MSNBC Blasts Jack Thompson's Blame of Video Games for VT Shootings

An article, by Winda Benedetti of MSNBC, provides some needed smack-down to religious anti-gaming Jack Thompson's insistence on video gaming as a center piece of blame for the Virginia Tech shootings.

I highly recommend giving the article a good once over, but feel justified in providing a couple highlights for those who want the skinny in brief. Referring to Thompson's claim that Cho Seung-Hui was undoubtedly a gamer, we have since learned:

"Meanwhile, authorities released a search warrant listing the items found in Cho's dorm room. Not a single video game, console, or gaming gadget was on the list, though a computer was confiscated. And in an interview with Chris Matthews of "Hardball," Cho's university suite-mate said he had never seen Cho play video games.

None of this seems to matter to Thompson."

The article goes on to mention the ridiculous letter Thompson sent to Bill Gates and Thompson's various failed lawsuits against video game companies along the way. The article picks up again with:

"And for all of Thompson's claims that violent video games are the cause of school shottings, Sternheimer points out that before this week's Virginia Tech massacre, the most deadly school shooting in history took place at the University of Texas in Austin...in 1966. Not even "Pong" had been invented at that time."

In all, it needs to be repeated that Jack Thompson is a complete jackass. More importantly, it should be stated that Jack Thompson is a jackass for this reason, if none other; His accusations trivialize and ignore the real and underlying causes which exist for this and other tragedies. His nonsense defers attention and muddies the sensibilities of the uniformed who may subscribe to his baseless and irrational claims, diverting needed focus from the aspects of these tragedies that we do need to acknowledge. Namely among those are the issues of depression, delusion, anti-social and violent behavior (in this case expressed through Cho's writing and plays), and of course, how our society and it's officials may have failed to counter-act events which can lead to tragic situations like those at Virginia Tech.

Clearly, Jack Thompson does more harm than he has ever helped. His lies and grandstanding in the name of a cause having absolutely no foundation in reality is wholly reflective of his ongoing and counter-productive irrationality. The public needs to recognize him for what he is, and then move on, forever ignoring his wasteful ranting.

Sadly, he is just the first of many that this holds true for.

read more | digg story