Rarely do I talk about video games anymore after realizing I had absolutely nothing of note to add when there’s far more well informed gaming blogs out there. This is a good one though because I love pointing out incidents where people who are supposed to be professional reporters make fools out of themselves and show they’ve done absolutely no research into whatever subject they’re covering, like Katie Couric. Couric, who was heard this morning on some CBS.com show that no one watches called Katie Couric’s Notebook, stated that a particular video game is not played by pushing buttons, but rather the player actually wields a knife, ax, or a glass shard to stab someone. She is of course an idiot: the game does not come with a knife, ax, or glass shard and is played via a controller or other gaming peripheral like every other video game.
The game in question is a game coming out from Rockstar, the same guys that do the Grand Theft Auto series, called Manhunt 2. It’s a video game that features violence, so naturally people who you’d hope would be a little bit more logical in their line of thinking want to start jumping on top of it like it’s the cause of all the world’s violence. Everything can be explained away when we blame it on something, whether it be movies, music, or games. It’s convenient that way. It’s easier.
I’m going to take a moment to lay some stuff out on the table because I can see this is going to lead to a rant. I’ve always been a die hard video game player, to the point where I’ll probably be playing this stuff until I’m old and on my deathbed. I have fond memories of playing games when I was younger with my mother who was also a fairly avid game player well into her old age. I’ve played probably every violent video game that anyone’s ever bashed in the media at some point or another. I’m also a big fan of horror movies and thrillers. I used to listen to everything from Ozzy Osbourne to Dr. Dre to Michael Jackson. You know what? Besides the fact that I write a blog covered with horrendously drawn stick figures, I’m a fairly normal guy with absolutely no criminal record and plenty of friends that annoy the hell out of me but I happen to dig regardless.
So when you have people like Jack Thompson going on TV calling video games murder simulators that are primarily used to train kids to be killers, I get just a little bit pissed off because it’s the equivalent of some nitwit coming on the airwaves telling me that the world is square. When Katie Couric, a woman that’s supposed to be a news reporter with a serious, professional reputation, comes on a news broadcast and says something so completely wrong, erroneous, and just generally stupid, I get annoyed because she’s another voice adding to the cesspool that is the general news media that the majority of the public get their news from. Here’s a newsflash: People were killing others long before games came around. They were even doing it before television. Shocking, I know. You want to know why a guy like Cho goes out and shoots up Virginia Tech? He’s got a mental problem and no one noticed the warning signs. He didn’t play video games, regardless of how loud Jack Thompson screams it to the high heavens. There’s psycho nut cases the world over, whether they be in this country or any other country. It happens in first world countries and it happens in third world countries where people can’t afford food let alone a joystick. What’s their motive? What was Jack the Ripper’s motive? Elizabeth Bathory? Vlad the Impaler? Hitler? Scores of other famous killers?
It wasn’t violence in the media. They were psychotic, and they got there all by themselves. So until someone comes up with some kind of incredible cure for insanity and mental illness, it’s probably going to keep happening because it’s simple human nature. Sometimes there’s just a bad seed. The best thing you can do is try to prevent it from happening. Running away from it and blaming everything else isn’t going to make it go away.
Screw moronic news reporters for making me go into a long rant this late at night. I do want to apologize to Katie Couric for making her look like she has a day’s worth of hearty facial hair growth in that picture, it was seriously not meant to look like that.
