I am so sick of this type of story template.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090610/twl-boy-9-shot-dead-in-video-game-row-3fd0ae9.html

It is pathetic, cowardly, lazy inference of cause without stating it as fact.

That's right Mr. Hack, just float the word videogame in there, and give it a deliberately inflammatory header, and then let the stupid prols work out the rest. God forbid that any real reporting is done, you know the type where background and context are vividly painted. The type of fair and balanced reporting the public need to make reasoned judgments. You know, like: What are the two boys like? What is their social/cultural/educational history? Type of family? Reason for the weapon being unsecured? Reason for father being absent while weapon was unsecured? Why was the gun loaded? If the weapon wasn't loaded, why was the ammunition unsecured? What game? Who purchased the game and where from?

But no, it's fine. Just blame the "game" through inference and lets chalk it down to those evil poisoness videogames which are turning children into murders, rapists and thugs. After-all, I mean it's not like this exact article template hasn't been used 9,999,999,999 times before. Oh, wait a minute, that's right... you weren't alive in the 30's, 50's and 80's where those other child corrupting evils were destroying our children – those comic books, rock and roll musics and violent films. Of course, it is all so clear to me now. Oh well, lets just say you are accountable for all the other countless articles blaming videogames for the failings of society.

Afterall, it couldn't possibly be anything else now could it?

I have to sya that that's a very loose basis to write that article about.

The fact that the boys were arguing over a game is irrelevant surely?!

The fact that they were able to get their hands on a loaded shotgun and then started to fight over it is more the issue I would be worried about.

^^ A long rant about something which really has little to do with video games


That is the only accusation, I know my brother has gotten frustrated when I used to beat him at games...To the extent of jabbing each other in the arm or such...If Mum or Dad saw the offender would be punished in some way.

The article says to me: poor parenting, lack of safety and understanding. The cause of the incident was a video game though, no video game, probably no argument.

Ah.


America. Right.


Warning lights flashing...

So the video game content was not the cause. None of these children played Quake and then went on a fragging rampage. For all we know, they were arguing over the Wii controller before they played Cedric Soft’s Flower Picking Spree. They were doing what kids do - argue and fight. If it wasn’t a computer game, it would have been something else etc... The fact that there was a loaded shotgun lying around should be more cause for concern.

But this is the USA, where there is that little “right to bear arms” in the constitution. So this kind of thing is going to happen anyway. The headline should be more like this:
Idiot leaves loaded gun lying around for kids to play with.

Correct. So why does the article focus on the game, inferring through composition and juxtaposition, that it is?




Correct. So why does the article focus on the game, inferring through composition and juxtaposition, that it is?



Ok, to use that logic: No conception of child, no incident. Sentence's logic = Epic fail.

The article hardly focuses on the game, mentioning it once in the title (bad move I admit) and only once in the main body. It mentioned the gun more times.



You could say that, but you're pushing that to the extreme. Had the younger brother not been annoyed at loosing the video game it may not have happened. Had the gun not been there it may not have happened, or had the gun not been the maybe a knife would be involved instead...Whatever, the reason the gun got involved was due to the younger brother not tolerating the fact he lost at a video game.

It wasn't the video game that casued the kid to go grab a shotgun and start to fight over it.

If it wasn't a video game (or if video games didn't exist) it would have been a board game, action man figure, slingshot, etc...

Exactly. Well put.

Playing games such as GTA 4 and inFamous has clearly turned me into a rampaging murderous savage...oh wait.

I suppose the anti-games parade thinks we should all be playing Flower and have the intellectual capacity of a white fluffy cloud. Or is Flower too violent?

+1

Kids get frustrated and fight. I bet their dad let them shoot tin cans round the back after he’d finished mowing the lawn.

If this is an epic fail, it’s a parenting epic fail.