Another school shooting, another chance for Jack Thompson to slither onto Fox News with his “informed” opinion. In the above video, Thompson uses the Northern Illinois University rampage to provide his usual brand of conjecture and lies, which includes his continued linking of videogames to the Virginia Tech shooting, despite the fact that such a theory is already proven false.
Of particular note is how Jacky Boy uses this tragedy to try and hawk his book. Classy move there, Mr. Thompson. You really do tent your trousers every time you hear an ambulance siren, don’t you? I’ve not read Thompson’s book, by the way, but I know for a fact that it was what inspired Osama Bin Laden to orchestrate the 9/11 attack, and also caused the Stalinist purges.
The truth of the NIU shooting is that Stephen Kazmierczak was not taking his medication and was suffering some kind of mental condition. The 27-year-old grad student was unstable and unchecked. Once again, no proof of videogames “training” him before or after the fact, and once again, mainstream media allows games to be scrutinized before we even know what happened. Some people are pathetic.
Hal Halpin, president of the Electronic Consumers Association, had his own words to say on the tragedy and the early pitchfork gathering done by Mr. Thompson. His words can be caught after the jump.
Hal Halpin on the videogame connection to NIU:
We’d like to extend our condolences to the families, friends and classmates of those who were affected in the school shooting at Northern Illinois University.
Separately, we are disgusted, but no longer shocked, to find that anti-game activists are again rushing to conclusions about what drove Stephen Kazmierczak, the clearly disturbed 27-year-old who police say was responsible for this tragedy, to commit such an act.
Blaming video games for the behavior of the mentally-challenged is vile on many levels. And, as Generations X and Y mature, it is extremely likely that just about all of us have played at least one video game at some point in our lives.
Drawing a parallel between games and violence without any substantive proof is sensationalism for its own sake. This is a sad event, made worse by the irresponsible actions of attention-seekers and the media that has given them a platform for their reckless venom.
Pretty much, is all I can say to that. Pretty much.
