Clint Van Zandt promotes the "violent video game" trope on MSNBC

[blogslut]

Supposedly the shooter played those scary video games to an obsessive level - according to a "friend".

Van Zant jumps on this during blah blah time on the Tweety show.

groan

[Rex]

1. Ask him why we don't have spawn points in real life.

The stupid hurts.

[DJ13]

2. Vid games are easier to blame than anger from rising inequality in an atmosphere of stagnant wages

[gopiscrap]

4. Yup

[VanillaRhapsody]

11. are we going to suggest that a guy with an HP subcontract on Intranet services is

underpaid? I have a feeling ...his salary wasn't his major malfunction...

[gopiscrap]

12. yeah, but he was having money problems and it doesn't matter

if you make a lot or not, if you're against the wall financially, some people will crack.

[DJ13]

13. Theres a report out that his friend claimed he wasnt getting paid

[VanillaRhapsody]

19. Not from HP....that was previously...when he was in Fort Worth.

I heard that too...

[madinmaryland]

3. Clint Van Zandt is a wholly owned corporate tool who is a former FBI tool.

Class A piece of shit.

FUCK THE NRA and all of their corporate tools.

[gopiscrap]

14. couldn't have said it better.

[vanlassie]

37. He comes around like a migraine every time

we have a tragedy. What a horses ass he is.

[JaneyVee]

5. Clueless.

[gopiscrap]

6. fuck Van Zandt he's nothing but a has been asshole cop

who feeds at the trough of gun murder. Of course he's not gonna blame our gun fetish culture.

[dembotoz]

7. guess banning an x box is easier than banning an assualt rifle

hmmmmmm
wonder if the nsa drops in on xbox live

[blogslut]

8. To be fair to Clint - Ha!

Van Zant did walk back a bit by stating that violent video games don't cause violence but they sure are a nifty teaching tool for the violently inclined.


groan groan groan.

[mulsh]

18. I thought that was one the best things I've seen him do. I wonder why he doesn't blame Nickelodeons

and lower order types who spend their time in those dens of iniquity.

This crap has been going on for over a hundred years I never get tired of it.

[Shankapotomus]

9. Well, in his defense

there really isn't enough cops in video games.

[tavernier]

10. Yes, those video games are lethal.

If you fling them at people hard enough you could put out an eye.



WTF?

[MH1]

15. I drink and am not an alcoholic.

That doesn't mean that alcoholism is a fictitious disease.

[Bjorn Against]

16. Grand Theft Auto V releases at midnight

Expect lots of stories about violent video games in the next few days, most of those stories will be breathlessly reported by people who have no clue that Grand Theft Auto is a satire.

[earthside]

17. Part of the holistic picture.

Violent video games can surely be a piece of what creates an ability to engage in this kind of violence for some people.

Just like easy access to fire arms.

Very odd how some folks adopt the very same attitude as the most extreme gun nuts whenever video games are even mentioned as a potential contributor for these mass murderers.

It is quite reasonable to consider that there are many factors that might drive these killers to commit these atrocities.

To stick your fingers in your ears and start mumbling 'nanna-nanna-nanna' whenever violent video games are mentioned in this context just makes you look like a closed-minded reactionary.

[blogslut]

21. The shooter made his own decision.

Ultimately, the reasons/factors behind his decision are irrelevant. He lost control. He broke the moral contract. How he got there matters but you know very well that many talking heads and editorialists will concentrate on the evils of video games, foreswearing all those other factors.

I'm not sticking my fingers in my ears. I am bemoaning the sound bite psychology of so-called teevee experts.

[earthside]

28. That is the NRA argument ...

... killers make their own decisions -- whether with a shotgun, a handgun and an AR-15 like this fellow or with pressure cooker bombs.

I disagree, however.

I don't think that the "reasons/factors behind his decision are irrelevant."

I think that the more we can understand how these unique individuals who have access to mass killing guns, who might have stressful personal lives and might spend half their waking hours playing violent video games turn into mass killers ... the better we might be at identifying these folks before they kill a bunch of people.

No one I know argues that violent video games by themselves create mass murderers, but most reasonable people I know are willing to consider all factors that might contribute.

Really ... I don't know why some folks just go apoplectic when we have one of these events and it is revealed that the individual played lots of violent video games; they are, after all, part of the mosaic of 21st century life.

[blogslut]

29. You attribute behaviors to me that I am not enacting.

First you say that I am sticking fingers in my ears and "mumbling 'nanna-nanna-nanna'." Now you claim I am apoplectic.

I will not reply to you anymore in this thread.

