Dr. Phil Blames Video Games for Virginia Tech Massacre
Dr. Phil Blames Video Games for Virginia Tech Massacre
April 17, 2007
In the wake of yesterday's horrific shootings at Virginia Tech, gadfly attorney Jack Thompson was not the only one who was quick to place blame on violent video games.Noted T.V. shrink Dr. Phil McGraw appeared on CNN's Larry King Live last night to discuss the rampage. During the course of the program, the following exchange took place:
LARRY KING: Why, though - OK, you want to kill someone, you're crazed, you're a little nuts, girlfriend drops you, why do you kill innocent people?... Dr. McGraw, are they treatable?
DR. PHIL: Well, Larry, every situation is different... The question really is can we spot them. And the problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me - common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high.
And we're going to have to start dealing with that. We're going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murders of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose.
Full transcript here.
Comments
When dihydrogen monoxide is combined with ground refined wheat, "the grist" as I like to call it, and a dangerous moldy fungus, you produce the very vile substance that can be found paired with these depraved individuals: bread.
The facts speak for themselves: ban the hydride and demon-wheat-yeast loaf! Future generations will thank you.
the guy was Asian, that much we know.
so obviously he trained to murder all those people using Dance Dance Revolution...
DOJ study: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/165476.pdf
Section about self defense starts on page 8.
More from Kleck and a critic or two can be found here: http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdguse.html
It's ALL his fault.
Doctor Phil is a twit.
Are you just trying to get a rise out of the general populace with your incredibly ignorant remarks? Who the hell are "we" that you are talking about? Considering people from ALL nations (that includes the United States) undertake some of the most degrading violations of human rights and their worth, can you honestly judge who has more value on human life? When ignorant people like state your opinions as if fact, quote, "keep in mind that Asians, Koreans, etc. do not value human life like we do either." I have to wonder where you get your information that you can make such swarthing remarks about an entire race of people. You must have personally talked to EVERY asian person in the world and then compared them to EVERY other person in the world (and considering there are over 6 billion people... you must be incredibly fast about it as well) and then drawn accurate verifiable conclusions. I have met many asians, koreans, etc. (what the hell is etc? does that include white, black, hispanic, norewegian, spanish, portugeuse, brazilian, russian, czech, slavic, middle eastern, french, english... need I go on? does this etc. include moronic persons as yourself?) that have a great respect for human life and do what they can to preserve it.
Oh yes... Americans have a GREAT respect for life... that is why innocent middle easterners were beaten and killed post 9/11, that's why America is named as one of the worst violators of human rights by amnesty international. That's why an American soldier RAPED repeatedly a 67 year old woman in S. Korea. What great respect you all must have.
You can take any one instance and generalize it to the whole. There are people of all nations that respect life, and there are others who would decimate it. Part of valuing human life also is respecting others, your lack of sensitivity and general bigotry to those who you call immigrants (and they come to universities here to learn... do you honestly think that Americans are the best and the brightest... that's why america lags behind even third world countries in education levels of their children. Those that learn in the US general contribute to the world as a whole in a constructive way? What have you done recently that you can call worthwhile?
Also, read a little more will you? You will notice that he has been in the United States since he was eight years old (moved to the US in 1992 the current year is 2007, 2007-1992 = 15 years, he was 23 at the time of the shootings). If anything, he has been ingrained with American values... what does that say about what America teaches?
It is interesting that many of you brought up the issue of mandatory service in the Korean military. I doubt that he had done his military service yet unless he plowed through his work and became a senior in the span of two years as the service time in the military is 2 years 2 months. So if anything, he learned his shooting ability while in the states. Most of the time, the SKG gives extensions on service if you are going to school.
Don't be so ignorant to believe that America is the honest, shining example of a country that you believe it is, wake up and actually read news OUTSIDE of the US.
Another thing: They posted the search warrant on CNN... VIDEO GAMES WERE NOT FOUND. You can easily take video games out of the ideas of this guy doing what he did.
---
Now that THATS out of the way, some of the comments already made clear that he wasn't singling out video games, he was just using it as a example. He was stating that other types of media were to blame as well AS video games. I'd personally say that Video Games do make a decent example as they are a target of criticism most of the time.. so it doesn't surprise me that it was used as a example itself.
He's focus overall was violence in media with the example of video games in his speech.
