Connecticut Town Cancels Videogame Cull

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Connecticut Town Cancels Videogame Cull


The Connecticut town says it has accomplished its goals of "raising awareness."

In the wake of the mass murder at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, citizens of the nearby town of Southington organized a "Videogames Return Program," scheduled to take place on January 12, which would allow people to exchange violent videogames for gift vouchers that could be used for other, more family-friend forms of entertainment. The collected games would eventually be destroyed.

But now the program has been canceled. The SouthingtonSOS group said in a statement that the response to the initiative has been "swift, positive and supportive," but that its two primary goals - raising awareness of violent videogames and "inspiring conversations at home" - have been accomplished, and thus the actual collection and destruction of games is unnecessary.

"Based on the success of our first two objectives, and a re-evaluation of the logistics involved in the physical return process, we have decided to cancel the return of violent video games on January 12, 2013," SouthingtonSOS said in a statement. "Having achieved our essential goals the return program has simply become an unnecessary step in our basic mission. This action will also serve to reduce public inconvenience."

If I was a man prone to speculation, I might suggest that it's possible the group is trying to avoid an embarrassment comparable to that suffered by the 2009 videogame cull in Winnenden, Germany, which attracted virtually zero attention from the public at large. Or it could be - and I certainly hope that this is the case - that it took seriously the argument of psychologist Christopher J. Ferguson, who expressed concern that the focus on videogames could distract attention from the real problem and possibly make the situation worse, not better. Either way, the cancellation of a dubious response to a horrific event is almost certainly the best possible outcome.

A substitute for the promised vouchers for other, more family-friendly forms of entertainment will be given to family who have had "the violent videogames conversation with their children" will be provided by the Southington Chamber of Commerce.

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thesilentman

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Jun 14, 2012
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What awareness? All I saw is unjustified finger pointing. You don't blame stuff like that on video games, you blame them on the person.
 

Renegade-pizza

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Jul 26, 2010
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Me thinks they gave up when gamers who know more swear words than your average vocabulary does words, rose up and voiced their opinions. :p
 

teqrevisited

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Mar 17, 2010
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"inspiring conversations at home" - I can just about hear it now. "Give me my fucking games back!"

They need to be made aware that violent media isn't the problem.
 

Kargathia

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Jul 16, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
A substitute for the promised vouchers for other, more family-friendly forms of entertainment will be given to family who have had "the violent videogames conversation with their children" will be provided by the Southington Chamber of Commerce.
On days like these I almost wish to be a parent, residing in the lovely town of Southington. If only to tell them I've had a "violent video game conversation" with my kid, and that violent video games are, in fact, pretty dang awesome.
 

Treblaine

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Jul 25, 2008
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The Connecticut town says it has accomplished its goals of "raising awareness."
I'll have to use that line in future when I am caught out being an utter asshat and realise I need to pull out at the last minute of doing something incredibly counter-productive.

"inspiring conversations at home"
Yeah, distracting conversations about who is really out of control when they so quickly decided on the modern equivalent of book burning over the actions of one clearly mentally deranged person.
 

2fish

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Sep 10, 2008
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So are we saying I could trade my games in with the Southington Chamber of Commerce claiming they are all new hit titles that sell for 40-60 monies then go buy more games and easily replace the ones I sold with goty editions? The excuse does sound a little flimsy as to why this is now cancelled. Maybe they realized that all the kids are also the ones who fix all the electronics at home and can actually work the parental lock on the tv? Did the leader of this group get parental locked out of all the good cable shows?
 

Canadamus Prime

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Jun 17, 2009
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I'm more concerned about the precedent the very idea of the thing sets. As I said on a previous thread regarding the thing, what is this, the fucking Dark Ages? Are we going to start burning witches next?
 

redknightalex

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Aug 31, 2012
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You know what's a great form of family entertainment? Sitting down at the dinner table having a meal together. Really, that works (even with angry, emo teenagers). I wonder how many of these families who are up-in-arms about video games actually spend any measurable amount of time together. But, hey, we've got a nice scapegoat to go by!

I'm thinking they either realized, as the article stated, that this would be a complete failure or the amount of money required (ie > $15) would be too much. How much can a small city afford for an operation like this anyway?
 

