So much for that idea.
I knew it would happen, but I still held out some vain hope that maybe, just maybe, this time would be different. Maybe this time the media and anti-videogame folks would see that:

#1 - Gill, the shooter, was an ADULT, not a minor.
#2 - His writings showed deep-seated mental disturbance that went far, far beyond his attraction to violent media,
#3 - The videogame in question was one amature designer's indie effort intended to help increase dialog and understanding of the event, clearly not some slick product designed to generate millions by marketing it to minors (not that Gill was a minor),
#4 - The sensationalization of Columbine by the media was probably as big a factor as anything else in Gill's disturbed psychology (not that I blame the media coverage of columbine either - it's just that happened to be the seed that lodged in Gill's diseased brain).

But no... reading even the local news, it takes only three sentences before launching into a discussion of whether or not playing videogames is what caused Gill to go on a shooting spree. Although, to give some credit, it at least offers a balanced set of views. It's just bizarre that you'd get people in this day and age still blaming demons, and claiming (as Jack Thompson recently put it in response to a Business Week article) that we're "an industry with blood on its hands."

News Flash: It's the 21st century. Conventional media is blaming games for their drop in popularity - true or not, that is how pervasive videogames have become. At this point, I'd be far more surprised to find in a random, small sampling a male under the age of 30 who ISN'T at least an occasional game-player. It's like finding someone who "never" watches television.

Note to baby-boomers: You guys had Woodstock --- we have Mario. Get over it. It's a different world now. What IS the same is that there are screwed-up people all over the planet - always have been, and always will be barring some miracle.

Labels: Politics

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:48 PM (Permalink)