Stamping mental illness warnings on IDs would do more harm than good. Firstly, not all mental illness cause anything near the scope of what happened at Virgina Tech. Secondly, even of the so called "dangerous" illnesses, it's a select few who react with violence. One of my friends- known him for ten years, at least, by now- has Schizophrenia, and is also Bipolar. Contrary to popular belief, people with these illnesses don't generally start being violent when they have an episode. My friend instead faces a wall, and cries.
As for me, I've played videogames since my hands were big enough to wrap around an NES controller. Hell, Final Fantasy taught me how to read. I played Wolfenstein 3D and Doom in kindergarten. I was a master of headshots in Perfect Dark. I study medieval longsword as a martial art.
I've not once so much as punched a person, in fact, I abhor violence.
And as for those of you expressing abject rage at Jack Thomsen and Dr. Phil- I even noticed a few wishes of death in this comment list- way to perpetuate the damned stereotype for all of us gamers.
-Etaos
Also, i think Violence in the media in this case, is a separate issue, because clearly, that's not the cause of some guy packing heat because he was pissed at someone. It goes much deeper than that, and to suggest that it's something as simple as 'he played violent games, and watched violent media' is ridiculous. I'm sure we all have a favorite movie with a great action scene where someone lost a limb or died in a gruesome way, only because we can take comfort in knowing that it's just Hollywood effects.
Expanding on that, it's too easy, especially in this day and age, where games have more focus on realism to just point a finger, and get a reaction from people who just don't bother to ask questions about something so trivial. If you have an opinion, express it, but at least have something more concrete than "cuz i said so" in a manner of speaking to back up what you say. Freedom of speech is a right, but not using your head before you exercise that right is just idiocy.
/me points at Dr. Phil
What if Dr Phil was president when the space shuttle columbia blew up? I bet he would have blamed russia because common sense says that russia had a a space race and arms race with us back in the 70s and they still hold a grudge.
AMIRIGHT?!?!
The police apparently know who the shooter is, but refuse to disclose his identity at this time. However, he is supposedly a 24-year-old Chinese male who came over to the United States on an education visa last year. He was living in the dorms.
First off, it's illegal to have a gun if you're on a visa in this country. Second, the serial numbers were filed off. Third, keeping guns in a dorm is against the policies of most universities. While I can't vouch for Virginia Tech, I'm betting it was true there.
He also had buckets of ammo, a bunch of extra clips, and he chained the doors of the building shut. This makes me believe it was premeditated.
Also, if he really was 23 when he came here from China, it's very likely that he's already put his time in with the Chinese military, so he's had military training.
That's about everything I've heard, and it's very possible that some of this information could be wrong. We won't know until more information comes out. But, from the look of it, he'd been planning this for a little while, and I certainly don't think video games were the reason why.
Yea I know, the only thing we know for certain about this guy are a few vague details. If the public doesn't know WHO did it, than how does Dr. Phil know WHY it happened? This pales in comparison to JT on the news yesterday blaming CounterStrike, before the bodies had even been counted.
@Zerodash
I think the shock of the community comes more from how quick the blame was placed, not so much that video games have been brought up.
I would like to see that research. Because I can see that making sense by counting crimes that were solved (criminals arrested) vs any time a gun is used.
You try to sneak into my house, I fire a warning shot, you flee. I call the police obviously, and the records show I fired a gun in self defense, no criminal.
That would make sense.
Et Tu Phil?
Are you really that stupid to say such an inane and mind-bogglingly stupid thing? Here are some things that, when mixed with a "psychopath, a sociopath..." can cause violence:
Coffee
PMS
Twinkies
Signals from the NSA on your teeth
Maybe the crucial factor is .... wait for it.... the fact that a person is either a (or prone to be) a psychopath.
Oh Dr. Phil, your years of reducing complex problems to simple solutions have taught you better than this... why do you betray me when i need you the most? *sniffle*
The only thing I find more sad than the incident itself is the sheer number of people getting into position to use this tragedy to further their various political goals.
I hate the way poeple use "common sense"
Common sense is not a good indicator of anything:
Common sense told us that the earth is flat.
Common sense told us that the sun must go round the earth, because it obviously looked that way.
The common sense argument is often used to stop a discussion in its tracks.
And common sense is used by creationists to cast doubt on real scientific fact.
Facts are not decided by a comittee, common sense is.
Thats why you should wait until you know the FACTS before you open your mouth Phil.
