specifics, pointing out the possibility that the games will often be played by “unstable youngsters” who channel their “adolescent feelings of resentment, powerlessness, and revenge” into the games.

4

The key piece of supporting evidence for Leo’s claim that video games are dangerous comes in paragraph 6 with the expert opinion of a psychology professor who is also a retired army officer. The professor, David Grossman, draws an analogy between adolescents’ video games and military training games designed to encourage soldiers to shoot their enemies. Although this analogy is interesting, it is not necessarily valid. For one thing, the army training Grossman refers to took place during World War II; for another, the soldiers were aware that the games were preparing them for actual combat.

5

In paragraph 7, Leo goes on to cite Grossman’s comments about the young shooter in a 1997 attack in Paducah, Kentucky, and the Marines’ use of Doom to train soldiers. Again, both discussions are interesting, and both are relevant to the connection between video games and violence. The problem is that neither discussion establishes a cause-and-effect relationship between violent video games and violent acts.

6

It may be true, as Leo observes, that video games are becoming more and more violent and that the victims in these games are increasingly likely to be police officers. Still, Leo fails to make his point because he never establishes that real-life violence is also increasing; therefore, he is not able to demonstrate a causal connection. His concluding statement—“If we want to avoid more Littleton-style massacres, we will begin taking the social effects of the killing games more seriously”—combines a frightening prediction and a strong recommendation for action. Unfortunately, although Leo’s essay will frighten many readers, it does not convincingly establish the need for the action he recommends.

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Work Cited

Leo, John. “When Life Imitates Video.” Practical Argument, 3rd ed., edited by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 68–70.