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Morales 1Garry Morales

Nick Schwartz

ENGL-102-048

25 September, 2013

Summary of Leland Yees Article

In the article Parents Should Be Able to Control What Kids Watch published in the San

Diego Union-Tribune, Leland Yee, a Senator from California and a child psychologist, discusses

the difficult process of approving an initiative by the U.S. Supreme Court that bans the sale of

violent video games to minors. He also calls for more concerns about this social issue (Yee 453).

Senator Yee mentions that legislation in California gives parents more authority when selecting

what video games are suitable for their kids in order to protect them from prejudicial

consequences and not to leave this responsibility to games sellers or manufacturers. However, he

feels the measure was not enough, and in 2005 he sponsored a statute to forbid selling video

games with brutal content to underage children (Yee 453-4).

As primary evidence, the writer showed the results of three psychological studies by the

Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics, theAmerican Academy Pediatrics, and the

American Psychological Association, that concluded that violent videogames truly induce

children to act aggressively (Yee 454). Additionally, Yee found a general statement that over a

hundred researchers in the field throughout the globe shared about which factors were found in

violent video games such as aggressive thinking and feelings, physiological desensitization to

violence, and decrease pro-social behavior. Immediately, the video game industry reacted suing

the state of California and since then the initiative has been stagnant (454).

For Yee, the case has not received due attention although several psychological studies

coincide about negative implications in childrens behavior when subjected them to video games

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Morales 2with violent content. For this reason, he thinks it is a social responsibility to regulate the sale of

harzadous video games to kids (Yee 454). Yee concludes his article hoping that the evidence

recollected decesively convince the U.S. Supreme Court of ruling in favor of this initiative (454).

Analysis of Leland Yees Article

This paper will analyze Yees article, focusing on the text's use ofethos,pathos, logos,

and other rhetorical devices.

Yee's position is clear throughout the article by telling that [s]ociety has a direct, rational

and compelling reason in marginally restricting a minors access to violent video games (454).

This proves that Yee wants that the video games industry has no longer be the responsable for

labeling what can or cannot be a violent video game, instead he is actually addressing that to the

judges, who have the last word. Moreover, he is trying to give greater authority to parents to

protect their kids but also to make laws more strict in this matter, because he knows that ,

under the statute, any parent remains completely free to provide any video game for their

children. (454) What makes his credibility stronger is when he mentions his role as senator in

sponsoring some measures to lower the impact of the video game industry in his community, and

moreover because he also has a Ph.D. in child psychology.

Intopathos, he first uses the holiday shopping season as introduction of the importance of

considering what video games parents purchase for their children to affect audience emotions and

values because during this time parents might neglect what they give to their offsprings in the

season's euphoria and, thus ignore that many video game can influence negatively in their

conduct. So, Yee is calling parents to choose carefully what they purchase. For Yee, this is really

importance because parents must have also protagonism on this issue whereas he is doing his

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Morales 3work to convince the judges to approve the measure; however, despite of many studies show

negative consequences of violent video games on children, public still ignore them.

Now, forlogos for the most part the article has a logical structure. Yee exposes his

evidence to support his argument on banning the sale of violent video games to minors but it is

not correclty displayed. First, the evidence he uses comes from credible sources but he sets them

forth superficially. For instance, when he mentions what factors are affected when exposing

children to violent video games, he merely lists them. He does not provide information about

where and under what conditions the studies were carried out, nor what was the demographic

sample. When Yee justifies the importance of his initiative, he mentions that more than one

hundred researchers support his concern about the issue. Nevertheless, he does not say

specifically to whom they represent.

Yee makes a good point when he cites some encouraging words of the Justice Stephen

Breyer and the Chief Justice John Roberts to give credits of the awareness that initiative is

turning into as trying to show his audience that more people is joining in favor to the measure.

As conclusion, Yees article is not persuasive. Considering that his article was published

in a newspaper, its nature would be more informative than persuasive because it reports the

process of this measure. At some points, its argument might try to convince others to support his

initiative, especially with the articles title, but mostly it is informative. Hence, the article is

directed to any person who needs information about this issue.

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Morales 4

Work Cited

Yee, Leland. Parents Should Be Able to Control What Kids Watch. Writing

Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. John D. Ramage, John C. by Bean, and June

Johnson. 9th

ed. New York: Longman, 2012. 453-4. Print.