Because such a great deal of Americans are retarded and think they can protect themselves with weapons if necessary. Guns are only effective if you're the only one having them, everything else will just result in a shootout.
Compared to the rest of the industrial countries, America is the wild wild west, and that is nothing to be proud of.
Change your constitution!
What is it with people trying to sensationalize this? I mean really! The “Jack Thompsons” and now “Dr. Phils’ out there are already using this event to push their own agendas. Very limited information has been released and there’s no way they can draw conclusions on what’s happened. It’s sick!
Ted Bundy.
Jeffrey Dahmer.
Joseph Ball.
The Zodiac Killer.
The Bloody Benders.
Robert Berdella.
Juan Vallejo Corona.
Charles Cullen.
Albert Fish.
John Wayne Gacy.
Randy Kraft.
Gerard Schaefer.
Robert Lee Yates.
The connection? None of them played video games. And, I could go on. Now, "Doctor" Phil. What do you have to say about that?
He's the House of the talk show circuit.
The scary part is is that Dr. Phil is actually someone that parents will listen to. If he says to throw out all your kids video games, parents will DO it.
"Why not change the US’s gunlaws?
Because such a great deal of Americans are retarded and think they can protect themselves with weapons if necessary. Guns are only effective if you’re the only one having them, everything else will just result in a shootout.
Compared to the rest of the industrial countries, America is the wild wild west, and that is nothing to be proud of.
Change your constitution!"
Although I am European, I don't fully agree with this statement.
Canada has similar laws, but far less crime.
The point is, the US does a poor job in keeping guns out of the wrong people's hands. No constitution can influence that. Criminals will allways find a way to get to guns.
A more logical (For the US at least) solution is harder rules for getting.
Even so, such tragedies cannot simply be avoided with a ban on guns.
The have or have not the right to bare arms does nothing in crime prevention.
I am an American living in Europe and I can see how bans on guns would work in a place like Sweden, for example. But as I've tried to explain to my Swedish friends - whether it's a gun or a rock or a big stick - people in America are significantly more violent and will find a way to kill other people no matter what.
If someone robs your house in Sweden, they're likely to take what they want and leave without much or any violence. This certainly isn't always the case, but on the whole people really have no reason to fear home invasion here.
It's different in the US, and in especially in a place like Los Angeles where I used to live, where forced entry into your home is much, much more likely to result in some level of violence, and even rape or murder.
And I think the differences in social climate have a LOT to do with cultural differences that are vastly removed from guns, violent entertainment, or any other such factor.
As Americans, we have a long history of violence. This country was founded on it, we've continued to live through it, and we're engaged in it now.
We're also a considerably more oppressed nation than most others (relative to our status and achievement). Our continued puritanical views on homosexuality, for example, are something we should have done away with ages ago, instead of continuing to obsess over them as if they represented the end of life as we know it.
And we're an extremely capitalist nation. We don't offer people much security in terms of health care or retirement, and we offer them little more than a tax cut when they have families or adopt children. And while we allow people to build vast empires if they work had enough, we also allow those empires to exploit us and abuse people for profit. The meat packing industry, for example, is an American tragedy. Do you really want shit in your hamburger, and why are you tolerating it?
It's all in the very fabric of the American social construct. By nature we're on our own, living in perhaps the most competitive culture on the planet, with little or no welfare from or trust in our government, and a bent toward violence as a solution to problems.
Whereas, in a place like Sweden, your college education, all of your medical care for life, your pension and retirement, they're all guaranteed by the goverment. And while Sweden DOES have the highest taxation in the world, this also allows people to relax a little bit and enjoy their lives. They can happily accept less glamorous jobs like working at a clothing store, because it doesn't determine their success in life or their status on some social ladder, and they know that regardless they will be provided for.
This gives them energy to worry about other things, like environmental issues, and the fact that as a country recycling is a mandate. Not only that, but ecologically safe foods are everywhere on store shelves, as well as fair trade items which are a bit more expensive but guarantee better wages for farmers who struggle to compete with larger food companies.
I'm not comparing the two countries by any means, but I am saying that when people try to distill violence in America to an issue like gun control, they're forgetting how the entire climate of the country contributes to these issues, and I'm offering my experience here in Europe as an example of how different countries with more healthy societies are able to avoid these issues.
Video games are not the problem.
Trust me, we have much bigger problems than GTA...
No! Phil is a good name! My dad's a Phil. Plus, Jeff is a good name, too, even thought us Jeff's have a mass-murderer in our history. Don't let a no-talent ass-clown define your namesake.
