Kotaku
Earlier this week we told you about the antics of Dr. Susan Bartel, who made claims about Halo, violence, brains and video games on The Morning Show. The thing is, I go drinking with a lot of brain researchers. They are a specialized group of scientists who probably wouldn't write books like Dr. Susan's Girls-only Weight Loss Guide: The Easy, Fun Way to Look and Feel Good? You know, because it takes a lot of specialization to make claims about brain scans, not to mention months of argument on different modeling techniques, area activation relevance, etc.. Anyway, she came clean to Game Politics when they questioned her about her area of expertise:
GP: One thing I found especially concerning... was [an e-mail] comment that you only saw the [Indiana University] brain scan pix five minutes before air [of The Morning Show]. That being the case, do you think it appropriate to go on and offer a professional opinion based on the scans to the audience?As a doctor/researcher/specialist of any kind, you can always say "no" to others' claims and requests for validation. That's how you keep your credibility (then again, that's not an issue if you never had any in the first place).Dr. Bartell: That's the way it is with TV — it's just not a black and white thing. I am genuinely sorry that it caused such a sense that I was being so disrespectful [to gamers]. The scans aside I stand by my opinion that violent games should not be played by teens... As to whether I should have responded to the scans — my intent was going on air to discuss whether the church should be holding Halo nights, clearly that was derailed.
GP: In all honesty, I'm having difficulty reconciling "that's the way it is with TV" to responsible professionalism. It smacks of sensationalism. Just being candid here.
Dr. Bartell: I can understand how you feel... there is an element of sensationalism to it I suppose...I couldn't — five minutes before going on air — say, sorry I won't do it, I don't have enough background information about this brain scan! I'm just not that much of a purist...
From the looks of it, not only does Dr. Bartell have a horse in this race, but The Morning Show doesn't seem too keen on video games, either. For a program that oversimplifies major issues into 4-minute coffee talk to an audience that should be, I dunno, working, there must be a more suitable story to run like "drink more water" or "the bad people are coming to knock over children not wearing their bike helmets after raping the tailpipe of your unlocked car and wiping avian influenza on the seats."
How Fox Morning Show Sensationalized the Halo-in-Church Issue [gamepolitics]
Comments
Don't forget about the unwed teenage mothers who are conspiring with Hitler and the Legion of Doom to kill Jesus.
I'm just not that much of a purist
This means that she has no scruples and whores her medical degree out for money. She's no more credible than those recent medical school grads you see pimping diet pills.
"that's the way it is with TV"
She is going to last long.
What a bidiotch.
So she was just a talking head pushing the TV shows agenda? will I am shocked, shocked!
*evil laughter* Why is it that TV programs can't *at Least* find some one who is creditable when they do this kind of crap.
@baberg: You forgot Oprah Winfrey
jeez what a dunce, I hope she's proud of herself
Well at least she seems aware of herself and what she did. Most people are not that honest when being put into "I'm sorry I lied mode"
Haha Love it! I am sure she will be pushing this same "agenda" next week on The View.
What a cunt.
ugh...urge to kill rising!
Come clean, Dr. Bartell... you have no problem with citing personal opinion as fact. This is not how science works, dear Doctor. And how exactly did you get your doctoral degree?
It's really too bad that there will not be any follow up to her story and even if there is one, the damage is done.
This is a serious problem in today's world. Sounds like the morning show is too interested in the headhunting process, when they could instead do something good with their place in the public eye.
Why not at least have one person that is backing the gamer side of view? As a gamer, I certainly wouldn't want my children playing some of the games that I play. And I also am going to try and educate the parents of my kids friends so that they won't be able to play at that person's house either.
@ThatGirlHatesYou: lol thats the problem, anyone credible wouldn't sink to doing shit work like this "Dr." ....i'm more a doctor than she is ;)
Patient: "Hi Dr. Yahoo, can I ask you a question? Am I healthy?"
Dr Yahoo: "Well I've only just met you 30 seconds ago, but after staring you down pretty hard, noting that you have a firm handshake, yes you're perfectly healthy! BE WELL!"
