I’m not suggesting that video game violence is a direct cause for mass shootings, but I do think that some of the imagery depicted in them has desensitized a lot of people from the savagery, and the number of people who can watch and maybe even enjoy that kind of stuff is far greater than is ideal.
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Ugh, the havoc they’ve caused just by being insensitive. Some day there will be actual evil augmented reality apps, so not looking forward to that.
(Mind you, the thought of people playing the upcoming Harry Potter wizard app around JW Kingdom Halls makes me laugh. Sparlock will be avenged! [There is a flaw in my character.])
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I think people have been desensitized but I really doubts it’s from video games. Reality has long surpassed games in availability and severity for literally any horrible thing imaginable. Why worry about pixels when you can just join an actual genocidal organization or terrorist group?
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Great news. Deplatform the bastards and make them express their heartless free speech elsewhere.
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The gunman specifically references PewDiePie “ironically” (sort of like how PewDiePie is “ironically” a Nazi sympathizer).
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Yup. It’s not the games. We had crusades, pogrums, genocides and terrorism long before we had games.
Games are OTOH, both deflection and cover. Deflection because claiming it’s the games means that you don’t have to look at the ways fixing the problem if you’re not a gamer or “not that kind of gamer/don’t play those kinds of games”. Cover in that the (generally) young men are recruited through gaming communities or gaming adjacent ones. Cover in that when Mom asks “what do you talk about in that chat room?” the answer of “games” tends to lead to disinterest.
But if it wasn’t games, it would be something else. Something else where there is a community of (generally) young, disaffected men and teens that they could sucker into doing the dirty work for them. It’s the same story of violent radical hate groups everywhere.
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oh good
even better 
maybe don’t put TOO much of a burden on your readers to figure out if you’re posting actual racism, or ironic racism to make a point, or ironic racism with no point, or random typos, or drunken nihilism, or Just Asking Questions, or whatever – let’s try to color inside the lines most of the time
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If they’re just joking, could I see their portfolio of other edgy topics that they just joked about?
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And everywhere else as well.
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Waleed Aly is an Australian broadcaster, university lecturer and sometime journalist, a practicing muslim, and a hell of a smart cool guy. He often talks on Islam and ethnic hatred and he always talks sense.
I was just watching him talking about the Christchurch killings on YouTube and he was as heartfelt and sensible and intelligent as he usually is. And over on the right hand side of the screen, along with all the other suggested videos was the gun camera footage from the killings.
We’ve talked a fair bit here about how YouTube’s video selection algorithm tends to make the worst possible choices in its automated race to the bottom, but this is the worst I’ve seen it. Video reported, for what good it will do.
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The same thing has been said about TV, movies, books, music, and so on. Not being able to separate simulated violence from real violence isn’t the fault of the media. Being desensitized to violence (insofar that it doesn’t evoke a visceral reaction) doesn’t mean it doesn’t effect you or that you think it’s a good idea to replicate.
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I’d also note that there is no shortage of real violence in the media.
Teenage boys have been watching war porn from Afghanistan and Iraq on Youtube for twenty years.
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This is not the New Zealand that we adopted when we migrated here 12 years ago and became citizens of 4 years ago. This is not the Christchurch where our son studies —just a short drive away from this outrage— and longs to help rebuild. This is not the fate that our Muslim brothers and sisters deserved. They are also part of us and shared our desire for a quiet life somewhere peaceful. Something we had until that wretched arsehole came here and spoiled it, putting us back on the map in the worst possible way.
Please don’t remember the arsehole’s name. Please don’t watch his video. Please don’t read his manifesto. Please remember the name Daoud Nabi —who greeted the shooter in love and died shielding others.
And please, please, New Zealand: Don’t do anything rash in a desire to be seen to be doing something …
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Yeah NZ is a settler colonial society like all the others - white supremacy is built in and there has always been a vocal white nationalist movement. Similar racism to Australia but less honest/open about it.
The fool has inadvertently fostered a strong sense of solidarity between different communities here. Everyone is feeling it.
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I was quoting anti-islamism. Hence the many instances of “they say” in what I wrote.
To help the victims of this shooting, contribute (any amount) to:
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/christchurch-shooting-victims-fund
Sources and full details: This link was from the CNN article “Here’s how you can help the victims of the New Zealand terror attacks”. https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/15/us/iyw-help-new-zealand-terror-attack-victims-trnd/index.html In that article, it cites http://www.victimsupport.org.nz/ as launching a crowdfunding campaign on givealittle.co.nz. Consider that your donation will be in New Zealand dollars and $1 NZD = $0.68 USD (the conversion is automatic and routine if using a credit card). The crowdfunding site Givealittle charges a 5% transaction fee.
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That is sadly the truth. This crap is like a malevolent magma oozing around looking for a weak spot to break through. Blaming the weak spot while ignoring the magma in counterproductive.
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