Who Needs Facts? Jack Thompson Blames Video Games for NIU Campus Shootings
Our good friend Mr. Thompson has been fairly quiet recently, only raising a quiet murmur last month with the announcement of the GTA IV release date. With the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University, all that has changed.
JT secured himself a nice little interview with (who else?) but Fox News as a “campus shooting expert”. Mr. Thompson ignored the interviewer’s questions and spent the better part of two minuets claiming that, due to the “person’s attire”, he most likely was trained on a “murder simulator”, or video game to you and me.
Watch the full speech below, but be aware that we are not responsible for your feelings of rage.
[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTu0X8TQ2i4[/youtube]
Just to make sure he was noticed, in an email sent to GamePolitics, Mr. T says
I am certain that the past and future survivors of these incidents will not fully understand why The Florida Bar is seeking to destroy a latter-day Paul Revere… for his telling the truth about companies and lawyers that are spawning, for money, at these types of events.
Giving a response echoed by gamers across the world, Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association had this to say
…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 behaviour 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.
If you feel the need to have a rant about this, get your facepalm.jpg at the ready and head to the new (and very shiny) Ripten Forum
Source: GamePolitics
