By now most of you have all heard about the tragic mass shooting that occurred in Texas, but there was also a less covered mass shooting in Ohio to cap off the shit weekend in the United States. Of course those in power looked for a scapegoat and decided once again to blame gaming for this tragic loss of life.
Old Donald piped up in a press briefing to blame the video games industry, Hollywood and the internet for this mindless act.
He said:
“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society”He went on to say:
“This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this.”
While the old dude sort of has a point on glorifying violence, the issue is not quite as black and white as he makes it seem. People across the globe watch violent movies and play war themed or horror themed games and they don’t have the same mass shooting issues in other countries that we are seeing in the US. You might think that it’s due to the ease of which US citizens can access a firearm, but it’s pretty easy to get a gun in Canada, and in Switzerland there is a pretty high rate of gun ownership per capita. Though there was no mass shooting in Switzerland in 2019 and the last time they did have a mass shooting was in 2001.
The US has had six in August alone. Yes, you read that right, six. A total of 34 people lost their lives and 71 people have been left injured. It just boggles the mind how politicians always go on the attack against the gaming industry every time there is a mass shooting.
Now old Donald also blamed the internet for allowing people to find dangerous avenues to radicalize their already disturbed minds, though I kind of agree with him here. There are tons of places for people to spread hate on the internet and there have even been a few cases where even old Donald has spread hate faster than butter on a hot piece of toast. But to blame video games is a long and drawn out excuse that has seen countless studies proving this not to be the case. Sure if a person is already disturbed and has a frail delusion of grandeur through acts of violence, then violent movies and video games are not helping their situation. However this seems to be more of a healthcare issue in the US and not a violent movies or video games issue. Maybe old Donald can reroute some of that extra income from those higher tariffs on gaming hardware and goods to pumping up mental healthcare in the US.
However, old Donald was not the only politician blaming the gaming industry for these horrific acts, there were a few oldies from the Republican party who piped up and added their voices to vilifying the gaming industry. Both Kevin McCarthy and Dan Patrick (both Republicans) went on the attack and blamed video games. Now, we all know that a hand full of Democrats will be jumping on the same bandwagon in the coming days, so don’t think that it is just a Republican thing.
But at the end of the day, 32 people died in these two senseless attacks and countless people have had their lives directly affected by these attacks. Our condolences go out to those affected by these heinous crimes committed by these cowardly assholes. And the best thing we can do as a gaming community is to stick together and help those who need help within our lives. If you know someone showing tendencies toward violence then please contact your nearest police department as you might prevent a future act of violence like what we saw on the weekend.
