LaRouche PAC implicates games at Va. Tech. review panel
by Kyle Orland 
{ Jun 6th 2007 at 10:45AM }
In the weeks after the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech, the search for answers focused mainly on germane issues like gun control and mental health rather than simple media scapegoating. At least one group seems unwilling to let go of the games-made-him-do-it angle, though. Speaking to Governor Tim Kaine's official Virginia Tech Review Panel, Larouche Youth Movement leader Paul Mourino warned of a "potential epidemic eruption of a 'new violence,' driven, in part, by the mass distribution of killing simulators to youth."In addition to the familiar games-create-killers arguments, Mourino's comments included the remarkable implication that the game industry caused a "media blackout" on discussion of Cho's interest in video games by "pour[ing] millions of dollars into a public relations and damage-control campaign." Mourino cites the removal of a Washington Post mention of Cho's Counter-Strike playing as evidence of the conspiracy; this despite the Post author's explanation that the factoid was removed simply to make room for more recent, more relevant information.
You may remember Lyndon LaRouche from his support of Sept. 11 conspiracy theories, his implication that the British royal family are drug dealers and his stories of Soviet secret police brainwashing of his supporters. So, all in all, there are worse people to have on the other side of the game violence debate.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Myke @ Jun 6th 2007 10:52AM
How the &%^# does these people get office? Honestly
Fernando Rocker @ Jun 6th 2007 10:57AM
Ah, so videogames are bad? That explains why lately I been kicking my turtle and eating a lot of mushrooms...
Morgon @ Jun 6th 2007 10:59AM
"New Violence" ?? Is that anything like the 'new math' they're using to make these comparisons and statistics?
jeff.babinowich @ Jul 23rd 2008 12:54PM
@ 1
LaRouche is not an elected official, he is a convicted felon who has attempted to run for president for the last 6 elections. He originally ran under the Labor party ticket, and now claims he is a democrat but is actually really radical and many people think his organization is actually a cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_LaRouche
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46883-2004Oct20.html
Myke @ Jun 6th 2007 11:11AM
Jeff, thanks for the info. I wonder what made him so off the wall, balls-out insane. I bet he was forced to sit in a room and play Spawn for PSone for 74 hours straight and now he's totally fried...
Chris @ Jun 6th 2007 11:15AM
So, where do I get my hands on one of those killing simulators? Sounds fun...
Luke Stapley @ Jun 6th 2007 11:20AM
If they want to go against violence in video games, they are going to have to go against violence in all forms of media. You can't just censor one form of free speech and not do that for all areas. Pornography in censored in tapes, tv, magazines and other means so that kids can't get to it. If you want the same effect on violence you will have to censor movies, tv, and violence in books and magazines to have a chance to censor video games and I doubt that people will allow that to happen. And with countless cases of game law being found unconstitutional, I guess my point is right.
Jonathan Tran @ Jun 6th 2007 11:29AM
Anyone seen that "Jack Thompson was right" video on youtube? If you search for "nintendo" "shortcuts" there is a video called something like "banned from shortcuts contest" it is funny as hell
basically some guy plays kirby or somethin on the NES and then goes on a murderous killing spree
Jonathan Tran @ Jun 6th 2007 11:29AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLkNNDfFMzo
here you go. Watch this, ha.
HotShotX @ Jun 6th 2007 11:33AM
Yeah, anyone capable of wikipedia-ing LeDouche here, (i.e. anyone on the internet), will quickly find he's some retarded political psycho on his last legs in both age and professionalism.
I say give Jack Thompson another 25-30 years, and he'll be exactly the same.
~HotShotX
danjo1 @ Jun 6th 2007 11:53AM
I'm sure this guy also thinks that there's a rogue helicopter pilot flying around the city:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1hyqA6UTY
Jack @ Jun 6th 2007 12:04PM
Idiot douche.
whosmav @ Jun 6th 2007 12:07PM
There is definitely an epidemic of idiot fuckfaces.
Eric B @ Jun 6th 2007 1:45PM
Yeah so... Best Image ever.
Thomas @ Jun 6th 2007 1:56PM
So now the LaRouch-ians condemn violence? Talk about ironic....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Duggan
alex @ Jun 6th 2007 2:19PM
LaRouche is certifiably nuts, and so are his cult members. They always set up tables here in New York and accost people walking by. Because they are so ridiculous, I stopped by a table a couple years ago and engaged them about the "New Economics" craziness they were pushing along with his politics. Having majored in econ, I'm fairly up on econ theory, and when I countered with well known classical theories, they flipped out and called me a freakin moron, told me I wasted 4 years of education, and actually pushed me away from the table. Crazy!
doom saber @ Jun 6th 2007 5:32PM
/\/\ That's the larouche youth movement for you, Alex.
I, too encountered members of the Larouche youth movement several times on campus last year. Like Alex said, they are psychos who will flip if you question them.
The youth movement is pretty f'ed up. They were talking something about the economic bubble going to pop or whatever. I don't remember. I also remember they protest during Martian Luthor King day?, claiming that gay people shouldn't have equal rights or something. Basically, they try to get more recruits by having stands in front of busy places like a bench on campus of a university or a stall at a local festival. Once you join the group, they eventually sway you to drop out of school so you can focus all your time protesting and fund raising. They claim that school is a waste of time and that everyone can get a high paying job without a college education, saying something like if you are good in piano, you will do well in that profession or some crap like that. They mostly make their money from donations and selling conspirarcy newspapers. From what I heard, when you go to their meetings, it is nothing but a brainwashing lecture where they feed you lies and crap about society. Last year, they seem so compelled to bash Dick Cheany left and right.
I never joined yet they tried to make me join. Sadly, I donated 20 bucks to them to get them off my back. I was planning to use the money to buy porn. I want my 20 bucks back!
Ian @ Jun 6th 2007 4:33PM
He might have a point -- maybe if they outlawed board games like Risk back in the day, world leaders wouldn't be trying to conquer each other today! Right? Right?
Dumbass.
doom saber @ Jun 6th 2007 11:16PM
Like some said, Larouche seems hypocritical. Here is a quote from the wiki enrty:
""Operation Mop Up"
A 1973 internal FBI letter recommended that, as part of its COINTELPRO, the FBI provide anonymous aid to a background investigation by the Communist Party USA, which wanted to eliminate LaRouche as a political threat.In 1973, according to some press accounts, the NCLC adopted violent and disruptive tactics under LaRouche's direction. According to the Village Voice, NCLC members physically attacked meetings of the Communist Party and later of the SWP, and other groups who were classed by LaRouche as "left-protofascists." According to the New York Times, they also attacked CP members on the street and used numchukas (Korean martial arts weapons). LaRouche called these attacks "Operation Mop-up."[23][24]
The NCLC argued that they were acting merely in self-defense, but according to Dennis King, their rhetoric suggested otherwise. "From here on in," LaRouche proclaimed at a mass meeting of his East Coast followers, "the CP cannot hold a meeting on the East Coast....We'll mop them up in two months."[25] His newspaper echoed this call in an editorial"
I guess using numchuckas on people is deemed okay? This is like snoop dogg, who is known to degrade women in his videos and such, defending hiphop and saying how it doesn't degrade women.