Ickabod

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May 29, 2008
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It's all about political action until it gets expensive. Easier to just point fingers.
 

Eclipse Dragon

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Jan 23, 2009
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"Based on the success of our first two objectives, and a re-evaluation of the logistics involved in the physical return process, we have decided to cancel the return of violent video games on January 12, 2013," SouthingtonSOS said in a statement. "Having achieved our essential goals the return program has simply become an unnecessary step in our basic mission. This action will also serve to reduce public inconvenience."
So in other words "It was too expensive so we're not actually going to go through with it, but we're going to call our operation a success anyway."
 

Vault Citizen

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May 8, 2008
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If by awareness they mean brought about a tired conversation with no significant data to support it I agree, they have raised awareness.
 

Doom972

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Eclipse Dragon said:
"Based on the success of our first two objectives, and a re-evaluation of the logistics involved in the physical return process, we have decided to cancel the return of violent video games on January 12, 2013," SouthingtonSOS said in a statement. "Having achieved our essential goals the return program has simply become an unnecessary step in our basic mission. This action will also serve to reduce public inconvenience."
So in other words "It was too expensive so we're not actually going to go through with it, but we're going to call our operation a success anyway."
It would've been more dignified to just admit that they were wrong and apologize for being ignorant. Too bad we can't have nice things like that.
 

punipunipyo

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We don't outlaw beer when drunk driving became a problem... wait, we DID outlaw beer.. once... it... created organized crime... yeah..
 

soren7550

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Dec 18, 2008
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I'm guessing this fell through due to a combination of not enough funds and backlash from people who have more brains than they do.

I mean hell, why can't they just admit that the problem was that someone with serious mental issues had easy access to automatic weapons? And no, I'm not one of those 'guns are to blame' people. I support the second amendment. I just believe that there should be a whole mess of regulations and the like in place for potential gun owner (such as extensive background and mental checks, mandatory safety courses to go through, what you can own where, etc.).

The care and recognition of mental health needs a major overhaul though. Last year I was institutionalized for two and a half weeks, and the care I and the others were given was utter crap. I spent three days in a waiting room before I was actually admitted, which was over-occupied with the seemingly fine, a guy who thought he was Jesus (who at one point stripped naked), a few homeless, a handful of Rikers inmates, and some screamers/criers. At no point did I see any doctor while I was there (psychologist or medical), nor was much attention given to anyone aside from when medication was given out (which I was never told what the pills I was given were supposed to do) and meal time, which even in those instances we weren't given a whole lot of attention.

To top things off, they never made clear why I was put there (I heard three different reasons why I was put there, not one of them true), and the few times I was able to see someone for help, it did nothing (one was a social worker who told me that it was my fault that I was still there, and the other was a group program where everyone just sat around for a few hours and did nothing, not to mention it also made me miss lunch on every occasion).
 

loa

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Jan 28, 2012
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Yeah they raised enough awareness of how large douchebags they are for furthering their own agenda on the backs of all the victims of a terrible tragedy that is in fact largely unrelated to the matter.
More than enough awareness indeed. Great success.

Give those people a medal.
 

WanderingFool

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Apr 9, 2009
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Eclipse Dragon said:
"Based on the success of our first two objectives, and a re-evaluation of the logistics involved in the physical return process, we have decided to cancel the return of violent video games on January 12, 2013," SouthingtonSOS said in a statement. "Having achieved our essential goals the return program has simply become an unnecessary step in our basic mission. This action will also serve to reduce public inconvenience."
So in other words "It was too expensive so we're not actually going to go through with it, but we're going to call our operation a success anyway."
Gah... fucking ninja'd...

Yeah, I cant read that statement without snickering. I should remember this when something comes up that I said I was going to do, but decided it really wasnt worth the effort.
 

Cid Silverwing

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Jul 27, 2008
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thesilentman said:
What awareness? All I saw is unjustified finger pointing. You don't blame stuff like that on video games, you blame them on the person.
Precisely.

Just how retarded is the average human now? I'm seriously concerned when literally the only thing that happens is scapegoating caused by manipulated media.