Another Mass Murder, Another Opportunity to Scapegoat
It never fails; with nearly every instance of massacre reported since Columbine, someone somewhere gets to use the violent video game card to partially peg a motive for the madness. Though principal focus remains on the vitriol within the current US political climate, including cable and radio talkers, last Saturday’s shooting in Tucson, Arizona will be no different.
For those unaware, 22 year old Jared Loughner opened fire at a Tucson, Arizona rally for US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. She and thirteen others were wounded, while six died, including a nine year old girl. Loughner sits in jail awaiting a trial on murder, attempted murder, and much more.
We’re in that period where much of the media seeks perspective on the alleged assailant from those who knew him. The Phoenix based Arizona Republic just that, obtaining comment from Loughner’s former high school community college classmates. They described him as, among other things, loud, disruptive, as well as this:
Chris Walker, another PCC sophomore, said Loughner came to house for dinner “all the time.” Loughner liked heavy metal and classic rock music and was a “big video gamer,” said Walker, 19.
A second article from the Wall Street Journal, cited by GamePolitics, attributes another quote to a high school acquaintance of Laughner, Tommy Marriotti: “All he did was play video games and play music.”
The inevitable conclusion that the guy is nuts aside, remarks like this are the ones that tend to get the most media play. There’s no mention of specifics, just generalities that make the entire industry and more seasoned players look bad. It’s more dangerous than most may think, with a Supreme Court decision on the state regulation of “violent” games pending. Games do a lot of things for a lot of people, but in this and past instances, acting as a catalyst to mass murder is not one of them.
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His pic. is creepy…
so let me guess…
since he is a “video gamer”, all fingers points to Palin AND us.
typical for them.
this guy gives me the creeps
Ya know I swear they need to quit treating this like its a
virus. No one can ultimately predict someone is gonna kill someone
unless they start saying shit like they’re gonna kill people. The
mainstream media dissects this stuff like its a science experiment.
Next thing they’ll be running clinical trials just to see what
happens when they let a nut or 2 on the loose and document it like
as if this were a friggin animal planet special and then show the
results of their findings on the news. Yes what happened is
extremely sad and I do condemn this event but the media and their
psycho analyzing this stuff is just pointless. Now I feel like
sooner or later they’re going to say that playing video games rots
your brains and/or they’ll be profiling all kids in school with
psycho analyzing tests just to see if any of them are nutty.
Anywho…call me a conspiracy theorist…but if I were you don’t
put anything past the gov’t these days not to try that LOL;>
Now on a funnier note…doesn’t this guy look kinda like Dr.
Evil?
Oh God! Not this stupid shit again!!!
It’s already bad enough that I can’t play video games on a regular basis because my mother is a sucker for this overrated, fear-mongering bullshit. If something like this ends up in yet another propaganda to ban videogames off of the shelves for “making kids crazy” or “teaches them how to murder”, she’ll go apeshit on me.
I’m going to walk away and pretend I never read this article.
Can’t wait to find out he is a “Big Tetris Player”
Why was this even a news article?
I actually live about 20 minutes from where the shooting took place, which is pretty creepy. There was a lot of tension the other day at school. But that’s not the point.
They shouldn’t be pointing fingers at ANYONE but the man who pulled the trigger, the man who killed 6 people and injured 14 others. It’s Loughner’s fault, not Palin’s, Not the Gaming Industry, not Talk Radio, not even Obama, and I’m not a big fan of him either. The media needs to stop pointing their fingers at everyone else who’s supposedly responsible for the corruption of this man and just stick with the facts.
@Sjmaster And to close, no, this isn’t really relative to Sega or Sonic, but it is something people should know about and be aware of. The whole “Big Video Gamer” just ties it in to relevancy.
The guy is alive so why aren’t they pointing fingers at this scumbag?
We live (or die) by our choices, and therefore the consquences are what we live through. This monster chose to commit those crimes: we choose to blame by applying the easiest excuses in the world. At some, point, we must realize that, as we continue to rely on the scapegoats and lies that are so easy to commit to, will fall apart on us and then the only people to blame are ourselves. If video games were really the main driving force behind a murder, then every proponent of video games rated even as low as T would probably be in jail. Imagine trying to put everyone who has ever played HALO (and, assuming that playing it drove them to murder) into jail!
He is set up to create laws of censorship and denial of free speech. Obviously he is a ‘bit of everything’.
Yay, another excuse for politicans to point fingers at the gaming industry and accusing them as a type of motivation for the guy to go murder people. >_>
I wish people would stop looking for scapegoats everytime this s**t happens.
And his pic does look scary. O_o
@everyone
Judge not lest you be judged…
How is playing video games more important than being concerned for this man?
also @ Sjmaster
Not being rude, but are you so stuck on Sonic that any other news that comes up is considered pointless? Yes this site is geared toward Sonic news, but the article is relevant to gaming in general.
I will admit some video games can have an influence on someone but seriously the person needs to take responsibility. The video games didn’t MAKE them do it. The guy CHOSE to do it himself. I don’t hear about one video game that has the game tell them to go in real life and massacre innocent people. This guy was nuts and chose to do this act. If they blame video games, Sarah Palin, Republicans, and Conservatives they are stupid c*cksuckers because it’s not their fault. This is probably just a chance to get their way and blame people that had nothing to do with it. People need to to accountability. That’s why some people in this nation are so screwed up when they try appeasement and blaming other people for no legitimate reason
I head a story at some point yesterday about the type of music he listens to. The one they pointed out was ‘Let the Bodies Hit the Floor’ by Drowning Pool. I think I know one person (myself included) who doesn’t have that song? It’s just ridiculous to try to paint a picture of this guy’s mind based solely on which, frankly mainstream, music or games he plays.
