In the story, “9-year-old Damori Miles dies in jump off Brooklyn apartment, may have been imitating video game,” a lot of people, cynics, conservatives, And the Jack Thompsons of the world, will point, as the NYDaily has done, to a video game as the reasony why Damori Miles died.
He was imitating his fav
orite video game, after all, right?
“Wrapped around his body was the string and plastic bag he used for the parachute, police sources said…’It’s terrible. The kids try to imitate what they see and they think they can fly,’” said family friend Sumore Murrel, 29.”
Is this the story of video games teaching kids the wrong thing? Certainly everyone concerned wants to know how and why such a tragedy has occurred. The article, thankfully, reports that Damori was a special education kid, and that he was left alone, with doors to the roof open. So, one must wonder where was his father, mother, and siblings?
It’s an interesting question. One also must wonder how much guidance, oversight, and attention the parents also paid to the child. No doubt, everyone involved sees this as a tragedy. And this may be a case in which the mother felt she could leave the child alone without guidance, so she could drive to the store to get some grocery shopping done.
But if Samori was a special education child, leaving him alone seems like a big oversight, a huge mistake, and no doubt the parent(s) won’t forget that one of the reasons their child died wasn’t because of a wrestling game. As a parent myself, I have seen my own child do remarkably dangerous things that led me to say to myself, “I will never let her do that again,” “I will never let her out of my sight again.” The parents will never forgive themselves for that slght oversight, which in truth happens all the time to the most vigilant parents. You can’t watch your kids every second of the day. But you can ask neighbors and friends to watch them, hire a baby sitter, or take them with you on whatever errand you’re running.
“‘I need to keep a better eye on what they are playing or watching. Kids are so impressionable,’ she said.”
The question I have is this: Where were the parents in all this? With special education kids, more overrsight and more educated discussion needs to happen with regard to all media, not just videogames. Parents should watch the TV shows and play the games their kids play to make sure they can translate reality from fiction. That way, kids, whether they’re young, slow learners, or with learning disabilities, can detemine that jumping off a roof top isn’t a good idea. If they haven’t developed a good understanding of common sense, their parents need to teach it to them.
4 Comments
April 16, 2009 at 11:45 pm
[...] Original post by Douglass Perry [...]
April 17, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Absolutely: At 9 years old, about 3 years before psychologists theorize we’re capable of abstract thinking, we’re all incredibly impressionable to ideas that are shown to us, making them our own until we can reason through our childhood impressions.
It’s no wonder how Damori got this distinct idea and couldn’t project far beyond it without parental guidance, but he could have just as easily gotten it from watching the TV show or talking to friends, which more than likely attracted him to play the game to begin with.
So if people are looking for causality via using media as a scapegoat, they should start with The Television / Rumor Mongers. This way, at least, their irrational thinking could be slightly more logically sound.
These Jack Thompsons are probably products of special ed anyway.
April 18, 2009 at 4:40 pm
[...] UNDER THE SEA — After the controversy surrounding Damori Miles’ death, Bethesda Game Studios has issued its own response with a plan that will effectively end any [...]
April 20, 2009 at 7:09 pm
[...] hysterical parents screaming that they have lost control of their kids. It’s less tragic than death, to be sure. In other words, researcher Douglas Gentile’s results are interesting, even if [...]