Not all americans live in cities. I lived on farms in the deep south before. Sometimes an animal gets put down, sometimes predators trying to eat your stuff. If you live deep in the country and someone comes around to rob you, the police aren't coming for at least 30-40 minutes.
For home defense, someone is a whole heck of a lot less likely to come rob you knowing full well you have an assault rifle, shotgun, or pistol laying about. It is a deterrent. Gun control would just mean theives will be armed and you will be capped.
What really hurt me is how these media junkies are already pushing agendas before the bodies are cold. They don't care that 30+ people are dead, with as many wounded. They care they will get to push some moral agenda on the country. Guns, Games, Movies, Music, none of these are the issue. Sure each one of them may trigger a psycho, but that person was mentally unstable to begin with. There is no sense of personal responsibility these days, it is always something's fault
Eh? According to a DOJ study by the rabidly anti-gun Clinton administration, and a previously anti-gun criminologist Gary Kleck in the mid '90s at the height of the gun-control movement, guns were said to be used defensively 1-2.5 million times per year. Compare that rather large number to, say, 9.9K criminal homicides, 128.7 assaults, and 126.1K robberies committed with firearms in 2005, and explain how people are "retarded" to think they can defend themselves. Even skewing to the lower projected number of defensive gun uses, 1,000,000 > 265,000.
When are people going to stop blaming everything else take responsiblities themselves?!!
I am socializing artard, I'm logged on to a MMO-RPG with people from all over the world and getting XP with my party using team-speak!
It's an MMORPG. These are real people I'm playing with. See, I'm a hunter, level 2. I can chat with all these other people. I can even wave to this guy, see? Hello. (character waves back). In the outside world, I'm a simple geologist, but in here… I am Valkorn, Defender of the Alliance. I've braved the Fargo Deep Mine, defeated the bloodfish at Jarrod's Landing.... err... what!? why!? why!?
The real issue here is guns not video games. The real cause of these deaths is guns. Mass murders in schools and colleges seem to be a unique American feature. Psychos like Cho are present everywhere. And they do end up committing violent acts. But put a gun in a psycho’s hand and the level of violence multiplies. Despite the huge list of psychopathic rampages, it is odd to find people defending the loose gun laws.
I fail to understand why a normal person should have semiautomatic weapons in his home.
The worst line I hear is ‘Guns are not the real cause, even without guns a madman will kill anyway’. Let me give an analogy to the idiots who use this statement. Psychos like Saddam will kill with or without WMD. So lets make a quick buck selling biological and chemical weapons around the world.
The point, dear supporters of the right to bear arms, is that having weapons in free circulation is a bad idea. The good guys will not use them. But the bad guys will use them with deadly effect.
Me (counter argument):
So we abolish the 2nt amendment. Which is by far the most important amendment of all (It protects us from the Government if it ever decides to become too powerful) according to our Founding Fathers. Sooo, theres 300 million people in the US. There are 250 million guns in the US. If it became illegal would this happen??:
Good guys who use guns for protection, hunting, not killing, "Oh crap guns are illegal, now I have to turn mine in. darn it."
Bad guys, "Damn, guns are illegal. Well, I dont really give a shit whats illegal or not, if I did, not like my tech 9 is registered anyway.
??
If the 2nt is repelled, then no good guys will have guns to defend themselves and all the bad people will still have guns (as if they were all of a sudden going to follow the law) to kill the defenseless good people with.
AND. The Government will continue to slowly erode the rest of our freedoms (such as free speech, as they are doing right now) and the Dems will continue to spread their laissez faire towards the American culture and society. If this is the case, America will no longer continue to exist in 50 years. At most.
Shuddup. Dr. Phil and Jack Thompson, two people I'd like to send on a rocket to the sun for their moronic and horrible use of tragedy to push an agenda.
Maybe he was just frustrated that he was a senior majoring in English with no idea how to use punctuation properly.
Anyway, back on topic. Just ONE part of what Dr. Phil said was true: "Violent media in the hands of an unstable person who's lost all aspects of reality are going to take the fantasty and treat it as the reality". However, saying that video games program kids to start becoming that is complete BS. It's like a revised version of Jack Thompson's arguments about games.
A reply to his "Theory"
Stop letting kids have guns.
On the subject of the guns, frankly had he wanted to he could have done considerably more damage and killed more people with simple homemade explosives.
