People Are Pushing Back Against Experts’ Claims That ‘Squid Game’ May Inspire Violence Among Children

Time to let out a collective sigh, because here we go again.

A council in the south of England—as well as others—has gone public with advice regarding the Netflix mega-hit Squid Game. As the Guardian reports, the council has urged parents to “not allow children” to watch the series. Elsewhere, as seen in this New York Post report, so-called experts are making similar arguments that certainly smack of the kind of messaging seen in previous eras of overreaction.

The Post-cited complaint, notably, posits that the series could be “fostering bullies” due to its content. And the bulk of reports of this nature also point to claims that some kids have been recreating non-deadly elements of the series in real life, which one could very easily argue says way more about parenting than it does art.

Of course, we’ve been here before. Musicians, filmmakers, video game makers, and many other purveyors of artistic expression have repeatedly been lazily used as scapegoats for a variety of issues. Even the reactions to these misleading attempts at blaming artists, i.e. the infamous (and now entirely antiquated) Parental Advisory label, were hilariously out of sync with their respective current moments. The PA label, for example, actually just drew even greater attention to the music that opponents attempted to target.

At any rate, Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix. Below, enjoy a selection of reactions to the above arguments, including mentions of how this does indeed feel unfortunately familiar.