Give me a break, VT shooting blamed on video games

I play violent video games, and I have yet to shoot anyone

Dr. Phil is a fucking quack. His target audience is middle aged single women that are looking for guidance in their lives. If it comes out of the mouth of Oprah or Dr. Phil, it must be true.

Dr. Phil is pointing out that the issue is if you start with a kid who is already messed up (mental illness) the video games can make it worse, and give a direction for what to do in their messed up minds.

Only idiots try to figure out why something happened long before the time is adequate.

Are you really going to tell me that people who are psychopathics and psychotic are just magically going to be better because they didn’t play violent video games?

The problem is people who don’t pay attention to the movies and games their children play and watch.

Yeah, and I agree with Marc. Dr. Phil is a nut. Why should I follow the diet of some overweight quack? You’d think if it worked so well he would try it himself.

The thing that people aren’t getting, though, is that this guy is one of many Korean teenagers that gets sent to the States to study, leaving family behind early on. This lack of family support can be extremely rough on many, and this is probably half the problem that the shooter had.

At least, upon hearing what of his background I have heard, this is what I assume.

I just have to say that that quote “mass murders of tomorrow are the children of today” is my new favorite line.

It’s like saying that “statistically speaking, every person who ate pickles in the year 1890 has since died”.
You can’t be disproved, but at the same time, you’re completely right.

Personally, i think Dr. Phil is one person that should dissapear form the face of this planet, i dont care how, but it shuld happen.

Also since there is no proof that video games were the cause of this, there’s no excuse for blaming them.

Next, if the US government tries to even pass any laws regarding the sale, or development of said violent video games, we have a major problem on our hands.

I read an article about the shooter being obsessed with a girl.

Well I’m sure Dr Phil is on to something here, “all people who will do anything in the future were at one time children”.

That’s a more obvious connection then trying to tie in video games… espeically given the number of serial killers who lived long before these game systems even existed. Unless Dr Phil is suggesting that they were obducted by space aliens, transported to the future where they played Halo, then wisked back to their original time to have fun with real living things.

Dr Phil, you’re a douche bag.

This event happened a day ago and already we are trying to put the blame on something other than the person who committed the crime?

I want someone to explain to me why Dr. Phil would have anymore knowledge of this event than any other person out there. I guarantee Dr. Phil doesn’t even know if the kid played video games in the first place. He’s just trying to get in the spotlight with his “expert analysis”.

Its far too soon to try and put blame on anything other than the person in question.

According to his roommate, the only thing he did was stared at his desk and played music.`

“DR” Phil
is an idiot.

i guess that PhD degree didnt cover the study of MENTAL ILLNESS

you know what a PSYCHO is, “Dr” ???
…
go back and read over the DSM, idiot.

So I’m going to actually argue on behalf of Dr. Phil. Okay, I’m not going to argue for his point, but I’m going to argue that its not nearly as retarded as its being made out to be, and actually gets closer to what the actual issue is.

He’s not blaming video games by themselves. Hes painting a picture where video games do have a psycological effect on people with mental problems, specifically those with inclinations towards violence. Thats a preposterous suggestion? Come on now. Hes not saying ban all video games. Hes saying we have to look at the issue wholistically, realize that video games can play a big part in the psychosis of these individuals, and figure out how we want to deal with it. I’m also sure that Dr. Phil realizes that theres other issues at play here, including the media, which downright sensationalizes these events, parenting, and a gun and violence-oriented culture. Not one of these issues is the cause of a school shooting. They’re ingredients that, when mixed with the right individual, create a deadly mix.

We’ve got two choices to make here, is the issue one of genetics or one of society? All of our research tells us to look in the direction of society, or at least not to ignore it or downplay its role. So lets assume we’re going to say societal factors, issues of upbringing and socialization, are playing a large part. What goes into this? Everything the person has experienced in their lifetime, to varying degrees of importance, is going to have an effect. And if a person with an obvious psychosis sees violence glorified in a videogame, yeah, I’ve got to believe they’re going to be affected by it. They’re also going to be influenced by the media, which sensationalizes these events. They’re going to be affected by a culture which embraces violence, which readily makes guns available, which has had a long, sad history of violence. So yeah, saying video games add into the cause isn’t that ridiculous in my mind. But banning them isn’t going to solve the problem. Banning guns completely isn’t going to solve the overall problem of violent individual, I’m sure the kid could have used one of the many knives he owned to take out the people in the residential building, at least. The challenge is finding new ways to root the evil out of our social consious. And I don’t know if thats really possible, as we still have huge problems with racism in this country, and we’ve been combatting that social issue for over 100 years now.

