Va Tech--Placing Blame
I work in an office environment and this case was all the talk of the office after lunch. Sadly one of my coworkers immediately launched into a tirade about how all of these school shootings and violence in our youth is directly related to "those violent video games". If it weren't for video games you know that no one in the highly civilized United States would lash out and try to injure their fellow beings. I, of course, jumped in and told him there was no proof that violent video games caused such behaviors any more than playing cops and robbers with fake guns or fingers did. His comment, "I don't need proof, we all know these things."Excuse me? We all know this? What -we-?"
So often we jump to conclusions about the cause of the world's ills. We want quick fixes. Getting rid of video games might be a quick fix--or not. But it certainly would not solve the problem. The problem is much more complex. There are many things that have lead up to a decision by the young 23 year old Va Tech student to gather some ammunition and open fire.
posted by Kelly @ 4/17/2007 09:14:00 AM
5 left a comment.--
5 Comments:
Allow me to borrow some verbiage I used in another blog site:
I have my own take on this. This guy was an English Lit. Major. I have always suspected that Shakespeare caused people to think violently. After all, in most of his plays nearly everyone is dead at the end. Therefore, we should eliminate Shakespeare from the curriculi of Universities everywhere. Those that want to read Shakespeare need to have special classes first, and if you are going to carry around a copy of his stuff, we need to make sure that you are licensed to carry it. Any bookstore that wants to sell Shakespeare would need strict government controls and supervision.
As I pointed out in my post, two episodes of violence in the past 13 months on college campuses by foreign students (or resident aliens if you prefer).
So ban all foreigners and problem solved?
Violent video games do disturb me. But so violent movies and television shows.
But banning them won't make evil less evil.
Even if you could have prevented this kid from getting a gun (which would be nearly impossible) he could still make a bomb or find some other way to commit the evil acts that he intended.
I'm getting a bit p.o'd with our European friends making this out to be some great failure of American society and culture. They're ones to talk. By my count the dozens of tragic deaths this country has experienced in school shootings and the like is dwarfed by the horror of state sponsored massacres in Europe in the last century.
Phelonius, you bring home the point, in an odd sort of way, of what I was trying to say. It is so easy to blame this thing or that thing on the ills of society.
But, as Mike points out, Evil will find ways of committing evil. And that is precisely what it is. EVIL!
Our society is so afraid to use that term. For evil to be present you have to have good. In order to judge good and evil you have to have morals and God.
I was so glad to here the references to God in the memorial service today.
I don't know what to say at this juncture, except that I feel bad for the victims and their families--and that includes the family of the shooter.
John, I think we are all grasping at what to say. I think you have said it best. There are really no words for this.
Many of us are reaching out on the blogosphere for others who may identify with their fears, concerns, or even anger.
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