[trumad]

20. I guess they don't play video games

In parts of the world with low gun violence.

[tridim]

22. Playing violent video games at an obsessive level is concerning IMO.

Just like playing with guns at an obsessive level is concerning.

Most of the gamers I know also own lots of guns.

[blogslut]

24. Doing almost anything obsessively is concerning.

But, surely you realize that numerous folks will now play the cherry-picking blame game: "It's the games! It's the guns! It's the economy!"

Who out there will speak out to say that the problem is us? There is something wrong with all of us. These mass shootings have been happening for decades. Decades. They are a public health crisis. We must treat them as such.

[tridim]

25. I'm not blaming it on the games.

But I have seen psychological changes in people who play obsessively. I don't know if you know any gamers, but their level of obsession can be extreme, like every waking hour extreme.

[blogslut]

26. Well, I'm blaming America

This is an American problem and we are not addressing it properly.

[DJ13]

23. When kids can shoot people with a game controller in real life he may have a point

[dkelban]

27. Clint Van Zandt is an idiot

He is nothing but a publicity-seeking whore, making pronouncements about the psychology of mass murders, linking it to video games, revealing he is both irresponsible, and knows little in the field of psychology.

[gopiscrap]

30. I agree

[gopiscrap]

31. BTW welcome to DU

[Warren DeMontague]

32. Let me know when they start in with blaming a lack of prayer in public schools.

With Newtown I think that took about 10 hours.

[RGinNJ]

33. If it's video games than how is it that the Japanese islands are still populated.

Oh yeah it's not the games it's actual guns that kill people.

[MadrasT]

34. I don't understand

why people are so dismissive of the idea that spending a lot of time playing violent video games might be a problem.



It seems to me like it could actually desensitize people to real life effects of real life behavior.

[Nevernose]

36. Three reasons, among many:

1. It's been studied and studied, and nothing conclusive has ever been found.

2. Lots of countries play "violent" video games, have guns, and do not suffer from our insane murder rate. Go back and rewatch "Bowling for Columbine"

3. Before video games it was rap music, and rock music, and comic books, and movies. Gutenberg was accused of promoting violence and immorality among children.

Many people are frustrated because this is, as usual, an attempt by the TV media to oversimplify a problem which is complicated and has far more to do with a huge breakdown in our national psyche than it does with Playstation.

[NuclearDem]

35. Inability to distinguish fantasy from reality is certainly a problem.

I don't play anything below M rating anymore, but I know I'm shooting at pixels and not people.

It's a major problem with empathy and understanding the consequences of your actions.

But there are many, many factors to consider before blaming video games.

[Llewlladdwr]

38. It's always funny watching the gamers squeal...

when it's their ox being gored.

I say ban all violent video games! Huzzah!

[blogslut]

39. Who says I'm a gamer?

I play one game only - Zelda. I don't like shooter games. I also don't and never will own a gun.

My problem is the selective sensationalism by supposed experts. Clint Van Zant is an idiot representative of a bullshit profession. He has no business being on television, spouting simplistic crap.

[Llewlladdwr]

40. Then why do you care?

If you don't play violent games yourself who cares what's being said about them? It's not like the world becomes a lesser place because there's no GTA or Saint's Row franchise in it.

[blogslut]

41. I care because I am tired of band-aid solutions to a societal problem.

I'm not doubting that an obsession with violent entertainment signals that a person might have potential for violence but the games, themselves, are not the problem.

I'm not suggesting that comprehensive laws need not be enacted and enforced when it comes to guns but the guns, themselves, are not the problem.

I'm not suggesting that mass shooters are all psychopaths or that our collective blindness to mental health is anything but shameful but mental illness, itself, is not the problem.

The problem is all of it. The problem is American. There is something wrong with us and we can ban all the whatevers we want - the mass shootings will continue until we address the problem as the public health crisis that it is.

My hope is that that trauma doctor that spoke today will be the catalyst to finally get America and our sensationalist media to knock it off with these simplistic explanations for a societal crisis.

[Llewlladdwr]

42. I agree with you that violence is deeply ingrained in the American psyche.

How to fix that is a whole 'nother story. We can't even discuss this politely or rationally here on DU, no way we can do so as a larger society.

[blogslut]

44. Culturally/Societally speaking, America is a teenage nation.

Last edited Tue Sep 17, 2013, 06:00 AM - Edit history (1)

We don't have thousands of years of having worked through brutality that other nations have.

[ecstatic]

43. Someone who is troubled, plays violent video games, and has easy access to guns

= a disaster waiting to happen. We can't discount all the pieces of the puzzle.