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Highway Shooters Claim To Emulate GTA
Thanks to Yahoo! for their story regarding teenage stepbrothers who randomly fired at cars on a Tennessee freeway, killing one person and wounding another, and told police they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto's sniper mode. According to the piece: "From a wooded area near their home at the Smoky Mountain Country Club, the boys fired a .22-caliber rifle up to 25 times through a break in the trees at cars driving along Interstate 40 about two miles east of Newport. They said they were bored and decided to shoot at tractor-trailer rigs, just like in the video game, 'Grand Theft Auto.'" According to this IOL/Reuters article, "Prosecutor Al Schmutzer told Judge Ben Strand that the boys told authorities they were mimicking the video game by trying to hit the sides of passing trucks."
Well, there's this: LineRunner Which is close enough. Plus some large vans and firetrucks.
Ok... let's be frank. I believe in Personal responsibility. If I do something dumb, I'm supposed to pay. I believe that if I smoke, I get cancer, I died, I asked for it... but let's assume for a minute that the companies should live under the same rule.
For smoking, this means the following. The fabric industry is the cause of a very small amount of publicly spent medical costs per year. The smoking industry is (indirectly) the cause of the majority of medical expenses per year. However, both the fabric and smoking industries pay the same amount of taxes (at least before the suits). Is this responsible? I'm not sure where I fall on this because I'm still trying to figure out my stance.
On an individual level. Say, I never work out, so I'm fat. I get so fat that I can't work, so I live on welfare. And I completely live off of the guy who takes care of himself and works hard. Is this responsible?
I think I've decided that the smoking industry is the fat guy who doesn't work. I think the same thing about the piece of the porn industry that the justice dept is sueing right now. And truthfully, I think the same thing about Rockstar.
Nintendo and Super Mario cause very little aggression. The one guy's post about mario inspiring violence was marked funny because you never hear about someone killing someone else with a hammer they can't keep from bouncing and playing a tune. However, this is not the first violent act performed because of (at least) some relationship to video games. It's very difficult to argue that these things have absolutely no effect on you. If you see violence all of the time, it's difficult to argue that it has no effect. If you take part in violence all of the time (real or unreal), it's difficult to argue that it has little effect.
All that being said, Rockstar and Nintendo pay the same amount and are recognized as equals. Is that responsible?
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor
The Duke boys never used guns, as they were on probation. In fact I don't think guns were ever fired by anyone on the show. There were alot of car crashes though and at least one sick a$$ jump per episode.
-"The early bird catches the worm, but the late bird sleeps the most"
Yes, this is true.
However, they did have a stock of dynamite-enhanced arrows...
First, these 'children' shouldn't have been playing GTA3. It was designed for a mature audience.
Second, which should make point 1 moot: Did you watch Bowling For Columbine? If you haven't, I strongly suggest you do before you start deciding what actually influences children to do these things.
Kids are smart, way smarter than they are given credit for. Kids read every day how 'Violent Video Games Cause Children To Do Horrible Things'.
Gee, I wonder why when called on their actions they spout out: 'Hey, the video game influenced me'.
Here's some more food for thought: How many people watched full coverage of the event, guns, blood, wreakage, bullets and all on TV? How many children did too? How many events like this are children exposed to every day through various media outlets? (I'm talking real news events here people, not imaginary television shows and the like, but blood and guts live at 6:00!)
Mull it over if you will...
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