Arson suspects claim GTA taught them to make Molotov cocktails

5:10 AM on 08.08.2008   |   Jim Sterling

24 comments

It looks like America has noticed Thailand having all the GTA-blaming fun recently and wants to remind us who the true masters of videogame scaremongering are. The latest farce comes out of Fulton County, Georgia, where Grand Theft Auto has been brought up in a string of car bombings.

Three teenagers have been arrested for the bombings, in which Molotov cocktails were used, and charged on 57 counts of felony. The 15-16 year olds, possibly seeing how readily people are willing to accept the excuse, have naturally claimed that Grand Theft Auto is to blame for their crime, stating that they learned "how to do it" from the games.

Of course, there are no instructions in Grand Theft Auto teaching you how to make a Molotov cocktail or, indeed, commit any crime whatsoever. The in-game world of GTA has no basis in reality, but that likely won't stop the parents of these kids from swallowing the story hook, line and sinker. Anything to shirk responsibility and find something else to blame for their own wretched spawn's criminal activity. 

If kids have learned anything from games, it's that they can be blamed for any and all wrongdoing, and the adults in charge will happily believe them. People like Jack Thompson and Leland Yee help enable criminals by giving them a brand new way of excusing their actions, practically encouraging them. These kids, who know full well that there are no Molotov tutorials in GTA, seem to understand how easy it is to pass the buck onto this generation's source of evil.

[Thanks Power Glove]