Noel Gallagher: "Brutal Videogames" A Reason For London Riots

Earnest Cavalli

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Jun 19, 2008
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Noel Gallagher: "Brutal Videogames" A Reason For London Riots



Former Oasis lead guitarist, Britpop icon and habitual sibling attacker Noel Gallagher has offered an opinion on the ongoing London riots. An opinion you may be angry about.

"I can't understand where their energy for these riots is coming from. We live in this age of violence - and I don't care what other people say: Brutal TV and brutal videogames are a reason for this pointless violence as well. The people are immune to violence, they are used to it," Gallagher recently told Yahoo News.

"It's crazy! It's just violence for the sake of violence. The people who are at these riots aren't poor. These are kids with f***ing mobile phones and all sorts of shit. The police and government have to take drastic measures," Gallagher continued.

Keep in mind that this is a man who attacked his brother Liam with a cricket bat during the recording of (What's The Story) Morning Glory?

Before you all jump to the comments to widely criticize Gallagher, likely with childish insults about his music and hair, it should also be pointed out that these are the words of a man who is watching his home devour itself in real-time. A shop owned by his brother Liam was hit by looters, and Gallagher's words sound more like the impassioned, helpless cries of a man who just wants the violence to end.

It's easy to say that Gallagher is some old, out of touch rocker, but that would be both cruel and an inaccurate portrait of the situation we see here.

"These idiots destroy their own communities. In six weeks, when everything is forgotten, they will look stupid and realise that the houses are still destroyed, burned down or whatever. These people aren't demanding anything, they have no goals. They just destroy their own s**t. How stupid can you be?" Gallagaher said, more accurately reflecting the frustrated message he's attempting to get across.

Given that the gaming media has already attached itself to this like a pageview-hungry lamprey, I fully expect the result of this news cycle to be "Noel Gallagher: Silly Git," but I've got my fingers crossed that you Escapist readers will know better. I'm not asking you to side with the man, but put yourself in his shoes, and think of the idiotic, baffling statements you'd toss out while fearing that your home might be torched or your window smashed in with a brick.

Then again, this isn't the first time Gallagher has come out against games. In 2008 he linked our collective pastime to the rise in British youth stabbing one another. I really don't have an explanation for that one.

Source: CVG [http://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/celebrity/news/article/-/10030109/noel-gallagher-wants-more-prisons/]
(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/freschwill/44256339/])

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ddq5

I wonder what the character limi
Jun 18, 2009
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I've always thought Oasis and the Gallageher bros. to be pretentious Beatles wannabes with annoying music. Never really wanted to hear any of their opinions on games, or anything else for that matter. I mean, he's certainly still entitled to it, but still sort of weird.
 

Innegativeion

Positively Neutral!
Feb 18, 2011
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Unfortunate situations do not justify scapegoating. I have nothing to say of his music or hair... but he's still being a "silly git" to chock up these riots to anything but spontaneous mob-stupidity.
 

Seventh Actuality

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Apr 23, 2010
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Wow, I honestly can't think of anyone more qualified to comment.

[SINCERITY MODE BIT] Since we can all agree this is stupid, I think the real debate is...are people like Noel Gallagher really the problem, or should we blame a trend in the media that exalts the opinions of people who aren't qualified to speak on these issues over people who...y'know...are?
 

Gudrests

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Mar 29, 2010
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Someone got ganked, snipped, pwned, wrecked or anything else in a video game quite a few times I see.....Maybe Donkey Kong wouldn't let him save the princess?
 

The Great JT

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Oct 6, 2008
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Thank you for your input, there, Lord Unibrow.

DISCLAIMER: The Great JT may be going by an outdated photo from the 1990s when the aformentioned Mr. Gallagher did have a unibrow.
 

Bretty

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Jul 15, 2008
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I think we are desensitized to violence. With the wars and rise of War porn, not to mention the media we take in in a day to day basis.

Honestly though, the only reason they are doing this is because they can. There is very little control and as a people, we will hapily do what we want if we know there is a good chance to get away with it (eg pirating).

The only way to put an end to it is to impose highly overly exagerated charges to those caught that ruin their lives. They have said 'No' to the social contract which we all must abide which means they dont deserve our side of it, fairness. They are talking about it now. Cameron's Gov't said it best. Those caught will lose all state support (housing, welfare etc).

Screw these rioters!
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

Henchgoat Emperor
May 15, 2010
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This coming from a guy who was universally panned for saying Oasis was better than the Beatles and for otherwise being a ripe jerkoff. How about you blame people for their actions and have them take responsibility instead of giving them an easy scapegoat so they can argue in court how "Games made me do it!!".
*sigh of vexation and frustration*
By the way Oasis was a one hit wonder, get over it bub.
 

intheweeds

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Apr 6, 2011
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I would be curious to hear his opinions on the reasons for all the riots that happened before video games were invented.

