No video games found in VT shooter's dorm

Riigghhtt blame the gun laws. It's not like he couldn't have easily found a gun regardless of the gun laws and while he's at it why not get some illegal drugs to go along with that. I'm sure it's not possible to kill 33 people with a machete or other such weapons. Bombs are impossible to make.. No way he could.. I dunno.. blow him self up with a classroom full of kids or a bus or subway or restaurant like you see happening in some other countries which have gun laws.. nope.. all that stuff would be impossible if only we had gun laws.. that would prevent allllllllllllllll these bad things from happening.. I'm sure 911 wouldn't have happened.. if only we had gun laws.. The OK bombing never would have happened.. If only we had gun laws..

Yeah... Right.. Forget the facts lets just start blaming random shit.

Sent to Dr. Phil today:

"Hey Dr. Phil..! I just wanted to know how your foot tastes now that it's firmly in your mouth after saying that Cho Seung must have been influenced by video games prior to his rampage. His room was searched, and you know what they found? He didn't own ANY video games. Not even Tetris.

Instead of jumping to conclusions and placing false blame on a largely benign hobby, perhaps you should look at the environmental factors that would cause such a violent reaction.

Have you read Cho's plays? I would say, having seen much of his manifesto and having read his disturbing plays, that he had some serious issues with authority figures, especially those in a position to discipline him. I would say that he was, in fact, terrified of his parents and was so "quiet" and such a "loner" because his parents were brutally strict with him, and punished him for going off the hard path they set before him. Perhaps he was even abused as a child.

Of course, blaming the parents doesn't sell books, newspapers, or make entertaining TV shows. It's much better to find a scapegoat that reflects some part of youth culture that you *simply do not understand because you're old* and place blame there. THAT makes for good ratings, doesn't it?

For the record, I'm 36 years old. I've played video games as a hobby since I was 7 years of age. I grew up playing video games regularly, and even worked around them in various careers throughout my life. I also happen to have an IQ of 137, am happily married, and have never shown ANY violent behavior. I'm actually a pacifist, a liberal, an environmentalist, and I'm very politically active. I have owned almost every video game console released in North America at one time or another. Gaming has not retarded my ability to reason, show good judgment, or be a compassionate, empathic human being.

I'd bet you dollars to donuts that Cho Seung was punished severely by his parents, and probably beaten and/or molested. He was screwed up long before video games could have done anything to him, and as he didn't play them, it's clear that video games didn't cause violence in this instance.

In my case, I'm the opposite of Cho. I have loving parents, and I have played games frequently my whole life. And I wouldn't hurt a spider (literally. I capture them and move them outside if I can!)

You're wrong about video games (and music, and art, and comic books, and movies, and whatever other "subversive" youthful things you blame for kids' behavior). Please take your foot out of your mouth, go on the air, and admit that a person's parents, environment and upbringing have FAR more to do with their violent tendencies than ANY form of media could.

If media makes people crazy and violent, then you can't exclude yourself from that equation. What does YOUR show do to people? What do YOUR books do to people? If we find a Dr. Phil book in Cho's room, can we blame YOU for his rampage?

Think about it."

I don't know if this has been said but i just saw on the news now that Cho took a picture of himself with a hammer and it looked like a scean from a movie. then after they showed that the put pictures of GTA up. now seeing this make me laugh so hard. Maybe jack should wait before he talks. When he talked on T.V. I was in the other room and heard it and thought wow what a fucktard who could it be then saw it was ol' jack. then i saw his title they gave him.


My feelings are that the way things are going people will want to get rid of all the bad things and seal people up in round bubbles(squares with harsh angles could be dangerous). It will be a sad day they realize bubbles pop.

-Tia

@ matters: nobody is blaming the gun laws for what happened. I'm only suggesting that somebody with a court-proven record of mental illness should not be allowed to buy semi-automatic weapons. I'm sure Cho would have killed less people with a machete, as you suggest.

Can't remember where I saw it but a report stated that Cho was disturbed even when he was young in South Korea. It went on to state that when he was in high school school he was a loner and all the kids made fun of him. Laughing at his accent, pushing him around and saying "Go back to China". I'd say that sort of treatment didn't help his condition. Instead he withdrew even more. Resentment was probably magnified to hatred because of his isolation and mental problems. Finally he decided enough was enough and decided to end it all. Perhaps he felt like he could find peace in death and strike a blow at the culture he detested at the same time.

I think we can all agree that saying video games made him do it is wrong. I also hope not everyone will lay blame with Cho since many things were completely out of his control. It's easy to say "Cho did it! He was responsible and only him!" but that's how a simplist sees things.

It astonishes me, that they instantly want to blame guns or video games, yet never the people involved. Oh you have access to video games you must want to kill people, oh you can buy a gun you must want to kill people. Damn that's a closed minded way of thinking. Next they'll blame tattoos.

I tend to agree with some of Cho's views, yet i'm not a mass murdering fuck head. Betcha if i went out and murdered a shit ton of people, they wouldn't even look at my back ground, they'd be like ZOMG! he owns BF2 and GTA and look his daughter is playing the Barbie Video game! he got all his training from there and went pyschopathic. Never mind the fact i spent ten years in the military being trained how to kill with out remorse.

People will kill people until the end of days, it is human nature we're not perfect beings, yet moron's like JT and Dr phil (who's a zombie of Oprah, and been in trouble with violence himself) Will keep on blaming things to acheive their own fame and fortune.

