Video games were responsible for a glut in the suburban lemonade market in the early 1980’s (Via retrogamingtimes.com)
In a truly tragic story, an eight year-old boy in Louisiana shot and killed an elderly woman, identified as his 87 year-old “caregiver.” According to CNN, the boy shot the woman in the back of the head shortly after playing Grand Theft Auto IV. You might be tempted to think “How did an eight year-old kid get a loaded gun?” is the most important question, but you’d be wrong. CNN notes that the gun belonged to the woman, but that’s about all it says about the gun. The article is all about how the video game might have driven the boy to murder, because the truly important question is what sort of media influence might inspire a young child to kill his caregiver (except don’t say anything about the gun itself).
While the motive is unclear, the sheriff’s department implied the child’s activities in a violent virtual world may have led to the killing.
“Although a motive for the shooting is unknown at this time investigators have learned that the juvenile suspect was playing a video game on the Play Station III ‘Grand Theft Auto IV,’ a realistic game that has been associated with encouraging violence and awards points to players for killing people, just minutes before the homicide occurred.”
Did you notice the part of the story CNN left out? The part where the kid picked up a loaded gun.
The article goes on to provide denials from the video game industry, but lets the other side have the last several words.
Studies by reputable academic and medical sources have come to a variety of conclusions. The Obama administration has called for more research.
Critics of video game violence and industry supporters have long debated whether virtual violence leads to actual violence. The argument has become more heated since 26 people died in a December shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
The shooter, Adam Lanza, was reportedly obsessed with violent video games.
In other words, no research that they can directly quote links video games to gun violence, but we’re going to do it anyway, and cite the most horrific gun violence incident in recent memory to make sure they have our attention.
Speaking soon after the shootings at Sandy Hook, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who led his state through grieving after a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, speculated about a connection.
“There might well be some direct connection between people who have some mental instability and when they go over the edge — they transport themselves, they become part of one of those video games,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Perhaps that’s why all these assault weapons are used.”
(Emphasis added.) I guess the theory is that people are influenced to commit acts of mass violence by video games, and then [edited for avoidance of angering the gun lobby] violence ensues.
I’ll give the gun lobby this: politicians and the media seem to be absolutely terrified to even say the word “gun” in public, unless the sentence includes words to the effect of “fuck yeah.” Democrats can be just as idiotic about this, by the way, as indicated by the last paragraph of CNN’s article:
Vice President Joe Biden, who is heading an inquiry into the causes of gun violence, has floated the idea of taxing violent games and sending proceeds to help victims and their families, Forbes.com reported.
That’s……one idea. If you honestly believe that an eight year-old playing GTA IV is more directly pertinent to a subsequent murder than the fact that this eight year-old had a gun, then yes, putting the burden onto the millions of people who play video games but don’t kill people (with guns) might seem perfectly logical.
