Mayor of London Links Video Games to Wave of Stabbings
Mayor of London Links Video Games to Wave of Stabbings
June 20, 2008
MCV reports that London Mayor Boris Johnson has mentioned violent video games in relation to a wave of knife crime plaguing Great Britain.
Former Parliamentarian Johnson, never a friend to video games, has previously linked games to illiteracy. In his latest rant, Johnson writes:
We must show young people that knives are not cool, and for that we need positive role models. I want to counteract the damaging influences drug-addled celebrities and violent video games and the lure of the life in the gang by providing opportunities.
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GamePolitics ShoutBox
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:32pm
Aliasalpha: Ding dong the witch is dead eh? Maybe we'll finally be treated as adults here and women can have small tits again!
Aliasalpha: Ding dong the witch is dead eh? Maybe we'll finally be treated as adults here and women can have small tits again!
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:28pm
JDKJ: Survey says no opinion either way. But approval is high among wombats.
JDKJ: Survey says no opinion either way. But approval is high among wombats.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:25pm
BearDogg-X: JDKJ: What does the wallabies and crocodiles think of Skippy?
BearDogg-X: JDKJ: What does the wallabies and crocodiles think of Skippy?
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:24pm
Andrew Eisen: Beardogg-X - Not staunchly, no. However, only one AG has gone on record as supporting an R18+ rating. The rest either stated no position or declined to comment.
Andrew Eisen: Beardogg-X - Not staunchly, no. However, only one AG has gone on record as supporting an R18+ rating. The rest either stated no position or declined to comment.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:23pm
JDKJ: Of 437 koala bears surveyed, 420 disagree with choice of Skippy for interim AG.
JDKJ: Of 437 koala bears surveyed, 420 disagree with choice of Skippy for interim AG.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:21pm
BearDogg-X: With Atkinson stepping down, the question now becomes was there any other AG besides him that was against R18+? His stepping down does make R18+ more likely to be approved.
BearDogg-X: With Atkinson stepping down, the question now becomes was there any other AG besides him that was against R18+? His stepping down does make R18+ more likely to be approved.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:18pm
Andrew Eisen: Well, Adelaide readers seem pleased with Atkinson's decision. 420 out of 437.
Andrew Eisen: Well, Adelaide readers seem pleased with Atkinson's decision. 420 out of 437.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:15pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: Vacant Aussie AG post to be filled by Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo.
JDKJ: BREAKING: Vacant Aussie AG post to be filled by Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:12pm
Andrew Eisen: Flamespeak - Gamecube and Xbox came out in late 2001 with contollers pretty similar to the Dual Shock. You never know thoug. This Fall may be when the standard controller changes from the Dual Shock to a motion wand. *shudder*
Andrew Eisen: Flamespeak - Gamecube and Xbox came out in late 2001 with contollers pretty similar to the Dual Shock. You never know thoug. This Fall may be when the standard controller changes from the Dual Shock to a motion wand. *shudder*
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:09pm
Flamespeak: at a quicker rate these days.
Flamespeak: at a quicker rate these days.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:09pm
Flamespeak: I believe that was launched in the first part of 1998. 2 years seems kind of fast too, but then again the world seems to move
Flamespeak: I believe that was launched in the first part of 1998. 2 years seems kind of fast too, but then again the world seems to move
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:05pm
Andrew Eisen: Flamespeak - Not when you consider Sony's been using the same controller since the PS1.
Andrew Eisen: Flamespeak - Not when you consider Sony's been using the same controller since the PS1.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:03pm
BearDogg-X: Andrew Eisen: I meant that it won't take as many people to change their votes next election. Besides that, it's become a moot point now that he's stepping down as AG as soon as the election's over.
BearDogg-X: Andrew Eisen: I meant that it won't take as many people to change their votes next election. Besides that, it's become a moot point now that he's stepping down as AG as soon as the election's over.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:02pm
Flamespeak: Seems kind of early considering the PS2 didn't launch until well into 2000.
Flamespeak: Seems kind of early considering the PS2 didn't launch until well into 2000.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:01pm
Andrew Eisen: Fleamespeak - I'd say since around the turn of the century.
