If you pay any attention to gaming, you had to know that it was only a matter of time after the Virginia Tech shootings before somebody was going to blame it all on videogames. But even I was surprised by how fast Dr. Phil jumped to this conclusion. (I am NOT however, surprised to find that Jack Thompson came to the same conclusion first. I'm sure he sits around waiting for news like this, a boilerplate press release at hand, ready to plug in the names.)
As I write this, the suspect has been ID'd, but the police are not ready to confirm that he's the shooter. But this hasn't stopped Dr. Phil from pushing his agenda that videogames are to blame for all the ills in our world today. We know next to nothing about the kid involved (we know his age, his name, his nationality) nor what set him off. Could he be an avid videogame player, desensitized to violence thanks to years of first person shooters? Sure, it's possible. He could also be a lovelorn loner, dumped by his girlfriend, looking for vengeance on all the people that scorned and ignored him. Or, since he's a South Korean national, perhaps he snapped under the pressure of the unreasonable expectations of the family he's half a world away from. (Of course, if we're racial profiling here, since he's South Korean, well Dr. Phil may be right, since all Korean's are avid videogamers, right? Of course, he'd be more likely to be playing Lineage or WOW than an FPS, but let's not split hairs here.)
The fact is, we don't know who he is or why he snapped. But that doesn't stop Dr. Phil (and Jack Thompson). 'Cause videogames are bad, and we must do something soon, or we're all gonna die! (What no one from the "videogames are bad" camp has addressed is that, according to FBI statistics, violent crime among youths and teens has been on the decline for at least the last 10 years… which would seem, on the surface at least, to negate the argument that videogames are turning our youth into mindless killing machines, just waiting for a reason to snap.)
I hate this kind of moronic, one-note agendizing. The simple fact is, we are a violent society. One look at our movies, music, TV, games and sports should prove this. (There's a good "chicken and the egg" argument to be had here. How much does pop culture shape our perceptions on violence, and how much is it shaped by those same perceptions.) It's easier to go to the movies and see someone graphically eviscerated than it is to see a couple having sex. Violence is more acceptable than sex… what does that say about us?
This violence is endemic to our current society and we have to come to terms with that. It's not videogames. It's not movies. It's not pop-culture or the schools or liberal dogma or any of the other countless bugaboos that people grasp at when trying to explain the unexplainable. It's a part of who we are now, and until and unless there's a paradigm shift in our perceptions that's not going to change.
And who really sees that happening?
(For Dr. Phil's quote, and comment on Jack Thompson's screed, you can head over to this post at GameStooge.com. Keeping in mind it's hardly an unbiased source, of course.)
As I write this, the suspect has been ID'd, but the police are not ready to confirm that he's the shooter. But this hasn't stopped Dr. Phil from pushing his agenda that videogames are to blame for all the ills in our world today. We know next to nothing about the kid involved (we know his age, his name, his nationality) nor what set him off. Could he be an avid videogame player, desensitized to violence thanks to years of first person shooters? Sure, it's possible. He could also be a lovelorn loner, dumped by his girlfriend, looking for vengeance on all the people that scorned and ignored him. Or, since he's a South Korean national, perhaps he snapped under the pressure of the unreasonable expectations of the family he's half a world away from. (Of course, if we're racial profiling here, since he's South Korean, well Dr. Phil may be right, since all Korean's are avid videogamers, right? Of course, he'd be more likely to be playing Lineage or WOW than an FPS, but let's not split hairs here.)
The fact is, we don't know who he is or why he snapped. But that doesn't stop Dr. Phil (and Jack Thompson). 'Cause videogames are bad, and we must do something soon, or we're all gonna die! (What no one from the "videogames are bad" camp has addressed is that, according to FBI statistics, violent crime among youths and teens has been on the decline for at least the last 10 years… which would seem, on the surface at least, to negate the argument that videogames are turning our youth into mindless killing machines, just waiting for a reason to snap.)
I hate this kind of moronic, one-note agendizing. The simple fact is, we are a violent society. One look at our movies, music, TV, games and sports should prove this. (There's a good "chicken and the egg" argument to be had here. How much does pop culture shape our perceptions on violence, and how much is it shaped by those same perceptions.) It's easier to go to the movies and see someone graphically eviscerated than it is to see a couple having sex. Violence is more acceptable than sex… what does that say about us?
This violence is endemic to our current society and we have to come to terms with that. It's not videogames. It's not movies. It's not pop-culture or the schools or liberal dogma or any of the other countless bugaboos that people grasp at when trying to explain the unexplainable. It's a part of who we are now, and until and unless there's a paradigm shift in our perceptions that's not going to change.
And who really sees that happening?
(For Dr. Phil's quote, and comment on Jack Thompson's screed, you can head over to this post at GameStooge.com. Keeping in mind it's hardly an unbiased source, of course.)
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