GTA Blamed for Columbine-style Massacre Planning

bippy writes "A Miami attorney claims that a teen accused of plotting a massacre used GTA to prepare for the attack, RedAssedBaboon reports. Attorney Jack Thompson is the same guy who is trying to link the murder of Stefan Pakeerah last year to Manhunt. Pakeerah was beaten to death with a claw hammer by a friend who, Thompson claims, was inspired by Manhunt. The uproar surrounding the case led to the game being pulled from many British store shelves and Prime Minister Tony Blair looking into a link between violence and video games. It looks like Thompson has found himself a niche." Update: 10/10 19:25 GMT by T : Peter Endean writes "It might be worth noting that in fact in the case of the murder linked to Manhunt, it was the victim who owned the game."

What's so special about police?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's so special about cops and why only in videogames?

Eric Clapton sang about "I shot the sheriff".

Cops are killed in movies and television shows all the time and have been for some six or seven decades at the very least.

Cops are killed in books all the time.

All sorts of people are killed in all sorts of movies, music, books, television shows, plays and even VIDEO GAMES.

** Why is it okay to kill cops in any media EXCEPT videogames/interactive media?
** Why is it okay to kill everyone else BUT cops in interactive media?

It's not like police are some high and mighty upper class that rises above the rest of the world in importance simply becuase of the authority they wieild over citizens.

dont

[drfrog]

blame the tool blame the carpenter!!!

using this logic the boxcutters company that built the ones used in 9/11 would be charged as well

some truths

[TheAxeMaster]

Ok the kid's claim is bullshit anyway, and we all know that. He's trying to pawn off responsibility, and the claim probably came from his parents or some shit anyway.

Fact 1: The game has an MA rating, so any kid under 17 or 18 is not able to buy it (ideally). So how could he even get such a game? Well in all probability his parent's bought it for him, so even if this was some derranged world where his claim was true, it's the fault and responsibility of the parents for knowing what this kid is playing and making sure he isn't playing things he's not supposed to.

Fact 2: The average age of a video game player is 28. You cannot tell a 28 year old what they can or can't play, so they can't get rid of these games. It's not our fault that stores and parents don't enforce the rating system, it's their responsibility.

Re:Such bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually they don't show it, just the garage door closing then you coming out in a police uniform. Maybe they just tied up the cops and locked them in the garage?

misdirection of blame

[forkboy]

This kind of shit has been happening ever since kids starting playing games that involve some degree of violence. Remember the big Dungeons and Dragons scare in the early 80s? People were blaming their fucked up kids' violence on that rather than their own horrible parenting / child's mental illness.

No one wants to admit that the problem might lie with someone they can't sue.

Re:Crank

[Maserati]

And if Pakeerah had been a big Scarface fan maybe he'd have been killed with a chainsaw or a grenade launcher. Nothing to see here folks, just another clueless lawyer shilling for publicity.

Re:What's so special about police?

[Zangief]

Don't forget that books, music, movies, and television shows were already blamed fot violence and decadence of the society. Idiots already failed at proving any relation, so they moved to the next target.

The bottom line is, that people are responsible for their own actions. Any attempt to blame something else for your own actions, is just some cheap lawyer trick.

Lack of Fear

[mrshowtime]

The problem with kids today, is not that they are playing violently realistic videogames, it is that total and utter lack of fear. Nobody today beats their kids anymore, and I'm not talking about abuse. I am the person who I am today because when I was bad, my ass got beat. I was beat by the nuns, the brothers of the sacred heart, my mom and dad, uncles, etc. I deserved to get beat, and it put the fear of God into me. It takes a cold blooded person to pick up a CLAW HAMMER and beat someone to death. The lack of fear, or consequences is one of main contributing factors to this murder, not GTA. I have to also put the blame on the parents. A lot of parents today are "ghosts" and you can't let your kid run free without any checks or balances and expect him/her to not turn out maligned. Still, it takes a ruthless bastard to kill someone with a friggin' hammer.

Re:What's so special about police?

[ElvenMonkey]

The bottom line is, that people are responsible for their own actions. Any attempt to blame something else for your own actions, is just some cheap lawyer trick.

Now if only we can persuade the public about this we might finally start to shift away from this completely rediculous compensation / blame culture. Its rampant in the US and becoming an issue in the UK as well now. Working in a UK college (16-19 year olds primarily), its quite noticeable that most of them seem to try to blame everything else for their problems but themselves; no matter how you explain it to them they will not seemingly understand that they're responsible for the outcome of their actions.
I think thats what is up with this whole case. The Lawyer or his client just will not accept that someone can do something evil like that.. they have to find something to blame, or face the shock that humanity is capable of such acts.

Re:Crank

[iainl]

Irrespective of that particular piece of "damning evidence", I'm more swayed by the actual Police coming out and saying that there is NO, repeat NO link between the game and the murder, and that said media are a bunch of fecking liars for claiming otherwise (note - "fecking liars" may not have been the exact choice of words used in the statement. However, its pretty close to that).

The poor kid was killed as part of a mugging that went wrong. The mugging was planned in order to get cash to pay the perpertrator's drug debts. Curious how the addiction to illegal substances is completely bypassed in a search for blame here.

Re:GTA does NOT promote killing cops

[hesiod]

A half-funny/half-sad response from the other side, yet supporting...

I've never been one to play action games -- give me Tetris over GTA any day. Although I bought my first action game, GTAVC coincidentally, about a month ago. I've always wanted to see gruesome stuff & wanted to kill people. I just didn't (still don't) have the guts to do it. That whole "life in jail" thing works as a pretty good deterrent for me. I act very properly, but inside, I'm very evil. I have the traditional Ma & Pa upbringing, never saw them fight, all that happy shit.

I don't give a shit about the people who died on 9/11. I honestly don't feel sorry for their families. I realize I'm expected to cry for them, but I can't bring myself to. Even though it's an extremely unfortunate circumstance for them to be in, I never met any of them, nor would I have if it hadn't happened. It just didn't affect me, except for how the government responded.

I used to love rotten.com, but I just don't bother any more. I don't get shocked by it, I just look and say "okay, there's another dismembered leg; whoop-de-doo."

I became "born-again" in high school because I thought that would help. It didn't, I still had all those evil thoughts. I believe that some people are just inherently bad. Unless I have some really fucked up blocked memories, environment (except maybe schoolmates & teachers), parentage, video games, eating habits have not affected me in that regard. It's become less drastic over time, but still there.

I agree that it's not the video games that are the problem, there's something else. Maybe it is something that either can't or shouldn't be fixed, but blaming everyone they can doesn't change a thing.