I've not read the entire topic, so I'll say what I think.
Video games can't take all the blame. It should be the state of society in general.
All forms of media place a large emphasis on violence, sex, etc. This is because those are the things that catch the attention of people. Those things cause media to sell.
Because of the way media is presented, kids are shown more and more violence every day and some of them to start to think "I wonder what it would be like to shoot someone" or "What would happen if I pulled a knife on someone?" After all of this, a few kids get crazy and decide to try it. Then when we see it on the news, it makes less of an impact on us because now we are hardened. We see violence as less of an issue than it used to be.
Media in general can't be the only reason either. There has ALWAYS been violence in media...even in older cartoons that our parents grew up watching. Even live action shows with western themes. There is a ton of violence in those. It's not only media, but the upbringing. Parents play a large role in this.
Parents aren't taking initiative and monitoring what their kids see and hear. Video games, movies, television shows, and music (to an extent) have some form of rating system. All video games in the US are rated by the ESRB and then on the back of the case, it explains why the game was given its rating. Movies are rated by the MPAA and often the reasons for the rating are given. Television is given ratings (shown in the top corner of the screen throughout the program) by the FCC and along with the rating, codes are given to tell why it was rated. And the RIAA places parental advisory stickers on music deemed offensive and sometimes explains why. The opportunity to monitor a child's intake is there; most parents just don't use it.
So placing the blame on video games is unfair. Placing the blame on society as a whole is the fair way.
Poll