As if Jack Thompson's little showcase wasn't bad enough, it's now the turn of the New York Post to bear its fangs at the videogame industry in the wake of the NIU shooting. With the amazing headline (in all caps, yes) of "COLLEGE KILLER CRAZY FOR VIOLENT VID GAME," a pair of sensationalist so-called "journalists" have decided to paint unstable killer Stephen Kazmierczak as an "obsessive" Counter-Strike player.
This unbelievable piece seems to use the fact that Kazmierczak played a videogame four years ago as a way to implicate gaming in the killing spree. Although purely incidental to the entire case, the New York Post has taken it upon itself to make Counter-Strike the focal point of the entire story.
In the game, players use imaginary money to buy shotguns, pistols and other equipment they need to move around an imaginary world in which they're constantly under threat of being killed by roving terrorists.
In real life, Kazmierczak - who had become "erratic" recently after shunning medication for an undisclosed illness - purchased weapons like those used in Counter-Strike, including a Glock handgun and a pump-action Remington shotgun, which he bought legally on Feb. 9.
GamePolitics reminds its readers that the
New York Post is owned by
Rupert Murdoch, who is also responsible for the game-demonizing abomination we call
Fox News. There's obviously no evidence to suggest that this is all part of Fox's anti-games agenda, but since Fox started using tenuous links and conjecture as valid news a long time ago, I hereby proclaim that Rupert Murdoch personally had this story written and is also planning to assassinate Hal Halpin. Mainstream reporting -- the evidence is always there if you
make it up.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
11:05 AM on 02.16.2008
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I repeat: FOX OWNS IGN.
I guess as long as he's not getting in on production, bashing the medium is ok.
http://www.newscorp.com/operations/other.html#
It's about making money. Fox news appeals to mainly republican christens who already dislike video games. So they are going to spin the news in a way that gets them viewers from that audience. By purchasing IGN, they are able to appeal to a different group of people and still profit. Murdock himself is only going to care about whatever fills his wallet.
Maybe just maybe the US really should ban weapons for citizens? Hmmm?
If the dude couldn't buy weapons... he wouldn't have had the chance to shoot people.
So are they describing Counter-Strike, or are they describing the paranoid version of the "news" that Fox et al constantly shove down our throats? Seriously, why doesn't the news ever come under fire for inciting violent behavior? Oh yeah, cause they're the ones on the witch hunt...
Well it has not been mentioned what his mental condition was. Seeing how there's been some mention of anti-depressants, it may have been simply some form of depression. That kind of illness in particular generally is not so dangerous that time in asylum is necessary; the likelihood of something like THAT happening was not predictable, seemed unlikely to go and do something like that. Yes he had a mental illness, but that does not mean that the doctors diagnosed him as "dangerously psycotic" and thought something like this would happen if he stopped taking his meds; if they did see him as dangerous without his meds he would have still been in a hospital until he became balanced enough that he wasn't considered dangerous.
Not to mention he can't be put away if no one thinks to report his behavior... in hindsight, his roommate probably wishes he told someone that the guy stopped taking his meds. Afterall, while it was unpredictable that he would have lashed out in this manner, he could have had any number of other negative reactions stemming from his depression; depression has led some people to self-descruction, such as makig them anti-social, or shut ins, and in worse cases leading to suicide (difference here being that he decided to lash out first)
AHA! So the ineptitude of Fox News infiltrates even IGN? Perhaps that is why IGN PS3 gave Dynasty Warriors 6 a 5.9.
Also, Crazy Person + Guns + Isolation - Meds = Violence. Clearly the biggest part of that equation, Video Games, are to blame.
It's sad that these assholes keep trying to make these connections. I could probably blame it on pants if I used numbers the way these people do.
I think the industry leaders should pursue legal action against them whenever they can. For instance, the Mass Effect fiasco could've flown in court. Valve should make a claim as soon as they take it too far with Counter Strike.
I'd suggest we get a community protest together but then they'd bend that too. "Thousands of blood-thirsty gamers demand blood at protest...modeled after manhunt."
@Grrza
I really like how you compared the quote to the society they want us to believe we live in. It was really insightful of you
@Jim
We in the US are crazy about guns for some reason. One of our constitutional amendments states that we have a right to them. People feel like there's some kind of war going on where you can be attacked by criminals in the streets and you NEED guns for your self defense. It's an aspect of this country I really dislike and people will always argue using blatant fallacies as a basis. Namely "If you take away all the guns, only the criminals will have them and the public will be defenseless against crime."
It's easier to buy a gun than it is to buy a computer in the good old US of A. If we had tougher gun control these school shootings would happen a lot less.
And also, how in the fuck is someone with a history of mental illness allowed to purchase firearms in the first place?!
The crazy fucker just flew off his rocker after he stopped taking his meds.
Did Jackie Boy happen to notice that part? And what about the part where he lived in a mental institution for a year? This guy had a lot more problems than his relationship with Counter-Strike FOUR FUCKING YEARS AGO.