Andrew Eisen: Fleamespeak - I'd say since around the turn of the century.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:01pm
BearDogg-X: BREAKING NEWS: Atkinson will step down as South Australia Attorney-General; will remain in Parliament
BearDogg-X: BREAKING NEWS: Atkinson will step down as South Australia Attorney-General; will remain in Parliament
Posted 03/20/10 at 09:59pm
Andrew Eisen: BearDogg-X - Not sure what your point about Atkinson having only 8500 votes is, seeing as that's around 65% (of the total votes counted at the time).
Andrew Eisen: BearDogg-X - Not sure what your point about Atkinson having only 8500 votes is, seeing as that's around 65% (of the total votes counted at the time).
Posted 03/20/10 at 09:57pm
Flamespeak: I remember when the NES controller held that honor and the stand alone one button joystick before that.
Flamespeak: I remember when the NES controller held that honor and the stand alone one button joystick before that.
Posted 03/20/10 at 09:56pm
Flamespeak: artistic rendering of things associated with gaming? Even GP has a rough version of one in their logo.
Flamespeak: artistic rendering of things associated with gaming? Even GP has a rough version of one in their logo.
Posted 03/20/10 at 09:56pm
Flamespeak: Just out of curiosity, when did the PS2 controller become the 'standard' for video game controller representation in most
Flamespeak: Just out of curiosity, when did the PS2 controller become the 'standard' for video game controller representation in most
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Comments
Out of touch much? Opinion only? Say it ain't so Boris!
Knife crime in London! seems like the knives are to blame for the knife crime. Kids who can afford video games stay inside and play them.
itisnt the video games it iz the peoples fault
it iz who people hang about wiv andhow they been brought up
i am a 18 nyear old and i have played many video games (manhunt)for example that iz a stabbin game i aint gone out and stabbed any1 dnt blame the videogames it there fault.
Alright. A link between violent games and shooting I could MAYBE understand... IF I were drunk. But when is the last time anyone played a bunch of games where the main objective is stabbing someone?
Life begins and ends with Choice. Anything in your life that unlawfully or immorally steals Choice from you should be excised immediately, totally, and destroyed utterly.
Yeah, the standard 'don't blame me!' speech.
I live in North London, and, quite frankly, Mr Johnson, if you want to stop the wave of stabbings on the streets then give these kids a future. The price of houses means that most of these kids are totally excluded from any chance of a future where they live, they know they are either going to end up in council accomodation or moving out of London, because there's no way on Earth they can afford it.
Mr Johnson doesn't know, with his nice comfortable yearly salary, what it is like to grow up somewhere you don't feel like you are welcome, and London certainly does that, they aren't corrupted, they've just no reason to fit in to a society that is designed to exclude them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4120649.stm
Considering my neighbor was the person killed in that knifing spree, I find it vaguely insulting that Igor here is still playing the blame game.
Not to worry the Mayor of London is really a comedy position, I doubt even Londoners will pay much attention to this. ;)
Gift.
He has just a bit more power than that...
Oh he has the power, in London, but I'm talking wider influence. Red Ken has had minimal impact outside of London. Moreover, in the case of both mayors I'm hard pressed to believe voters weren't laughing their arses off when they went to the ballot box. :P Bendy buses are Doomed I tell you!
Seriously, clever shark as Boris may be that's not the way the electorate see him. He's just a bumbling funny TV presenter to most people.
Gift.
Stabbings? Video games? I can't remember the last time I stabbed someone or something in a video game.
Next he'll be blaming waves of explosions on Boom Blox.
I stabbed some things in D&D last night, does that count?
Don't expect much out of this guy's mouth that isn't rubbish. Whichever morons voted him in deserve all they get for the next 4 years in London.
Doesn't he know that the only way to run faster than everyone else is to take your knife and hold it out while running and occasionally swiping the air so you can hear that satisfying swoosh?
______________
You see, I believe in the noble, aristocratic art of doing absolutely nothing. And one day, I hope to be in a position to do even less!
LOL! Counter-Strike reference FTW!
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
There's a blast from the past, I haven't thought of CS in years.
I don't think anyone takes anything Boris says seriously.
If by "we" you mean parents actually doing their job,and being parents,then I agree 100%!
Come on guys it's Boris.
I love the smell of scapegoats in the morning...
Is it just me, or is the British media & political sphere more opposed to videogames than they are in other western countries? It almost seems counter-intuitive since the USA has more zealots and a bigger culture of fear- but I notice more sensationalist stories from the UK media and political types than anything else...
