“International Fascism: Microsoft Will Kill More Youth than Hitler.” That is the title of a news posting over at the LaRouche Political Action Committee website, home of the supporters of American political nutcase Lyndon LaRouche. Taking their lead from the New York Post’s sensationalist article “COLLEGE KILLER CRAZY FOR VIOLENT VID GAME”, the LaRouche Camp is apparently blaming “Microsoft’s Counterstrike killer video-game” for the shooting. Never mind that Microsoft doesn’t make Counter-Strike – that’s probably all part of the conspiracy as well. The intended effect, to foster an environment of mass suicide terrorism in the U.S.A., is a by-product of the ‘Revolution in Military Affairs’ policy, organised by Felix Rohatyn and George P. Shultz; the same individuals, who not only helped to install the fascist Pinochet into the Chilean government, but are the prime backers of a fascist Bloomberg Presidency.
We really need to get LaRouche and Thompson into a room together. Then we can lock it and forget where we put the key. Perhaps sweet love will bloom.
International Fascism: Microsoft Will Kill More Youth than Hitler [LaRouche Website via Game Politics]
Jack Thompson must have Fox News on speed dial, because every time a student shoots someone it seems like he’s there, head hanging low, like a vulture, dishing out his special brand of truisms.
Seeing that Jack went out of his way to email me this morning to point out that he was “right” about the shooting being spurred by Counter-Strike, I thought it was probably worth another round of Dissecting Jack’s Lies.
Hit a jump for his confusing quotes and how accurate they were:
The New York Post, not exactly a bastion for accurate and fair reporting, decided that “sick shooter” Steven Kazmierczak’s interest in Counter-Strike three to four years ago made a better headline than the fact that he was off his medication when he decided to go on a rampage in an Illinois classroom.
The man who gunned down five people and wounded 16 in an Illinois classroom rampage was a loner who preferred studying to partying and was obsessed with an ultra-violent video game, dormitory mates said yesterday.
Stephen Kazmierczak, 27, played the wildly popular game Counter-Strike while studying sociology at Northern Illinois University in 2003 and 2004.
“He played a lot of video games, especially Counter-Strike, really loud,” said dorm mate Ben Woloszyn, 24.
Here is the clip of Jack Thompson on Fox News this morning, explaining how the Northern Illinois University shooting was the result of violent video games. My favorite bit is right at the beginning. “Jack, welcome on this tragic day.” “Yeah, I wish I weren’t here.” “You know? Us too.”
We wish you weren’t there either Jackie boy, but there you are anyway, immediately hijacking the interview for your own purposes. The interviewer starts by asking what the shooter’s age (27) tells us about him, seeing as he is more of an adult than the usual late teens that perform these sorts of crime. Jack’s answer? “If you get started playing – for example – violent video games you can uh…you are more likely to copycat the behaviors in the games.”
It’s like he doesn’t even hear the question the guy is asking. The question merely served to pull the string on JT’s back to ready the anti-gaming rhetoric. It’s classic Thompson every step of the way. “You can rehearse these type of massacres on simulators which are called video games and you can…therefor made more proficient in doing this.” He explains that “Counter-Strike Half-Life” was that Cho, the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech Massacre trained on in High School, suggesting that the behavoir of the NIU shooter had the same sort of training. He also cites the shooter’s attire…all black…was also similiar to what the hero in Counter-Strike wears. He certainly couldn’t have gotten the idea to wear all black from anywhere else, could he? What kind of bad guy wears all black, other than a good 50% of them throughout the history of fiction?
Hal Halpin, head of the Entertainment Consumers Association, has issued a statement following the tragic events at Northern Illinois University, events which our dear old friend was so quick to seize upon and blame on videogames. The statement reads: 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. So sad that a statement like this has to even be issued, and that such calm, reasonable statements are ignored by types like Fox News in favour of the ravings of a spotlight-hungry, ambulance chasing loon.