I hate the human race.
"Tabloid" is a also a term to describe the standard sizing format of the newspaper pages that the New York Post uses, though it does also fit into the sensationalist bat boy bullshit you'll see in the supermarket. The Post is basically 25 cent toilet paper with a decent sports section.
New York Times: Bit of a liberal slant, but generally good, reliable publication.
New York Post: Conservative, and has a reputation for being sensationalist and is really just a tabloid.
Fun Fact!
Although it is used as a term for a gossipy, unreliable, rag of a paper or magazine, the word tabloid actually refers to the way a newspaper is printed. If a paper opens from the side (like a magazine), it is, by definition, a tabloid.
"Kazmierczak often would play the video game Counter Strike, a first-person shooting game, the roommates said, but they were quick to add that the game was nothing unusual for dormitory halls."
There it is.
Dammit, you beat me to it!
The NY Post - "ultra-violent video game"
Wow is it realy ULTRA violent? They obviously haven't played a Condemned game.
Crazy guy shaking and mumbling: "I wanna b-b-buy a gun"
Clerk: "S'hore thing, what chu looking fer?"
Crazy: "Kill m-m-many people"
Clerk: "We got that right hurr!"
I live in Canada and we are not allowed to carry weapons and buying one takes a lot of work. From what I have read and heard about, the US is very easy to purchase a weapon.
And to state that weapons could be bought like the ones in counterstrike....WHAT THE FUCK? I didn't know counter strike invented the handgun or shotgun!
Mxyzptlk is a prime example of what I mean by people are crazy over firearms. Studies have shown that you are more likely to accidentally kill a loved one than actually shoot a criminal. Half of the criminals shot in a "Citizen defends self with gun" story aren't even seriously threatening. Take for example a man who killed TWO UNARMED MEN with a SHOTGUN for breaking into his NEIGHBORS house while they were ON VACATION. He "Had no choice but to defend himself" by shooting them as they left the building with the loot? Right.
Guns don't kill people, but they sure as do help expedite the process. I doubt Cho or the IL killer had the connections to purchase firearms illegally.
That said, the New York Post is textbook yellow journalism and should simply be dismissed. Jack Thompson's appearing on Fox News, a channel that is sadly taken seriously by some, that should be gone after.
In the US, states that have concealed carry laws have lower crime rates. Why? Because criminals are less likely to fuck with people when they might be able to defend themselves. When DC passed restrictions on gun ownership, crime rates there went up dramatically. The same thing happened in Britain. Responsible gun ownership is a deterrent to crime, whether you'd like to believe it or not. Torrent the Penn & Teller Bullshit! episode on Gun Control if you have an open mind, they do a great job covering the issue.
Having to endure frequent jewelry store and hallmark card ads for two weeks almost drove me to mass murder, too.
Guns didn't directly make this tragic event possible. He could have just as easily walked in and started stabbing people, or thrown a pipe bomb into the room. Instructions are online, and all the tools you need are available at Home Depot. This young man wouldn't have simply sat quietly just because he didn't have a gun.
In closing, I hate these shootings. What purpose do they serve? How much does it help you troubled soul to shoot people you've never met and then kill yourself? Unbalanced or not, it's cowardly and in the end, the shooter gains absolutely nothing except a six-foot hole.
http://www.toronto.ca/quality_of_life/safety.htm
Look at that list. See how the crime rates in Canadian are significantly less than the US? Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that people can't buy guns instantly up here? I mean, hardly anyone has a firearm for their own protection and yet our crime rates are far lower than many cities in the US. I mean you guys can buy guns at Walmart for chrissakes.
If we want this shit to stop, the companies that make the games... the whole fucking industry, must stand up and say something. NOT run like a bitch.
The fact is, just as I predicted, the NIU killer was into Counter-Strike, just as were the authors of the two worst school shooting massacres in history--at Va. Tech and Erfurt.
I know facts are inconvient things for e-tards, but there they are, and here I am, right, oh so right, yet again.
We need to get you sociopathics kiddies off these murder simulators and back to doing your homework.
Jack Thompson, and quite glad to be
Get a clue.
Jack Thompson, Attorney, and You're Not
Ok your not Jack Thompson and your not funny.
Monkeyspoon5, not about to be disbarred by the state of Florida.
Oh, and one more thing, the killer had stopped taking his meds right before the shooting. Don't you think that had something to do with it? Not a game he played four years ago which, I feel the need to remind you, is a game not a massacre simulator. The fact that you think that a video game is proper training for the firearms featured in the game shows your ignorance in both subjects. But what the hell am I doing arguing with a fake Jack Thompson anyway?
True enough, it's probably a combination of all of those factors not just guns. I shouldn't have just focused on that. Which leads me to what always confuses me about the United States, that they don't seem to focus on those problems enough, and instead focus on spending even more on their military. But I guess that has nothing to do with this discussion.
@Sam Spectre
Agreed.