April 16, 2008
Watchdog group Morality in Media marks the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre with a press release in which MiM president Robert Peters (left) blames violent media for Hseung Hui Cho's murderous rampage.Peters also refers to court rulings upholding the First Amendment as turning the Constitution into a "suicide pact."
From the press release:
Undoubtedly, there are loopholes in our nation's gun control laws that need plugging, but in remembering that the Virginia Tech killer used guns to slaughter fellow students, we should also remember that the killer grew up in a culture that glamorizes and even celebrates gun mayhem.
...the media [V-Tech anniversary coverage] should also be reporting on the irresponsible TV shows, films, rap lyrics and video games released in the past year that wallow in deadly gun violence and that are popular among children and young adults.
The media should also reconsider its blind adherence to modernistic Supreme Court decisions that have made it almost impossible to hold entertainment media companies responsible for harm caused by their reckless disregard for human life. Surely, this was not the intent of our nation's founding fathers, which never meant for the Constitution to become a 'suicide pact.'
Comments
I'm sure the founding fathers would agree with my thinking on Free Speech, and not yours.
What I am getting at is that lets victimize the perpetrator as a sad crazy man who got him some guns and went on a killing spree only to blame the guns for him being crazy or the media he consumed as some sad and shallow attempt to explain why humans can be vile.
Crazy is crazy is crazy a tool or weapon a book or video wil not remove that fact, intact I would wager it aids release of stress(in legal ways) more than it makes crazy people criminals.
I find this socially reprehensible, the eroding of (excuse the French) fucking personal accountability, he, although suffering from an illness, and perhaps being inspired by literature and shouldn't have a gun in his possession, made a choice to fire that gun, a premeditated choice.
Only that wanker is truly accountable, using a broken system to procure the means to do so.
Preventing another V-tech requires 2 things, an improved mental health system, & tighter gun laws, not the scapegoating of pop culture, which hasn't turned the masses into psychotic killlers...
Cho Seung Hui
Eric Harris
Dylan Klebold
Kip Kinkel
Jeff Weise
Ted Kaczinski
Michael McDermott
John Hinckley
Byran Uyesugi
Mark David Chapman
Charles Carl Roberts IV
All on potent psychotropics AFAIK.
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Papa Midnight
Way to use the very tragic murders of 30+ people to further your own fucking agenda. Shitfuck, burn in hell, you cockmuncher. There, I'm practicing MY right to MY (and here's the key word) /FREE/ speech.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Ben Franklin, one of the greatest minds of our nations history.
"the media [V-Tech anniversary coverage] should also be reporting on the irresponsible [...]"
The keyword here is "also". He's not singling out violent culture as the sole cause of the shooting, he's trying to add it to the many causes that contributed, each in a different way, to the tragic events.
There is not a single issue, nor is there a single solution, and lambasting someone because he is focusing on one particular facet of the problem is being narrow-minded.
Of course it won't, but we need to make our voices heard too.
The first admendment is the foundation of every matter in our government. When people start talking about restricting the 1st admendment, it really worries me. These groups that try to resrict the 1st ad. in the name of morality don't know that if they are sucessful in placing heavy restrictions on the first admend., they would be placing this country's morality in serious danger. Without the ability to critize corruption, libel, and defamation; this country would fall about in a matter of a few weeks.
It upsets me seeing other christians attack the first admendment just hurts me emotionly. I don't mean to bring religion into this but, we (in our faith) believe that man is corrupt. Without being able to openly discuss how dark mans heart can get, chaos ensues. And the first admendment helps ensure the ability to talk openly about these things. This is where I have a strong disagreement with that man about the first admendment being a 'suicide pact'. These christian groups trying to restrict the first admendment would end up hurting christianity itself.
To him.
Even the purpose to look at things that 'glamorize' violence is stupid. There have been movies that pushed the limits of the cultural bounderies since the first motion picture.
Of course Christian wackos like these guys always blame "violent media" because of their refusal to believe that humans are capable of treating other humans like if they're a inferior race.
HA! Yeah, it's the video games, certainly not the butt-rape that's causing the decline of the church!
Did you read my earlier post on a *very* interesting sect of Buhddaism? That's a pretty cool religion.Hehhehheh....
TV? V-Chip and show ratings
Film? MPAA ratings and DVD parental controls
Music? Parental Advisory stickers
Video Games? Parental controls and game ratings.
It's not irresponsible to make these. It's irresponsible to criticize these as being irresponsible instead of looking at the REAL issues.
I remember reading an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader... one of the articles was about driving back when cars were first available to the public. There were doctors who claimed that women (just women) would lose brain equilibrium if they drove over 25 mph. And actually, when the car was starting to become widespread, the church dubbed it as evil. Of course, the automobile (whose name is a bastardization of two languages) has become an integral part of modern life.
These media haters don't have the basic grasp of cause and effect. Many elements in controversial media aren't a cause for bad things happening. They're often (not always) an effect of bad things happening. So instead of looking to the ROOT causes, they just find this scapegoat which is nothing more than effect.
And it, again, goes back to PARENTS. The problem is not that media exists, but rather that media is taking the place of parents for valuable life lessons. If I was growing up seeing nothing but violence, yeah, I might be violent too. But since I had parents to put things into CONTEXT, I grew up relatively well adjusted.