She's not a doctor, a psychiatrist, neurologist, or any other specialization that would give her the credentials to analyze and offer an opinion on a brain scan. If she had only been presented with the picture minutes before air, then she also didn't read the medical study the scan was based on. She might as well have blamed teenage violence on a humor imbalance, or the presence of demons.
man these guys forget men have been this messed up way before video games...LOL
I guess some one game out advance wars during the roman empire! Kane the guy the slew the good guy Able was a game programmer I know it! The arch was just a large backward compatible console for all of the games of the past!
Some one should make a game about credential whoring! You could call it GTcertificate! The GRAD version!
Well...doesn't sound much like sience at all does it?
I wanna know what the psyhcologists take on the data is, where is the cross-verified data from other studies to substantiate her findings?
An interesting subject starter, but not much of a true revelation.
Try this on for size lady:
Instead of cutting loose on my classmates after a hard day at school being bounced off of lockers and such, I decide to get my sick fantasies of death and dissmemberment out on a few non-feeling atomitons, and go to bed feeling exhausted and catharticly satisfied.
How about that for reinforcment?
There are more studies saying gaming is a good thing than there are saying gaming is bad, so eat it.
crecente should go on a tv show and show them how great hair is supposed to look.
Dumb cunt.
@Rubix42: i agree with you 100%. and thats the way things SHOULD be....
this whole thing is about if a church should have "allowed" these kids to play Halo 3....ummm....shouldn't it be the parents?
if a day care center wanted to their kids to place Resistance: Fall of Man, but sent out notice to parents to tell them, there is no arguement because if the parents believe their child shouldn't be exposed to that material, that is their right to keep them away. (far fetched example i know, but still, it's the parents who decide what is good for their kids...not the "venue")
From her website, it says she's a "Psychologist," "Author," and "Media Expert."
Which one of her three hats do you think she was wearing in this interview?
@Canadian Impostor: Who are you to judge me? Selling diet pills that make your penis/boobs bigger is how I make my money. It's not like raping car talepipes and spreading avian flu makes me any money.
@Canadian Impostor:
My thoughts exactly.
What's revealing is that in a sense, she was pressured and coerced into reporting the "facts" that Fox News wanted her to report, but she takes the blame for it.
Fox invited her to talk about Halo and church, then before the show they displayed images of brain scans and summed up their "intepretation" of the study so she could repeat what they told her and us the uneducated viewers would accept it as fact from an expert psychologist.
At first I found it strange that female Co-Host of the show was trying to ask about why more brain activity was bad but Dr. Bartel just completely avoided the question and insisted it was bad.
Maybe that was because that's what the people at the studio told her and she had not done any research of the study on her own to back up those claims. In a desperate attempt to not look like an idiot and get back what she was invited (and thus prepared) to go on air and talk about, she just said it's bad and changed the subject saying these things shouldn't be happening in churches.
So yeah, she needs to be professional and responsible for her own credibility -- something she failed to do in this case -- but it seems the ones with the real agenda and doctoring of facts are Fox news, through manipulation of Dr. Bartel.
@Cenobite: I'm having difficulty finding out where she went to school and her exact credentials. Anyone better at this Intergoogletubeweb thingie want to do some digging around?
Well, at least she's no Tack Jhompson. It is one thing to misrepresent studies, its another to send a venomous e-mail to every gamer, their mother, grandmother, people who have looked at a game, people who think board games are fun, people who called him a "doodie-head", and the judges who sided against you, and THEIR mothers, grandmothers... etc.
As far as opposition goes, games could do worse than her.
@baberg:
No, no. You can't just make a statement. Then it may be proven wrong at some point in the future. You need to frame it in the form of a question. i.e.
"Are unwed teenage mothers conspiring with Hitler and the Legion of Doom to kill Jesus? Find out tonight at 11."
That way, you're not actually accusing the Legion of Doom of being up to no good again, you're just asking.
"That's how you keep your credibility (then again, that's not an issue if you never had any in the first place)."
Burn!
@Canadian Imposter
Just to clarify the situation here, Dr. Susan does not have a medical degree (M.D.), she most likely has a Sci.D. in psychology. Not to knock anyone with any sort of advanced credentials (one of my best friends has a Sci.D. in psychology), but it does not take the same sort of time, effort or talent to get an advanced degree in psychology that it does to get a medical degree.
