No one can deny the loss suffered in Newtown Connecticut
last week. It was perpetrated by a
disturbed individual with no regard for life, including his own. His
actions made more egregious than even Columbine or Aurora by his choice of
victim. Young children, whose lives had
just begun, viciously cut short in an instant.
Survivors, whose innocence forever ripped away must now carry the weight
of a memory that will never leave them.
There is no denying this single event is unrivaled in recent
American History. Unfortunately, thrown
in with public outcries for stricter gun control is the tired rhetoric of the
role of violent video games in this type of tragedy. Senator
Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia has a bill in congress in the wake of Sandy Hook to study the impact of violent
video games specifically targeting their impact on children. From his
introduction of the bill on Wednesday,
"...some people
still do not get it," he continued
"They believe that violent video games are no more dangerous to young
minds than classic literature or Saturday morning cartoons. Parents,
pediatricians, and psychologists know better. These court decisions show we
need to do more and explore ways Congress can lay additional groundwork on this
issue. This report will be a critical resource in this process."
The bill was prompted by reports that Adam Lanza, responsible for the Sandy Hook murders, "may" have played
video games like "Call of Duty" and "Starcraft."
Just as in the Columbine and Aurora incidents we again find
video games at the center of controversy.
Frankly, as horrific as Sandy Hook was, it seems we're again searching
for the easy scapegoat. When we act out
of emotion, reason has no quarter.
It's more likely that the good Senator from West Virginia is
the one who truly, "doesn't get it."
Just as in Columbine the perpetrator was an individual with
a history of emotional and psychiatric issues.
In the case of Adam Lanza, his mother Nancy Lanza (also a victim) was
seeking to have him institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. Lanza's conflict with his mother, not video
games, is a leading theory to explain Sandy Hook.
Of course for politicians and media types, anything that even
suggests a violent theme must be a contributing factor when a tragedy like this
occurs. A disturbed and bullied teenager
is far less interesting than the prospect of that same teenager being driven to
madness by the likes of "Starcraft."
Starcraft, by the way is a real time strategy video game more akin to
the classic board game "Risk" than the movie "Natural Born
Killers."
In the end Starcraft might as well be Farmville with
explosions. To suggest it's in any way a
foundation for mass murder is nothing less than political theater born of
sloppy thinking.
It's far easier to point our collective finger at the
symptoms rather than the ailment. After
all, it requires less reflection on our own actions. In the case of Columbine for example, Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold were two disturbed teenagers whose fascination with violent themes was blamed on the
video game "Doom." Only later
was it revealed that both had a history of run-ins with the law and psychiatric
issues.
Issues exacerbated by frequent bullying and isolation from
their peers as well as inattentive parents.
Over a decade later the detrimental effects of bullying have only
recently entered the public consciousness when it became a "cause célèbre."
Here we're presented with yet another example of the fallacy
of the straw man. Be it for political
gain or intellectual laziness we prefer the sensational to the rational. Our preferred solution is always biased toward
avoiding our own complicity in the cause.
Think about how many times you looked away when action was required
or shunned another because they didn't fit our vision of
"normal." In those actions we
sow the seeds of tragedy.
The ramifications of indifference rarely rise to level of a
Sandy Hook but exact a toll just the same.
Blaming an entertainment medium is nothing more than a distraction that
allows us to remain in the shallow reality of some idyllic societal norm.
At some point we have to admit that It's not the game, it's
the player.
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