Parents: listen to what your kids listen to. Watch what your kids watch. Talk with your kids. The more levels of communcation that are up, the more likely your kids will come to you for help in difficult moral decisions. Don't blame media for your mistakes.
should be tagged in there somewhere.
oye, whats next for these people to attack when the games thing has died off?
any chance they'll take on the real threat? bad parenting and corrupt government?
hmm nah, on second thought, that'd be to easy to prove. We gotta stick with stuf that can be controversial and hard to prove.
Wow... in 1 sentence they were able to spew enough ignorance for the past century. Perhaps they should have included Jazz music, Interracial marriage, and gay pride.
This guy is an idiot with no regard for free speech.
How can he claim that entertainment media are recklessly harming human life? Hell, Cho wasn't into violent video games and stuff, so why would reporting on "the irresponsible TV shows, films, rap lyrics and video games released in the past year that wallow in deadly gun violence and that are popular among children and young adults."
"…the media [V-Tech anniversary coverage] should also be reporting on the irresponsible TV shows, films, rap lyrics and video games released in the past year that wallow in deadly gun violence and that are popular among children and young adults."
THAT's the quote I wanted.
I am sure they will claim that this makes you program your brain to always want to kill our something along that sort...
Oh, by the way. Robert is a complete dick for seizing upon the anniversary of a horrific event to further his agenda.
There are my unasked two-cents.
Acknowledging that there are "loopholes" in gun control laws and then going into a rant about the dangers of video games makes this peice seem almost ironic. Even if you want to believe that Cho was inspired to murder by Sonic the Hedghog (that was the game referenced in the final report, wasn't it?), he still couldn't have pulled it off without convenient access to guns.
If the media wants to report on irresponsibility, then maybe they should focus onn the irresponsible parents who let their kids watch/listen to/play forms of entertainment made for adults. The world is not made of Nerf, and not all of it is (or should be) appropriate for kids.
Wow, bold statement. I seriously doubt ANY employee within the videogames sector has "a reckless disregard for human life". We're geeks, for crissakes - not sociopaths!
You sir are a fat fat fat fat lard bucket who deserves to crawl back to the depths of heck from whence you came. 31 people killed and you want to use this as a launchpad for your political issues?
Well then you ambulance chasing tub of fat, you are a sick human being on the level of Hitler for doing so.
This time of year we should ask for the souls of those taken away so prematurely rest in peace, we should never forget nor should we use this as a weapon against others. The man who performed the shooting was sick in the head, do not blame guns or games or the media in fact dont blame anyone at all.
What happened to the time where the killers were blamed for the crimes they committed? Now parents groups, media enforcement groups all want a piece of the so called violent media. These people are inconsiderate and disrespectful to those who perished.
So Mr.Media Prez. please for the benefit of this planet go dig a hole and stay there for the rest of eternity.
What in the world does he mean by that? Of course he is an idiot. AS far as I know, the Supreme Court has yet to rule on anything regarding violent media.
So much for that argument.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
Additionally... Where the hell is this guy getting his statistics on gun violence? It's been going down for a while, last I checked. What a sensationalist jackass.
It's not guns, it's not video games. It's a system which fails people. ALL of these people should have been seen as troubled and all of them should have gotten helped long before they snapped. They are tragedies in the truest sense of the word because they could have and should have been prevented had those that known the killers just been more observant.
We’re geeks, for crissakes - not sociopaths!
I resent the inference that those two things are mutually exclusive, I sir/madam/MrGarrison (Circle where appropriate) happen to be BOTH!
As much as a reactionary massacre-profiting tool as this guy is, he may have a point. Think about the american constitution:
The first amendment guarantees free speech thereby allowing the creation of this suicide cult
The second permits the legal ownership of the guns used in such suicides that somehow manage (presumably through bad aim) to take out 30 other people first.
Isn't there also an amendment to guarantee you a trial by peers (AKA: Other sociopathic murdering gamers)?
Damn man, they create the cult, arm them & then give them a way to get off scott free by stacking the jury?? My god its a conspiracy of Thompsonistic proportions!
Do these people actually listen to themselves, even if all the evidance wasn't against them, there redicouls statments would make it seem like there crazy to begin.
it's scary to thing these people are wanting to be the moral compass for society at large isn't it?
Sorry bout my spelling. It's 5 am and i've not slept yet
Ummm, wasn't Cho mentally unbalanced? I'd say arming a fucking sociopath with violent tendacies in his past and a general disconnect with reality would be priority number 1. After all, this kid wasn't a gamer, he was a fucking playwrite. Quick, someone tell it on the mountains, West Side Story is a terrible influence on our children!
Shocking!
Why does the industry sit and do nothing. Admittedly, in this case, this guy is just venting an opinion, moronic though it may be. but I can't fault the man for that, after all, he's not threatening lawsuits or specificly blaming anyone.
But, why is there no counter release from the industry, why no one saying "Hey, you got no evidance to back up your wild claims, we do have evidence that shows your wrong however."
Just a question, but, i'd like the industry to do something other then sit on it's rear like it always does.
a.
cock.
Because it's easier and acomplishes the same thing. They also don't want to risk making a martyr of one of those advocates.
I'm canadian, so I can't really comment on the first amendment intelligently.
I am happy he is not manipulating his organization to attack video games in a real sense, but lots of people trust what he says. That statement may carry some weight with a lot of people. Yuki is right, the video game industry should shoot this one out of the sky.