Police Attempt to Link Vicious Murder to D&D
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
I don't think they jumped at the chance to link it to "video games." I think they jumped at the chance to link it to the name "Dungeons & Dragons," whatever form that comes in. Remember, a great many police departments were trained in the 'eighties and 'nineties to react with Pavlovian hatred and fear at the mention of that name, by people like Patricia Pulling and her associates. Many, many of those cops are still on the job.
The lack of common sense is what always irks me in these cases. In this case, this guy said that he has a "passion for video games" because they "help him cope."
Well, help him cope with what? Instead of focusing in on some wild theory of how games influence him post-coping, they should be asking what it is that so hurts him in his life that he needs a coping mechanism. That hurt or its source - not the band-aid he puts on it - is the likely impetus here. That's just common sense.
The case sounds a little like the murder in that Kevin Bacon movie where he sees ghosts and tears up his house trying to find out what happened. Should we blame that movie instead? The cops will have a much more solid case if they stop looking for fairy tale endings and instead focus on this person's immediate life circumstances. There's more than 35 years of failed suits, dismissed cases, and positive statistics readily available to destroy their current theory.
The lack of common sense is what always irks me in these cases. In this case, this guy said that he has a "passion for video games" because they "help him cope."
Well, help him cope with what? Instead of focusing in on some wild theory of how games influence him post-coping, they should be asking what it is that so hurts him in his life that he needs a coping mechanism. That hurt or its source - not the band-aid he puts on it - is the likely impetus here. That's just common sense.
The case sounds a little like the murder in that Kevin Bacon movie where he sees ghosts and tears up his house trying to find out what happened. Should we blame that movie instead? The cops will have a much more solid case if they stop looking for fairy tale endings and instead focus on this person's immediate life circumstances. There's more than 35 years of failed suits, dismissed cases, and positive statistics readily available to destroy their current theory.