Also America's violence, lets look at that. After our founding, we pretty much didn't want anything to do with europe or the rest of the world, then along comes The first world war. America had no desire to enter, yet europe felt the need to be like we need your help, the french just suck and they're making us lose. so we joined, and helped to win the war. Second time around we had the same stance, lets leave them to settle their own differences, and if it weren't for japan, we more than likely would have stayed out of that too. once again the french no help at all, they're like here have these crappy weapons and get in the germans way. Vietnam, started by the french, they got stuck in that quagmire and pulled us in. SO if we were to go with JT's theory on how things happen, we'd have to blame France then nuke them, due to the fact that Cho killed all those rich brats. And if they had been brave enough to think own there own instesd of being lemmings, they may have been able to stop him.

Decreased Brain Activity

The lead study was directed by Dr. Vincent Mathews of the University of Indiana, and presented at the 88th Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago in December of this year. Dr. Mathews' team conducted brain scans, called functional MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), of 38 teenagers, ages 13-17. The teens were divided into two groups. One group of 19 had been diagnosed as having behavior problems (Disruptive Mental Disorders), and the other 19 were "normal." Both groups were given two video games to play. One game was a non-violent car-racing game, and the other was a violent James Bond-type shoot-'em-up. Both groups played the games while having their brains scanned by MRI. According to Dr. Mathews, the MRI scans measured brain activity by increased blood flow in the scanned areas.

The results showed that both groups had decreased brain activity when regularly playing the violent video game. Brain changes were most apparent in those teens who were "heavy users"—"those who played several hours a day," said Dr. Mathews. Though he did not issue any blanket condemnation of violent video games, Mathews did say, "I think this information gives credence to what has become a growing concern about what is perceived as increased violence among adolescents."

Carol Rumack, a doctor of radiology and pediatrics at the University of Colorado, said that the Indiana study suggests that repeated exposure to violent video games is "desensitizing the brain.... The result is that the child can no longer understand the real effects of violence." These conclusions were also confirmed in a discussion with John P. Murray, professor of developmental psychology at Kansas State University. Professor Murray has conducted his own studies of violence using MRI (see interview).

There have been other less elaborate studies which back up Dr. Mathews' work. A story in the October 2002 issue of Computer Game magazine reported that in Japan, Akio Mori, a professor of neurology at Nihon University, said that children are at risk of developing "Video-Game Brain," a permanent suppression of certain brain functions. He examined 240 people between the ages of 6 and 29. Mori studied brain wave activity over a six-month period. The subjects showed a decline in beta wave activity "associated with emotional functions, planning and self-control.... Those who spent 2-7 hours a day playing showed little activity at all."

Training Killers

Another experimental test, done at the urging of Colonel Grossman, confirmed that video games serve as training devices which teach children how to kill. In the Summer of 2000 in Indiana, a study was conducted by a parents' group called the Center for Successful Parenting (CSP), together with a national police group called "Dogs Against Drugs." The results appeared in a report entitled "Video-Game Violent Skills Study," by Tom Stougton. This experiment involved: "forty boys ages 12 to 18, none of whom had ever fired a firearm of any kind. The participants were split into two groups of 20. The control group consisted of the youths who had limited experience with 'first person shooter' video games. The experimental group was made up of boys who claimed, in contrast, to being avid players of these games. The boys in the latter category were required to demonstrate their proficiency by actually playing a 'first person shooter' video game while being observed by local law enforcement police officers from Madison County, Indiana, who are firearm instructors."

The report continues: "After two hours of rigorous safety instruction, each group fired two, ten-shot courses of fire with a .9mm automatic pistol at a human silhouette target located at a distance of 15 yards. The first ten shots were not scored, and were intended merely to familiarize the boys with the feel of the weapon. The second ten shots were recorded and compared. The results were astounding. The control group; i.e., those boys with limited exposure to 'first person shooter' video games, hit the paper target on an average of 85% of their shots, and hit 'vital' areas of the silhouette 75% of the time. Their shot 'groups' were large and dispersed across the entire face of the target. The experimental group, however, struck the target with 99% accuracy and placed 97% of their shots in the vital areas. Their shot 'groups' were as tight as those of highly qualified marksmen."

Grossman, author of two books on the effects of violent entertainment and video games on children, said that the CSP study demonstrates that strong shooting skills do indeed transfer from video games to actual firearms. He also noted, of the Indiana University study: "Basically, this research demonstrates, with brain scan research of large numbers of kids, that violent media causes violent behavior. This is vital information for law enforcement ... and a major nail in the coffin for the media violence industry."

I posted an argument on that article siting wiki, cause they also wrote Microsoft published CS(yeah the one that sold way less copies). Furthermore I wrote about how Valve developed the original and Turtle Rock Studios developed the port. Then I went on with an argument stating guns, video games, and music don't kill people. Insanity is what drove him to kill. Guess they got pwnd. True story, if anyone has the article cached check it out.

silver lining (n.): A hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty.

I don't want to seem happy about anything even tangentially related to this murder spree (I'm a Hokie, class of '03) but this does make JT look like even more of a retard, not that he needs the help. I liked the Chris Rock quote posted earlier in the thread: "Can't the guy just be *crazy*?"

"19. What, NO video games??

And this guy was South Korean?

Houston, i think we've spotted the problem!! I think we *CAN* put the blame squarely on video games. A distinct and erie lack of them."

I know, weird right? those were my initial thoughts too. Hundreds of thousands of frat boys play the Sega xboxes and the Nintendo playstations and with this freak not having so much as a copy of WoW, its no surprise he did what he did.

PS: lol'd at #34

Number one reason why gamers aren't killers:
We're too busy getting to the next level to go kill someone.