"It's Perverse, But It's Also Pretend"

After hearing a Supreme Court ruling, a public health researcher, Cheryl K. Olson, contributed her opinion in a news article entitled "It's Perverse, But It's Also Pretend." Discover the views of the co-author of "Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do."

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 7 Unit 2's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: So Much to Buy, Facts About Marketing to Children, Responsible Marketing, Marketing to kids, America the Not-So-Beautiful, the insanity of selling junk food, Ain't I a Woman?, Remarks to the U.N., Failure to Ban, It's Perverse, But It's Also Pretend, Screen Time?
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. assumption
    a hypothesis that is taken for granted
    But more important, the state's case was built on assumptions--that violent games cause children psychological or neurological harm and make them more aggressive and likely to harm other people--that are not supported by evidence.
  2. benign
    pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence
    In my research on middle schoolers the most popular game series among boys was Grand Theft Auto, which allows players to commit cartoon violence with chain saws as well as do perfectly benign things like deliver pizza on a scooter.
  3. decline
    change toward something smaller or lower
    F.B.I. data shows that youth violence continues to decline; it is now at its lowest rate in years
  4. overwhelm
    overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
    one could just as easily argue that interactivity makes games less harmful: the player controls the action, and can stop playing if he feels overwhelmed or upset.
  5. moderation
    the quality of avoiding extremes
    In fact, such games (in moderation) may actually have some positive effects on developing minds.
  6. identity
    the characteristics by which a thing or person is known
    Similarly, a teen can try out different identities--how it feels to be a hero, a trickster or someone of a different age or sex--in the safe fantasy world of a video game.
  7. mitigate
    lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
    If we want to mitigate risks of harm to our children (or the risk that our children will harm others), we need research on the specific effects of the most commonly played violent games, and of playing violent games in social groups.
  8. concur
    be in agreement
    Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. concurred with the majority's opinion, but with some reservations
  9. implication
    a relation by virtue of involvement or close connection
    We should take into account the possibility that developing technology may have important societal implications that will become apparent only with time
  10. potential
    existing in possibility
    This is excellent advice, but only if we are willing to consider that video games may have potential benefits as well as potential risks.
Created on Fri Aug 29 15:14:40 EDT 2014 (updated Fri Aug 29 16:28:16 EDT 2014)

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