Saturday, April 21, 2012

Video Games and Mass Killers

CNN reports

Norway's alleged mass killer testified on Thursday that he played video games as a way to train for a shooting spree that killed 77 people last summer. In particular, Anders Behring Breivik said at his trial that he played "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" as a means of shooting practice, according to CNN's report.

The confessed shooter also said he once played the online game "World of Warcraft," a role-playing adventure with multiple players from around the world, for as many as 16 hours a day.

For people who have long suspected that there is some link between violent video games and real-world violence, the statement offered frightening new evidence for why the video-game industry should be more strictly regulated.
What's your opinion? Is it possible that those extremely violent games add the the problem?

In Breivik's case though, do you think there's a pattern developing?  First he said his acts were self-defense because of the Islamic infiltration of Scandinavia and the leftist governments failure to stop it. That's like blaming it on something, isn't it?  Now it's the fault of the video games.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

5 comments:

  1. The video games had nothing to do with this lunatic. Nothing at all.

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  2. We've been over this ground in the United States before. The studies on the subject of video games have been inconclusive, taken as a whole, and we have that pesky First Amendment that gets in the way of a ban. Are you taking on the freedom of expression next, Mikeb?

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  3. I remember when the same thing was said about Duke Nukem, Doom, etc...I play CoD, MW, GTA, and I have no desire to go out and play that out in real life. Crazy people will do crazy things..

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  4. To say that Brevik killed BECAUSE he played video games that are basically deathporn is ludicrous. To say that violent videos, movies, graphic novels and the like do not feed the fantasies of some very sick people is also ludicrous.

    To assert that the 1st Amendment will be abridged or infringed AFTER the 2nd Amendment has been is not only ludicrous, it is indicative of a complete lack of knowledge re: U.S. History. The right of free speech has been limited many, many times in the last 200 years.

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  5. Violent and realistic video games are bad news but I don't see federal government intervention as the answer. This is up the the parents, and by the time a kid is on his own if he's so attracted to that stuff, there's not much we can do about it.

    Unless, wait a minute, I'm getting an idea. Maybe excessive video game use can be a dis-qualifier for gun ownership. (only kidding)

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