Irish Community Leader Blames Arizona Massacre on Games

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Irish Community Leader Blames Arizona Massacre on Games


Irish Voice founder Niall O'Dowd has penned a column blaming the murder of six people in Arizona on violent media, particularly videogames, where "the law is to kill or be killed."

Much has been made about the fact that 22-year-old Jared Loughner, who killed six people and wounded 14 more in Arizona last week, was a gamer. Playing videogames is probably one of the most mundanely normal things about him, yet some people seem determined to draw a connection between his gaming and his murderous rampage. One of the most heavy-handed among them is O'Dowd, who wrote yesterday that violent media "likely caused the crazed killer to go off."

After beginning with criticism of modern movies, he turns his attention to the game industry. "Don't even mention the videogames kids play," he wrote on IrishCentral [http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/violent-films-video-games-played-role--in-gabbie-giffords-shooting-killings-113422074.html]. "The law of the games is to kill or be killed and if you haven't accumulated a hundred or so bodies by the end of the game, then you have been a waste of space."

"One thing for sure, we will find that the killer was desensitized to violence by movies and video games that proclaim it is cool and worth watching," he added.

He said that while many people have pointed the finger at Republicans for spreading hate speech and contributing to the toxic environment that led to the shooting, "Hollywood liberals," the National Rifle Association [http://www.nra.org/] and the game industry all have a hand in the killing.

"Those major corporations who manufacture the video games and pretend, like the NRA they have nothing to do with the spread of violence in this country. They too need to look in the mirror if they dare to," he wrote. "I won't hold my breath, but every time I think of that little nine year old girl killed in Arizona I ask myself if these games are just harmless fun as the movie makers and manufacturers would have us believe."

"I think not," he continued. "Like the NRA the makers know in their hearts that they too had a role in background to the deaths last weekend."

Of course, nobody knows why Loughner did what he did. A Wall Street Journal report [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703791904576075851892478080.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories] portrays him as a deeply disturbed young man whose troubled behavior can be traced back several years, to at least the tenth grade. And while everybody has an opinion, O'Dowd can't be dismissed as just another noisemaker with a website. He played a role in establishing the Belfast Agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by University College Dublin and was made an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The official launch of IrishCentral.com in 2009 was attended by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

It's a pity that someone with such an impressive background can't wait for some facts and evidence to emerge before drawing iron-clad, "for sure" conclusions about the role videogames played in making this massacre happen.

via: GamePolitics [http://gamepolitics.com/2011/01/13/opinion-violent-media-culpable-arizona-tragedy]


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zfactor

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Jan 16, 2010
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-sigh-

You'd figure we'd be used to this my now as part of how the world works. Birds fly, fish swim, and politicians blame violence on video games.
 

mrm5561

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Apr 27, 2010
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violence blamed on video games. and in other news the sun came up this morning. when will people learn that games have no effect on who people are this guy was nuts way before he ever played a game
 

RatRace123

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Dec 1, 2009
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Well, it was only a matter of time before some idiot blew the "OMGZ GHAMES R EVULZ!!!11" Whistle.
Why couldn't that crazy bastard just be a crazy bastard? Why does there have to be some reason behind it?
Pfft, oh well at this point the games industry is used to the ignorant attacks they face from people like O'Dowd. Just shrug it off and ignore it.
 

RMoD

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Oct 8, 2010
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Andy Chalk said:
"The law of the games is to kill or be killed and if you haven't accumulated a hundred or so bodies by the end of the game, then you have been a waste of space."

"One thing for sure, we will find that the killer was desensitized to violence by movies and video games that proclaim it is cool and worth watching,"

"Those major corporations who manufacture the video games and pretend, like the NRA they have nothing to do with the spread of violence in this country. They too need to look in the mirror if they dare to," he wrote. "I won't hold my breath, but every time I think of that little nine year old girl killed in Arizona I ask myself if these games are just harmless fun as the movie makers and manufacturers would have us believe."

"Like the NRA the makers know in their hearts that they too had a role in background to the deaths last weekend."
I'm such a waste of space, I haven't killed anyone today in Minecraft.

And how exactly is the NRA responsible for this? They haven't been against gun control in a long while.
 

GonzoGamer

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Apr 9, 2008
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zfactor said:
-sigh-

You'd figure we'd be used to this my now as part of how the world works. Birds fly, fish swim, and politicians blame violence on video games.
Until kids find the next thing they like... Heavy Metal doesn't get a lot of flack anymore.

There's a big reason Fox News and Sarah Palin are more to blame than violent games (and from what I hear, this kid wasn't exactly a gamer): Video games are fantasy. Even with the current graphics, they are quite obviously not real and nobody goes around trying to convince gameers otherwise.
Fox News on the other hand is skewed facts and often outright lies, therefore much of it's broadcasting is also fantasy. However the pundits there try and convince everybody (and succeed with too many) that their conspiracy theories are real.
If Activision put crosshairs on the map of the US, we assume that their next COD game will be set in those places, Sarah Palin did it and someone thought she really wanted him to shoot people at those crosshairs.
 

Brad Shepard

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Sep 9, 2009
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Does this really surprise anyone? It was going to happen. It always happens, we know its not true, anyone that sees a picture of that kid knows he was a nutjob, and its not because of videogames.

Good god that picture creeps me out.
 

nin_ninja

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Nov 12, 2009
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Cuy said:


Is this what they think videogames are like? Because sometimes I wonder. I think the only proper solution is to ignore these dumbfucks. Ah well, guess we've got another 500 replies thread incoming.
Oh, I loved that show. I only killed 5 people with planks of wood during my history with it, so there's obviously no connection.

Seriously though, videogames are about as common as friggin books. Oh no, he had Trix that morning, the rabbit must be sending subliminal messages telling kids to kill congresswomen. Please, unless he obviously stated that the games he played made him want to kill people, this argument holds as much value as most of Freud's work.
 

KeyMaster45

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Jun 16, 2008
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Frankly he just sounds like your typical crotchety old geezer who's upset that things change. Notice he roped movies in with gaming, so it kinda comes off as one of those rants about how the media is corrupting the public.

I say let him stay on his porch yelling at kids to get off his lawn, he'll be dead soon enough.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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This is the Arizona shooting that was where Sarah Palin's website had the crosshair over it, right?

The one she called for a "blood libel" on?

Where Loughner himself "believed in numerous conspiracy theories and espoused views such as: the United States Government was responsible for the September 11 attacks; a New World Order would bring about a one world currency; there would be a 2012 apocalypse; NASA had faked spaceflights; and the government was using mind control to brainwash people by controlling grammar."

But it's about games. Thank you Niall for helping us to see that. Perhaps if they didn't have games, the Irish Republican Army wouldn't have killed so many people. Or perhaps they would have anyway.

/spit
 

Crimsane

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Apr 11, 2009
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Meh. Human response. Don't want to admit that if we'd only listened a little more closely and paid more attention, we could've helped this guy. Instead, no, he's crazy! Games did it! The media did it!

Society failed this kid and innocent people paid for it.
 

temporalcrux

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Nov 9, 2009
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I think I'm going to replace all my video games with stuff like Barbie's Horse Adventure and shit like that, then go on a rampage. I wanna leave the media sputtering that Barbie made me kill people.
 

MikailCaboose

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Jun 16, 2009
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...And what part of this guy being ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS pulled by the police for how threateningly he acted? He wasn't mentally stable, and all you have to see that is by looking at his freakin' mug shot!
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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Golem239 said:
ok...but here's my question: who asked him?
No-one, but that is what makes him a pundit. He has a pulpit and has forgotten the difference between being a guy people listen to and having an opinion worth sharing.