The Grand Theft Auto blame-express keeps rolling on as three Georgia teens say they learned to make Molotov cocktails from the game. We must have skipped that level, is it the one with the points for the rape? WSBTV reports that the 15 and 16-year-old youths have been charged with 57 felony counts for a series of "car bombings" by Molotov cocktails.
The real kicker here is that police figured out who the arsonists were by going to the local Wal-Mart and sifting through receipts. One had on it the purchase of "Sprite bottles, red rags and lighter fluid," then the cops pulled the tape for the time of the purchase to identify the suspects. Poor guys, the game allegedly taught them how to make their tools of destruction, but not how to get away with the crime. Pro Tip: Hop in a car and drive until out of the police's radius.
[Via GamePolitics]













(Page 1) Reader Comments
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Of course, it's pretty duh that it's easy to make one. Flammable liquid + container + flame = explosive.
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(Thank you Alone in the Dark).
:d
Wait, what?
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McGruber: Hand me that orange juice...yes, and that bottle of vodka...okay, now give me those ice cubes! Hurry!
Female lead: McGruber, what are you doing?
McGruber: Making a screwdriver!
*Explosion*
MC-GRU-BERRRRRRRR!
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I wonder, did this same blame game happen when "violent" movies first came out? You know, the ones that you CAN actually learn dangerous things from?
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Too long to list the many different events, but I would argue, it was much more dangerous back then than it is today.
Nowadays, somebody tries to blame something like video games for crime and you get blogosphere and public opinion coming to the defense.
I think the real problem lies with the troubled children and their crappy parents who don't know how to monitor or help filter what media their children ingest or who simply don't care. It also takes a child who already has problems (such as reality testing issues) to triggered by a media stimulus to commit such horrible actions.
It's like that mom suing WoW because her son committed suicide. He must have had a severe mood disorder to begin with in order for a game to influence him to do that.
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Kids are unbelievably dumb today. We have actually hit the point where you can blame games for kids doing dumb crap. Just like you can blame wrestling shows for kids jumping off roofs onto their best friend lying on a table.
If a kid does something absolutely dumb and hurts themselves, well that is their fault. You can blame their influence, but in the end it is still their fault.
A big problem arises from their influence causing them to harm others. Once that happens the problem needs to be addressed. Only what are we supposed to do now. 75% or higher of today’s high school students can barely pass a simple history test from ten years ago. If they can't use google or Wiki to find an answer they are completely lost.
Don't mock the problem anymore because it really is a problem. The level of ignorance and lack of common sense in today's young people is far beyond any time in recent history. When I was a kid we did dumb things but nothing of the caliber I see now.
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:(
We've progressed to the mentality that the government and other organizations should be doing the parenting of our children, not us. Parents count on ESRB and movie ratings to decide whether or not the content's appropriate for their kids. There's already a problem there since most parents will use the rating and not really look into the actual content. But the biggest problem is that parents also expect stores to monitor and filter what their children intake. They lay the responsibility of monitoring their kids with STORES. Jesus Christ, do people even enter their own kid's room anymore? It's not that hard to find out what they're watching or playing when it's at home.
And sure, kids are still doing stupid things. But the kids that do these things are either A) good kids wwho are just making honest mistakes, or B) kids who haven't been taught a proper perception of what is right/wrong, or C) kids who are disturbed but their parents won't admit/notice or seek treatment for their children. I think B and C are way more likely.
/rant
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Teen does something stupid = video games.
Media does something stupid = no excuse.
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You really think kids are dumber today? I'd like a teen from 1998 to show me how to make a YouTube video or start a blog or use Google maps to find their neighborhood. Definitions of intelligence change.
Kids do stupid things. They know different things than the previous generation. That's life.
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sign up for youtube service and use "browse" button to "find" your file on your hdd.
Kids are ABSOLUTELY less bright and more ADD prone than they were. You can thank instant access "everything" and immediate gratification in almost every aspect of life.
We are a VERY restless, and MASSIVELY apathetic generation. The TRUE innovators are becoming fewer and more far between than ever
And talking about ADD rates doesn't mean anything, because ADD has just really been "discovered" within this new generation and has become the most over-diagnosed children's disorder. Ritalin has become a quick fix for kids deemed a pain in their ass by their parents and teachers and has partly replaced some parenting and parental discipline.
Also I have to agree with Saria here, and I'd say that 90% of the cases I've seen (based on people I know with kids) have kids just being a good ol' fashioned pain in the ass instead of a child with TRUE medicinal needs...and yet, what's the solution?? Let's give them DRUGS! I think our society's dependence on controlled substances is dragging us down faster than each generation's inherent laziness.
Okay, I'll stop now...
Here we go again..
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Better yet, let's get that dude who did the Britney video to do this: LEAVE GTA4 ALONE!
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"I did poorly on the SATs because Brain Age doesn't teach me geometry."
may need some clarity there, especially considering the number of flaming cars/tanks in the country at the moment.
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now THAT was a funny post.
YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_cocktail
But lets just blame the video games.
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