Well, there's a lot of bluster about it, but the actual response to that bluster is minimal at best. Like the US, we have people in positions of power making comments in ignorance, I don't really think the situation is any worse, just taken from a slightly different context, we are a much smaller country, and so everything that happens here is a lot closer to home.
Everything about the UK press is sensationalist. Throw into the mix a media they have no money invested in and a chance to slate it, and I'm sure you get the idea. The UK press are largely scum, specifically the tabloids.
Oh, by the way, all our Politicians are like him. You're lucky to have a bloke like Obama who can at least give false hope.
No. They really really aren't. Most give at least a hint of competance or rationality. Boris is a useless waste of space, more suited to appearances on Have I Got News For You.
This is the English Parliament we're talking about here.
Yep Yep! Drunken Celebs and Video Games makin' it all cool! That is the cause of the stabbing problems..
Not things like.. y'know.. Abject poverty.. hopelessness, abuse at home or school, mental instability, alcoholisim, drugs, crime, stupidity, poor schooling or any number of social or econimical problems.. either in seperatly or tegether in a crushing weight of reality..
Nope.. it's Drunken Celebs and Video Games!
What's utterly hilarious is the whole 'Drunken Celebs', when he grew up in the 60's where the Stones, David Bowie and several other musicians who spent almost the entire decade bouncing off the rafters, formed the core of his Media upbringing. I grew up with Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam (Named after the hallucingoenic Jam made by the lead singers Grandmother) and various other bands that experimented with substances.
To suggest it is somehow a 'new' phenomena is as laughable as the concept that it is the cause of the stabbings...
Next up, Jack Thompson telling people to 'get real good at a suicide simulator' is identified as the cause of the spate of suicides in Wales...
Aside from the fact that he looks like Gary Busey(Is that how it's spelled), his arguement is shit. Celebrities have been drunk and high for ages and most kids aren't retarded enough to see videogame characters as rolemodels. Typically they reserve that spot for their parents.
-If shit and bricks were candy and tits, we'd all be livin' large. For information on games and psychology, look up:
Jonathan Freedman (2002)
Block and Crain (2007)
Grand Theft Childhood, a book by Harvard Medical School researchers Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson
I find the 'connection' to knives to be tenuous at best. Now an epidemic of sword violence coinciding with some sort of medieval sword-fest game he'd have a better time selling.
then LARPING would be banned.
Who would complain about that?
How many games have you using knifes??? GTA, RE, SOF and Haze are all I can think of.
MGS as well. *holds knife to victim's face* Snake:"speak"
I would blame the parents and teachers on being ignorant about games. There is a reason why ESRB makes an "M" rating on games. There should be something in the school that can teach kids how to properly enjoy games. It seems silly, but it is better than what people are doing now which is banning games and not even learning about them.
Admittedly I'm not really up on celebrity news, but which drunk celebs are encouraging knife violence? If I remember right, about every ten years a drunk celebrity gets stabbed and dies, but that's not very encouraging.
Why do we people elect idiots around the world to run our countries? :S
Because intelligent people have better things to do than politics?
There's knives in most games I have; splinter cell, gta, manhunt, kane & lynch, dawn of war, condemned, neverwinter nights, prince of persia... Most action/fighting type games have knives but if anything those discourage their use on the grounds that they're usually pretty crap as a weapon and only used when you're out of ammo or need a stealthy kill.
No Boris! Don't be taken in by the paranoia of the Daily Mail!!
you seem to be forgetting tha boris johnson is pants-on-head retarded.
The mayor is giving MSM way too much credit for society's shortcomings. I bet he plays the skin flute to the BBC 1 logo...
All I got out of his argument was a new version of "You damn kids get off my lawn!"
Just so we set things straight most of the drugs we are on now were invented when he was a kid.
An out of touch polititcian blaming the ills of society on video games?!?! Stop the F'ing presses *roll eyes*
I would blame gun control.
If he isn't planning to build a colluseum with a nearby oppium den and put on a show with some prisoners and lions i can't possibly imagine how he can replace all of those fine activites with anything better. Maybe he can replace the knives with fully automatic rifles or shotguns with chainsaws attached to them. I would totaly stop using my knife if that was the case.
Good god what console must Hitler have had to drive him to such extremes?Man I need what Vlad the Impaler must have had.Rumours say he found a PS8 in his basement and when he played it he became a crazed mad man that killed all hin his way.Seriously who believes this poop.