The only worth while things the media has said on this is pointing to the wording that certain politicians have used in recent times. While I don’t think any of them are at ‘fault’, it’s certainly not healthy for the country. I mean, that kinda talk worries rational minded people, I can’t imagine what it does to clearly/diagnosed ill minded people.
*I heaRd a story…
lol, can’t spell.
Some crazy douche bags who take part the industry make it look bad enough. The last thing we need is people on the outside pointing fingers out of practically baseless generalizations to make it look worse.
Ah here we go again.
I’m not going to say video games are perfectly innocent: many of them are very violent, and no one can say that filling your head with tons of violence, gore and immorality (ya know, where you get to kill all the good guys, among other things) is a good or healthy thing.
However, there is always going to be more than one factor when it comes to insanity, or acts such as these; it isn’t going to be only video games. Also, most of the populace isn’t insane. Killing may be a big staple in video games, but most live in the real world, and in society murder is heavily denounced, even though we are so exposed to it due to either where we may live or the media. For most it would take a lot more than video games to remove the inhibitions we have from society, family, friends and religion that would prevent us from going out and commiting a crime like this. Considering the person has inhibitions–perhaps this man didn’t, or lost them, allowing video games to take their tole–but how he lost them may not even be connected with said games. There are so many factors here beyond just games that you can’t just single them out.
Are super violent video games good or even healthy for the average person? Probably not. I mean, there is such a thing as desensitization–not a good consequence. But would games cause someone to go out and commit a mass murder? No. If they had any affect on the guy it would be becuause he already had issues–he was already crazy.
One more thing: however good or un-good video games are for us, it is far far far too late to attempt a mass overhaul or removal or whatever. The right time would have been in the 80′s or 90′s–in the beginning, when the industry was still blosoming and discovering its way. Things are so set in that any attempt to put on restrictions would result, I believe, in some serious back lash. If they are causing problems, its due to a build up of millions of personal choices, ignorance, and not paying attention to what was occuring: not just the games themselves. Trying to enforce some sort of governmental regulation, while possibly being correct in its assertions about some kinds of video games, would be a mistake, in my opinion.
If they want someone to blame other than the killer, don’t blame the people who made the product, blame those who allowed the guy to be exposed to it–namely, his parents. Where are they in all of this?
In the end, this whole event is a terrible shame: a shame that innocent lives were carelessly stolen, especially those who were so young, as well as a shame that someone would be so far gone that they would do this, however they may have reached that decision. Personally, it’s at times like these I’m thankful for my faith in Jesus Christ, because even hearing about horrible events like this can be scary. It helps me alot, but I’m most certainly not the one who needs it the most right now.
@Goodman
Excellent comment. Always good to meet a fellow Christian. Keep it up!
@cobanermani456
yeah it is–it’s very encouraging to meet other Christians. Thanks for the kind words, and keep running that race!
@Goodman
God will honor that last bit…keep leaning on him…
“and was a big video gamer”
“And what sort of games did he play?”
“Umm… Mario?”
Can you imagine how much confusion could be avoided if someone actually asked the aboce question? In fact, I believe something similiar occured during the Virignia Tech shooting. The murdered was appreantely a big gamer, but turned out to play games like Sonic the Hedgehog. And there’s your Sonic tie, fanboys.
^ Above question. I mean above, damn it. >.<
Clearly it was all that classic rock, amirite?
@ChaoticFox
Nah, it was Marylin Manson for the fifteen-hundredth time XD
milomaniac22@yahoo.com i don’t know what you’re getting at but it seems you’re not even a gamer so please go troll in another fanbase
yep, it was Sonic that made him do it.
“That Sonic Colors theme just wouldn’t leave me alone” “Colors everywhere, AHH!!”
*double post*
maybe its me, but this guy has a striking resemblence to Peter Harrison, Former President of Sony WWS (the guy who introduced LBP to the world).
This dude was a nutjob in ways that videogames can’t create. Have you seen the videos on Youtube made by the murderer? His favorite books include the “Communist Manifesto” and that book made by Hitler. He believed that his teacher was being unconstitutional for telling him to get medical help. He burned the American flag and posted it on another account. He is incredibly anti-religious. And he has these ideas of his own government, saying things that have absolutely no relation to his ideas.
I suppose we can expect the conservatives to use this incident to rail on about how video game companies are subliminally programming everyone to be mass murders like this skinhead loser.
Here we go again! Blame the video games! They must be destroyed! Idiots. For all we know he could be playing Mario or Sonic. I’ve never seen an AK-47 in either of those games!
That is terrible news. I wish people would never do a thing, because we all know what would happen next: If people kill each other they end up in jail and stay there for years and years, heck, even decades.
Another thing, video games do not make kids violent. It is their misunderstanding and not able to tell the difference between fantasy and reality is what’s causing the problems, not the games. If the kid was well-educated enough and knows what to avoid, then he or she won’t be exposed to violence or whatever else you see in scenes in M-Rated games and so on at all. I’ve played video games of all main ESRB ratings (E, E+10, T, M) and I would never emulate violent acts. Want to know why? It is because I realize the difference between fantasy and reality myself. I hope others learn the same.