Death By Video Game! White Kid Gets Away With Murder!

WinterBorn said:
Wouldn't violent movies and tv shows have the same effect?
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Or books, tales and myths.

Blaming the parents makes little sense. He was living with his grandmother and apparently she allowed him to play the game. But it's stupid to blame the video game anyway.
 
tinfoil said:
YES

Do you wanna hear my thoughts on that?

We've allowed our collective sanity to degrade for profits by purveyors of graphic violence. I came to this conclusion a while back when I realized I was about the only person in the theater who didn't erupt into laughter when the character accidentally blew the head off his fellow criminal in the back seat of the car (Pulp Fiction)

So yeah, I think violent movies and shows can inspire sociopaths to commit similar acts.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-television-show-dexter-inspired-kill/story?id=9252620
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Why are violent crime rates way down while video games contain more graphic violence?
 
WinterBorn said:
I think the problem lies in a different direction. We, as a people, have always had violence in our entertainment. While we have gotten better at graphics, a quick look at the old legends and tales told by generation after generation shows the same violent tendencies. Grim's Fairytales were MUCH more graphic in the original versions, and our heroes have almost always been violent.

But in the past we also had a strong sense of community. We interacted with people in genuine ways. It was far more difficult to dehumanize them.

Sadly, our "communities" are now largely virtual. We have managed to dehumanize each other to an amazing level. So we find it easier to kill.
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And yet we are killing each other less.
 
There were senseless killings and mass murders long before there were violent video games or violent movies. As WB mentioned, the Grimm fairy tales were horrendously violent; we used to tell kids stories we would NEVER tell them today.

I love Dexter; have watched all 7 seasons, we're recording season 8 but haven't started it yet. Doesn't mean I'm going to go out and imitate him.

Why this kid picked up a gun - was it inherent? is he a sociopath? Or for this particular kid, did video games influence him? Were his parents not great parents? Had he seen people waving guns around and didn't think they were a big deal? He is young - he probably can't fully track actions to consequences, did he not know that people who are killed are really dead?

I have no idea what was going on that made that kid pick up the gun. Many, many kids who play violent video games never pick up guns and shoot people. I will say that I personally wouldn't allow an 8 yr old to play a violent video game, but I'm a bit prudish that way. His parents and grandmother thought the game was ok, for whatever reason.

This is a terrible tragedy. But yes - IT COULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED! I'm betting a trigger lock would have stymied that kid. I'm betting if grandma stored the gun unloaded in a gun locker, it would have stopped the kid. So whether you say "technology" or "personal habits of gun owners" - this never had to happen. I vote for the trigger lock because people are morons and leave loaded guns where kids can get to them, so we need a backup system for those morons.
 
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