On the subject of making guns sales harder with more checks, did he have a previous history of violence? A criminal record of any kind? She we deny the right to own a gun to aliens? People on student visas? You can deny certain rights on the basis of a previous felony or other major criminal conviction.
were those people that asked you that doing it in a serious manner or a smart-ass one? just out of curiousity.
It must be nice to be an idiot and get paid for it. That reminds me of another Texan...;p
It's so irrational to blame a video game on a homicidal rampage.
People are so quick to blame anything but themselves. What was this kid's family life like? Was he treated poorly by fellow classmates? teachers? etc? History of mental illness? Low-blood sugar?
There will always be more to a story, things we'll never know unless we can read peoples' inner most thoughts.
Games don't kill people, hateful people kill people...
People haven't addressed this fact enough: Virginia Tech students are legally ADULTS. So introducing legislation and political agendas based on this tragedy over the thin veil of protecting the children is contradictory and dishonest.
Onto Quick Draw McGraw: You know, this guy is smart unlike another opportunist we all are acquainted with. However, he is speaking in the context of an exceptional person wherein his mental stability was, lack of a better term, unstable and immersing himself into any form of violent entertainment is bound to give him some sort of idea(s).
This isn't to say that the killer DID immerse himself into that kind of thing like some people would have you believe.
What really grates my teeth are these agenda-seekers whom inject their dysfunctional insight that have little to no relevance to the issue at hand. Anti-Gun zealots would push the gun angle, Thompsonists would push the gamer angle, and a racially-motivated nationalist would no doubt try and spin this into a racial issue.
In America, idiot shit talkers can say what they want and unfortunately, news outlets let them have their 15 seconds of fame. However, I think we should be worried more about their mis-guided actions (legislation) and not their emotionally-driven opinions that have no factual basis.
Virginia Tech shooting statement
Danny Ledonne, creator of “Super Columbine Massacre RPG!”
4/17/2007
This week here in April of 2007, the press is awash with stories about the shooting at Virginia Tech – the deadliest in recent history. Will we remember this tragedy in a week? In a month? In the years to follow? I certainly hope so. I hope we can learn from such sobering events as Virginia Tech, as Dawson College, Ehrfurt, Columbine and all the other horrific shootings modern society has endured. So often the potential for another shooting is just around the corner should we forget the lessons history has to offer us. This process of reevaluation, introspection, and a search for understanding is the value I believe my video game offers to those who play it.
The question I've been asked so often lately has been, “will you make a game out of the Virginia Tech shooting?” My answer is “I will not be.” I will not be because it has not been something that I am personally connected to; the shooting at Columbine (which hit so close to home for me – literally and figuratively – during my sophomore year of high school) was not only an American tragedy in the broadest sense but also a clarion call for change in my own life. Having said this, one might ask if I think an interactive project (a "video game") about the shooting at Virginia Tech can be made. My answer is “absolutely.” Societies throughout history have dealt with pain, tragedy, and suffering with art in a multitude of forms and ours is no exception. There will be poems about this shooting, there will be books about it, films about it, paintings about it, and indeed I do not believe the medium of interactive electronic media should be excluded from exploring the sorrows and challenges of the human experience.
Currently at Virginia Tech, there is much talk about “community” and “solidarity.” This was also the case after many other shootings around the country and indeed around the world. Will this community endure in the years to follow? Will we care enough about each other tomorrow to reach out and connect with those who “don't fit in,” who “don't seem normal,” who “always keep to themselves?” The answer is ultimately up to all of us. I do not believe that the cause of such atrocities are ultimately unknowable; I believe there are complex but clear conclusions to be drawn from the school shooting epidemic. I hope in the years to follow we are willing to be honest with ourselves in confronting this challenge. In summary, no school shooter has ever said, “I feel connected, understood and valued for who I am.” This much should be instructive.
I just read the play as well. It's not so much the subject matter that strikes me as unusual. It's rather the fact that the play never really goes anywhere or has any kind of message in place to justify the violence. It's just ugly for the sake of ugly.
It's also very poorly written from a technical standpoint, but if that means anything I'm not sure what. I guess I kind of see at as being more of a fantasy piece than a legitimate assignment.
This poor level of journalism is the fuel on an already out of control fire. Is it any wonder politicians are so out of touch when the media itself is always looking for a scapegoat or a soundbite.
Just my $0.02
If that is really his writing than he was really messed up.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a