Overheard in 1200BC:
"One of the reasons we have all this rioting in the streets is our violent culture. We need to stop pitting criminals against hungry lions in pits for entertainment!"

Seriously though, I wish he hadn't said that one line, because to be honest for the most part I agree with him. When you see videos like that poor guy who was already bleeding having people steal stuff from his bag while they pretended to help him, you can't help but think these people are just opportunistic thugs.
 

Lt. Vinciti

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Nov 5, 2009
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Who paid him to say it?

Since when do we listen to washed up rockstars Ive never heard of tell me that burning stores and looting places is caused by violent video games?
 

gallaetha_matt

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Feb 28, 2010
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Holy crap, is it 1995 again? Because it's the guy from that band everybody hates. Let's listen to what he has to say! He'll save us!
 

Truly-A-Lie

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Nov 14, 2009
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I think the Gallaghers are hilarious most of the time. But I think it has to be noted that he only started using a computer at the start of this year. He doesn't know any more than he's been told by others in his position - i.e those who've never played games - and that is "games desensitize the young to violence". He's just following the crowd on this one, and chances are he doesn't know anybody to prove to him otherwise. It's not like we get as much time on the news is it?

Saying we're "immune to violence" is just plain wrong though, if I was around when a riot kicked off I'd probably have had a panic attack and died. Real life conflicts and violence scare the ever loving shit out of me.
 

The Human Torch

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Sep 12, 2010
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Yes, Noel Gallagher is a stand-up citizen who's opinion must be taken seriously...

Okay, I couldn't say that with a straight face. This Down-syndrome suffering baboon can suck a doorknob.
 
Dec 27, 2010
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Childish response; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw-delgGVmw
Actual response; Who gives a f*ck about what Noel Gallagher has to say? Seriously, Oasis hasn't been popular since the nineties, and even then it was a strictly "love it or hate it" band.
Edit: I suppose I should make some argument to this, for fear of being trollish.
Yes, it's true games desensitize (probably spelled that wrong) people to violence, but they don't cause it. People have been a violent species for quite some time now, and really to blame media for what is clearly a product of a dysfunctional society is just... silly.
 

GeorgW

ALL GLORY TO ME!
Aug 27, 2010
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The supreme court has proclaimed that he is wrong, we don't need to do it any more. Everybody, just ignore it and move on and the bad man will go away.
I do agree that we've been desensitised to violence, but that's no excuse to riot.

EDIT:
Earnest Cavalli said:
Given that the gaming media has already attached itself to this like a pageview-hungry lamprey, I fully expect the result of this news cycle to be "Noel Gallagher: Silly Git," but I've got my fingers crossed that you Escapist readers will know better. I'm not asking you to side with the man, but put yourself in his shoes, and think of the idiotic, baffling statements you'd toss out while fearing that your home might be torched or your window smashed in with a brick.
I love how the comments reflect how many people actually read the post...
 

TheAceTheOne

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Jul 27, 2010
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If I was in the middle of a riot, I wouldn't spew off about what's causing it first and then seek to end it. I'd end it first then talk about what made it possible in the first place.

While the cause might offer the clues to the solution, if you say, for example, it was suicide when it was murder, you could end up with the investigation all mucked up.

Blaming video games in this context is incorrect. While they do desensitize the players, it's unfair to characterize the entire situation in England as "gamers going berserk because of DOOM made them like seeing blood". The situation in England is just a riot. It's caused by jerk-asses taking advantage of the civil discontent to jump up and steal things. It's a massive riot, to be sure, but it's still a riot. Blaming video games for what people do when they get crazy ideas in their head is astoundingly unfair. While I do hope all the damage caused in the riots is fixed, and while I won't insult Noel Gallagher or anyone else for voicing their own viewpoints, I will seek to point out the fact that if you blame video games or movies or TV or books or cuneiform writing that looks like a man stabbing another man (or any combination thereof) for violence, then your argument is based upon generalizations and stereotypes (and quite possibly utter bullshit or pre-formed prejudices).

To end my little rant here, I'd like to say that I hope Noel Gallagher's family, all the families and individuals who have lost their possessions and livelihoods, and the entirety of England. can recover from the losses they've suffered from the entire mess. Good luck to everyone involved. If you're a rioter using a stolen computer to view this post... Well, return the damn computer and go take a good long look at yourself. Thank you.
 

Hal10k

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May 23, 2011
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"People are blaming new media for bad things. In other news, the Earth's atmosphere continues to contain oxygen and the Atlantic ocean remains wet."
 

Frostbite3789

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Jul 12, 2010
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At first I thought it was the guy who smashed watermelons. Which he might be more qualified, since he violences fruit.