Issue date: 2/2/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Julian Lim Moral Kombat

According to a documentary titled, "Moral Kombat" by Spencer Halpin,
violent video games caused Sept. 11. Jack Thompson, an attorney and activist who campaigned againts violent video games was interviewed for the film. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans.
He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Thompson rejects that such video games are protected by freedom of expression. "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech," he said.
On October 20, 2005, Thompson wrote a statement in which he directly declared what a pixelante was. To Thompson, a pixelante is a monster, child molester and homicidal maniac. He also defined pixelantes as sociopaths with mouses, and pimple-faced geeks who use death threats to drive people of faith and with values away from the public square. Thompson claims that everyone that's part of the digital age is a pixelante. Blaming video games as the direct cause of violence is idiotic. "MS Flight Simulator" did not cause the events that took place on Sept. 11. "Doom 2" did not cause the events at Columbine. In both of these cases, individuals who were already violent were responsible for the massacres.
Before video games, it was the films, rock and roll music and comic books that "caused" violence. Before that, it was radio dramas. Before that it was alcohol and jazz music---basically, it's anything that the older generations just can't bring themselves to appreciate that "caused" violence. If they're going to ban video games, then why not ban religion too? Because in the past, it has been proven that religion caused wars.
A movie, video game or song may put an idea into one's head, but the viewer is the one who decides whether or not to act on those ideas. Blaming video games for failures of parenting is laughable and reflects how unwilling we are as a society to take responsibility for our own actions. Responsible parents should play the games and sample them for themselves prior to purchasing them. If they feel the content is too adult for their children, then they should forbid it.

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