Chess Causes Violence
I am sure that scientific research and thousands of years of study will support this in some convoluted fashion. I fully support the theory that anytime you try to make a connection with any physical activity that stimulates the brain you can also make a connection for or against that activity as being good or bad. However, chess causing violence is, in my humble opinion a statement of ignorance.
I only offer up this subject to ponder because since our all knowing medical society has declared that video games aren't addictive they can still incite violence. What about chess, the ultimate game of undermining, conquest and killing? Maybe all violent tendencies are related to the roots of chess. Our world has been destroyed by chess. This is of course ALL PSYCHO BABBLE as far as I am concerned.
At Universal Oddities website they covered violent entertainment. Here's an excerpt:
"Nevertheless, even more than easily accessible weaponry, one game has gone quite overlooked as the cause of centuries of violence. One game of unsurpassed brutality and deviousness. One game played by conquerors and villains, promoting and glorifying violence, megalomania, and evil. Of course I refer to that vile game of chess. The very game that coined the term “pawn” and thus desensitized us to the realities of conflict."
"That being said, chess is the fundamental blueprint for all violent games, and thus the coolest, most suave game ever. For instance, you can pretend that the bishop is a postal worker and then go around killing pawns with it. Or, you can pretend that the queen is a prostitute and have the knight “execute” her. Or you can just take your rook and stab someone in the eye with it."
Sine the author stated that chess is "...the coolest, most suave game ever" I guess I can overlook the sarcasm.
What about it. When you play chess do you get the urge to go out on the town and conquer gangs, kill people, hunt down the most important people you can find and obliterate them? I don't. Usually I do get really upset at myself for making stupid blunders and want to crush my laptop, but that's very rare.
In reality I believe that the benefits of chess far outweigh any theoritical connection to anything bad. Logic, respect, calculation, following the rules, discipline, honor........and the list goes on.
Here's one city that alleviates violence by teaching and playing chess. http://www.thechessdrum.net/newsbriefs/2007/NB_HipHopChess6.html
Just google chess studies etc., and you will find hundreds of documented studies citing the benefits of chess.