I’d also like to take this moment to quickly mention that the idea has been floated, disturbingly frequently, that allowing college students to carry weapons in the classroom could curb these incidents. As a college student myself with many friends attending Virginia Tech, this hits really close to home. The incident was a horrifying reminder of the times in which we live, but in some ways, the knee-jerk reactions have hurt even more. The suggestion that we resort to vigillante justice, that we ask our fellow students and children to become killers and shooters themselves, strikes right at the issue at hand. Now is a time for love, for rememberance, and for reflection. The amount of hate speech out there right now is just not a part of the healing process that we must undergo at this time.

This is horseshit. I wrote a paper a while back about this very topic. It’s too long to post here, so if you guys get a chance, check it out here:

http://matrix2022.wordpress.com/2005/10/24/gta-forever/

Alan Rager,

He’s been here for nearly 14 years.

The problem isn’t anything near what all the shrinks and liberals say. Actually its the opposite! The problem is that people who are bullied are told day in and day out that it isn’t right it isn’t normal and they deserved better and they should get piitty. When it doesn’t work out the way they’re told it should they lash out like this. The problem in this world is a fundamental mentallity shift from telling people to try to deal with their problems to telling people to think their problems are normal or fair. What people need to be told is that the world isn’t fair, there are winners and there are loser, you can change your position but the way to do it is by having confidence and impressing people not killing them. It isn’t the bullies fault it isn’t the worlds fault its the way life is get over it and find a way to use it.

Normal people don’t shoot at people if they see it happen on screen, no matter if it’s a game or a movie. Only someone with some kind of mental problems would do that.

It’s interesting when easy-access to gun is not to blame, at all.

While not living in America, I can only comment from an outsiders point of view.

There is no direct link between what a person does in his leisure time and how it changes their perception of the real world. If video games where the root of all evil, then after playing GTA, Doom and HItman. I would be psychologically profiled as an ideal candidate for going on a mad killing spree while driving a stolen car.

Does the same apply that If I only played Super Mario Bros, that I would go around jumping on peoples heads and eating mushrooms.

I like most 20- 30 year old males have been an avid gamer since I was young enjoying games ranging from pga tour right through to HL2 and GTA.

I have as yet felt the slightest urge to take what I consider to be a therapeutic exercise in relaxation and anger management, and apply it to my own reality.

The problem with a terrible tragedy like this is that, when you have a situation when any old idiot and his brother can walk in somewhere and buy a gun, then chances are the law of averages will kick in and things like Virginia will happen.

Do I think the faculty Staff could have done more to help a clearly sad and depressed young man? yes.

Do I think the other students around him could have done more to make others aware of his mental state? Yes.

How many of us have seen other people in need of help but walked by?

Do I think Gaming is at fault? No.

Dr.Phil is a glorified soap box Quack, who’s ethical stance on subjects can be outweighed by his need to sell Book’s and audience ratings.

Why do people in his position feel the need to jump on the bandwagon of a clearly terrible tragedy and use it as a vehicle to inflate an already inflated ego.
I would be more concerned by evangelistic messages by Dr Phil and his kind, than an hour a day on Stalker or Half LIfe.
Watch one of his shows and see middle America await with bated breath on how he will save there lives. Sad !!!

Why not look at the fact the guy had a gun in the first place, and start from there.

Just my opinion.

Thanks.

this sounds way too much like kindergarten, preschool and the early years of classes with the backwards-ass mentality that the entirity should be punished for the minorities screwups. If I lose my violent video games I will have to become more violent in the real world, because I will have nothing to take my anger out on in a safe environment, where the biggest reprocussion is I get killed in game, or lose a few bucks in game.

the fact that this Dr.Phil muppet has to specifically say that they need to be psychotic or mentally unstable to begin with is a clue as to his backwards style of thinking. Rather than blaming the video games, perhaps someone should take a look at the kids, their school. Christ, if the occasion calls for it, the parents. All this bullcrap about ‘being more like cops and the army’ rather than ‘neo or Tommy Vercetti’ is garbage too. Turn on the news and you see real violence, real people, cops, military personel shooting other people, in the real world. I bet the gun and bullet proof vest the guy wore were military or police issue, too.

Okay, so tell me if I understand this correctly.

Dangerous VIDEO GAMES are the source of violent actions by psychotics and sociopaths?? OK, then, say we took away all of the violent games, better yet ALL video games in general, {lets not discriminate here}. Would people finally realize just how much REAL violence that children, and society in general, are exposed to through the nightly news, war coverage, even nature and history shows/stations, and not least, the simple act of LIVING in urban ganglands/ghettos/insert local wasteland here???? Or would they “possibly” find a new scapegoat?? ie comic books, morning cartoons, Library Books???