Even if she is forced to comment on brains scans that she received five minutes before airtime, she should have qualified her statements as pure speculation and that for true, scientific analysis of this data, she would need more time. However, she is clearly a talking head that is brought on TV to produce a desired sound byte and in-turn increase her exposure to the public, most likely in an attempt to sell more weight loss books.
Apologies are quaint, but the damage has been done. The viewers have been told that Halo causes violent behavior, and nothing can change that first impression. Dr. Bartell could go back onto the Morning Show and talk about her inability to comment on issues she has no experience in, but the audience remembers the facts, not the names.
On the other hand, adults (18+) are probably buying their own games. And children under 17 shouldn't be playing an M-rated game in the first place. I imagine the report stopped a few soccer moms from buying Halo 3 for little Billy, but is that such a bad thing? Kids are going to do crazy, tragic things regardless of their entertainment venue. If Billy is going to stab Jenny with a fork, isn't it better for the gaming world that he never got to play Halo? Without the video game scapegoat, perhaps they'll have no choice but to realize that Billy's alcoholic, abusive father could possibly be teaching his son some questionable morals.
It's a slap in the face of video game fans when an 'expert' makes a naive claim on national television. I support Game Politics in keeping these voices honest, and defending the gamer's POV.
See people label us wrong.
Gamers aren't stupid...they are gullible. There is a difference! :D
They could really use her on Faux news to boost their line up of so called 'experts'. Sorry but what a fucking bitch!! Journalism is dead. Well, except for Kotaku! :-)
I'm going to write a book on how to raise your kids, but unfortunately I don't expect it to be a best seller. It's just going to be a lot of pages instructing parents not to listen to idiots like Dr. Susan Bartell and Jack Thompson, Escargot. I'll also add that if anyone needs to be watching less TV, it's the parents, who shouldn't be patronizing this drivel. Playing a good video game is far less harmful than taking the words of a ranting imbecile as gospel.
At least GP called her on it!! I love seeing these so called professionals squirm.
@Throtex: I don't have kids...but I will buy your book! Will you autograph it for me?
I had a dream I shit on her face.
"The thing is, I go drinking with a lot of brain researchers."
Keep up the good work, Mr. Wilson.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. TV news is a joke, and the punchline is Social Responsibility Theory.
@thegreatseal: Eewww....hey whatever floats your boat.
@thegreatseal: Lets hope it doesn't make the front page of Kotaku. ;)
Mmmmm ... BRAAAAAAAAAAAINS!
@mva5580: You can't do that unless you're Gregory House. :P
And yes, Dr. Bartell's "performance" was a tragedy. I get that they probably showed her those scans 5 minutes before they went on air and more or less forced her into the conversation (this would not be surprising for what amounts to an elaborate stage show for soccer moms and the unemployed), but hey, she could've said "no."
I have the same problem with her as I do a lot of other people who want to comment on video games; they've rarely, if ever, picked up a controller. Do that if you want to understand the effects video games have on your brain.
@Gannoc: LOL, nice.
@crewwolfy: but billy stabbed jenny in the neck with a fork after an all-nighter playing cooking mama
Can someone please take away her degree? It seems like you should be able to start a petition so that you could send it to the school that let her in and then get her degree revoked.
and clearly the way to a slimmer body for a teen girl is to look in the mirror every morning and tell herself she hates how her body is so fat, and then to throw up after every meal or to simply cut down to one grain of rice and a half a bite of a carrot stick per day, science who needs it? oh yeah thats right everybody, apparently just not Dr. Bartel
muhahah layin the smack down on that beezy!
@baberg: LMAO!!!!!!!!!
I love Game Politics so, so much.
And, like pee in a pool, she can't take it back. It's out there now and the lazy and weak-minded will accept it as gospel because it was on television.
Bravo.
@kurtcdavidson: I used to sleep with the psychology girls in college. I'm not calling people who take psychology dumb skanks, because I don't have a doctorate in human taxonomy, but my speculation is that it's probably a safe bet.