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I’m going to put on my serious hat today because I feel this issue is…ridiculous and we should all take a step back to look at it.
If you’ve ever played video games, I’m sure by now you’ve heard of Jack Thompson. In case you haven’t, he’s a fanatical “lawyer”/asshole who is hell bent on placing the blame of all society’s woes solely on the gaming industry. Earlier this week, he blamed the shooting at Virginia Tech on violent video games based on some “evidence” that the shooter/asshole had probably played Counter-strike at some point in his life despite the fact that his college roommates said Seung-Hui Cho seldom played any computer games. He said it was based on some of the shooter’s high school classmates that said he once played Counter-strike and that people never quit games. No seriously, that’s basically what he’s saying.
Now, I played Counter-strike in high school so by Thompson’s ‘logic’, I’m also a deranged lunatic that’s going to shoot a bunch of people. Of course, maybe I’m the exception to the rule since I no longer play Counter-strike and apparently, it’s absolutely impossible that I quit.
This guy just pulls facts out of his ass. 80% of college males are immersed in violent video games? I’m really not sure about that…
Regardless, all rational people hate Jack Thompson and I never thought I’d say this but it’s refreshing to see Chris Matthews asking him what the heck he’s talking about. Thompson calls Grand Theft Auto a cop killing training simulator and while I agree that you can, in fact, kill cops in that game, I seriously doubt that playing GTA trains me in any way to kill cops. For one thing, I don’t think real guns come with a keyboard and a mouse.
There has been significant backlash from…just about everyone in the media, most notably Matthews, hundreds of gaming websites including kotaku and GamePolitics and popular webcomic Penny-Arcade, which even made “I Hate Jack Thompson” t-shirts.
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Basically, people, Jack Thompson is calling you an idiot. Everyone on earth except him is a complete moron because we are so out of touch with our minds and so easily influenced by everything we look at, play or listen to that we should not be given any sort of choice or control over our own actions. If we play video games, we’re killers because we’re too stupid to distinguish between virtual reality and actual reality.
This isn’t the first time the issue has been brought into the public spotlight. Columbine was blamed on Doom and Marilyn Manson. Heck, 9/11 was blamed on Microsoft Flight Simulator! Personally, I can’t even believe this is even an issue. Jack Thompson aside, who the heck would actually believe that video games are mainly responsible for any sort of real life violence?
Anyone who does…well, it’s a cop-out answer. The problem with all these sorts of incidents starts with the parents. It’s not the responsibility of the gaming industry, musicians or the television to raise kids and teach them values. Parents who blame violence in the media just aren’t owning up to their responsibilities. It’s the responsibility of the families to teach kids values regardless of what they watch or listen to. I started watching John Woo movies with Chow Yun Fat running into a house full of bad guys with a duffle bag full of firearms and killing everyone inside when I was probably…oh…five or six. I’ve played Counter-strike, Doom and Quake for years and yet, here I am, typing away on my blog instead of shooting people in the face.
Why? Because I’m not stupid and my parents aren’t idiots. What kind of culture are we living in where people defer their responsibilities and place blame on everything else but themselves?
As for Thompson, maybe it’s just me but I just can’t believe anyone on earth is as stupid as he is. Personally, I think all this crap is a sham and he just says stupid things to get himself more airtime, much like Ann Coulter or any other right-wing activist idiot. I can barely believe he’s a lawyer. In fact, I think his diploma is written on a McDonald’s napkin…in ketchup. However, if he actually believes in what he’s babbling on about, well then…there’s just no hope for that guy.
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Jack Thompson has been
spewing his bullshitattacking video games for years, and yet there are STILL countless moms out there that buy into his garbage.Those are the moms that are stupid and probably bad parents. If you don’t want your kids to play violent video games for fear they’re going to kill someone, maybe you should teach them…oh…maybe not to kill people.
About irresponsible parents putting blame on everything but themselves…. that’s EXACTLY what I was thinking before I read this article. All the idiotic lawsuits flying around every which way these days – they’re just ways for people to try and blame someone else for something that was a result of their own stupidity.
Back on topic, I’ve been gaming for about ten years now, and yet I’m a straight A student who’s never even punched anybody, except buddies when we’re joking around. It doesn’t look like I’m going on a bloody rampage anytime soon. Basically, even if somebody is influenced by a game to go kill people (which was never actually the case, as proven by the article), it’s not the game developer’s fault, because the killer obviously had mental problems anyway if he was so easily impressionable. Our buddy Mr. Thompson here would like everyone to believe that games make rabid psychos out of everyone who touches them, though that is obviously a pile of warm, steamy bullshit.