So, just what, again, makes Dr. Phil a “doctor”??? Because Oprah told us so???

Fuck that……becoming a psychopath is not something that you learn…its something borne into you…its something that is egged on by an outside stimuli, not a make believe video game….and oh ya…what video game was jack the ripper playing?? what about every other killer when video games were not around…

“Dr.” Phil is about as much of a Dr as McDonalds is a good hamburger.

not only that, but Jack Thompson was on TV monday afternoon i think saying the same thing -,- so yea. and i have yet to hear one thing of him even playing video games.

Wait, what music did he like? Either rap or rock could be to blame. Maybe he liked comics/anime. I’ll bet he had a MySpace account! No, it’s violent movies… I mean television….

There was a comic that once said, whatever happened to someone just being crazy?

self aggrandizing fucker

There is a relation… But I can shoot dogs in any video game with a gun and a dog… Nobody makes a fuss, nobody blames video games on animal cruelty.

But to be fair on all sides, look at the positives of video games… Nintendo’s Dogs for instance, keeps a child aware of how to raise a pet. But even then, the parent’s should have input, to make sure the child is raising the puppy as they would in real life.

Carry that over to violence, and where the hell are the parents to make sure the kids know it’s fake, it’s appeal is that is is fake, that we know we shouldn’t go on a shooting spree…

Let’s look at movies, what about The Godfather? Did NYC raise a fuss about that? yet they raise a fuss about GTA4? Doctors can bs all they want. But until Dr. Phil stops his show whenever there is questionable content on his parent network, he is no better than anyone.

The VT shooting wasn’t because of GTA, it was because we’re a redneck country that loves guns… It’s that simple, and it will always be that simple when rednecks are manipulating the Constitution to keep semi-automatics and teaching their kids to shoot animals for sport… Eventually, the child doesn’t see the line between man and animal, they see targets either way. GTA has little to do with it, just makes for a convenient scape-goat instead of Dr. Phil saying ‘redneck’ on the telly.

The definition of redneck in this case, is anyone who hides behind the Constitution as an uneducated jackass who would love to carry a Deagle in public and uses the Constitution as justification.

Anything is good in moderation, Dr. Phil has to say what he did, because if the public shows they can’t properly curate and control their kid’s media consumption, it is up to the source to then cut itself off from the public, it’s part of their responsibility. So yes, I’m defending Dr. Phil, because probably 1% of those who commented understand his public role these days, or have thought about it in detail. Calling him a fucker just shows you don’t know much about how the world actual revolves, just how it revolves around you.

Wait a min people.. Dr. Phil is right:

“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.”

Sadly.. then he opens his mouth again and ruins it. The solution to this problem comes not from removing violent video games but from paying attention to the warning signs of someone who is suffering from mental illness.

Blaming violent video games is simply a way to point the finger at a location other then where it belongs.

I find it interesting that people always look for the easiest way out. Sure video games contribute to people’s acceptance of violence just as much as the movies and media do. But these have been around for a long time, and with the number of people on this planet, it’s very likely that someone, somewhere is just going to lose their shit regardless of the stimuli they have.

But what no one seems to want to mention is the parenting aspect of this. I believe if you’re raised with a certain value system, you see these violent video games as just that. Games. Recreation. A way to let off steam. I certainly don’t think about doing the things that happen in games like Grand Theft Auto. But the fact that I find it entertaining doesn’t make me a bad person either.

I think the real issue is his parenting. It sounded like his parents were still in Korea, but that’s no excuse. The real crucial parenting was done way before when they instilled values in him. Clearly they didn’t do as good a job as they should have because he apparently couldn’t tell right from horribly wrong.

with over 10 million people playing violent video games on a daily basis, at a rate of 30 victims per potential killer, and with around 300 million people in America, its only a matter of time before someone randomly kills Dr Phil. i can’t wait.

GUN CONTROL is the way to go guys… remember “Bowling for Columbine”???? When insane ppl are ALLOWED to BUY, OWN a gun, you’ve got a heck of a problem..

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

And if that isn’t proof enough other countries like Japan are exposed to so much more violence than we are yet no one is going on mass killing sprees over there….

P.S.- If anyone thinks video games still lead to killing people after reading my post ur freakin brain dead. =)

oh Phil..looking at OLD excuses that they used back in the 80s.

If I remember….I think they also used to blame PINBALL for adolescent behaviors back in the 70s!!

Stupid psychiatrists!!! Phil is just a media-psycho-whore.

Also…if Pac Man caused people to change their behaviors..wouldn’t we be eating DOTS back in the 80s?

Stupidass psychiatrist.