I've debated this subject since High School, and from both sides. That's what academic debate is: sometimes you're defending the rights of the disabled, and at other times, you're defending Japan for bombing Pearl Harbor.
In this case, if we're going to blame the video games cited by the College Station shooter's stepdad, we should blame all of the influences found on his Facebook profile, right? Some items are abbreviated and/or paraphrased:
Texas, Palin 2012, Israel, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, NRA, Tea Party Patriots, Blue Bell Ice Cream, Dual Survival (on the Discovery Channel), Michelle Bachmann, "Anything About Guns" (exactly as written), Americans for Prosperity, Repeal It (Obamacare) Now, John Wayne
I'm a moderate Democrat who dares to be friends with Republicans, so to be fair, let's pull all of the NRA, GOP, or Fox News items I've selected above and see what we're left with, hm?
Texas, Israel, Blue Bell Ice Cream, Dual Survival (on The Discovery Channel), John Wayne
Well, I don't see how a Texas boy not love him some Texas (I know that I do). Israel? Wait, does this mean we should implicate "The Jews"? Blue Bell is the best ice cream in the country (according to commercials)...maybe Rocky Road drove him down...a rocky road. Yes, it is a well-founded fact that The Discovery Channel is rife with separatist sentiment (Whale Wars), and...wait just a damn minute!
John Wayne?
Maybe the shooter liked the defiant, self-righteous hero (The Shootist, in fact) who spoke as eloquently with a shotgun as he did with his voice in the movies (to say, bluntly). Perhaps there's a relationship between his early life exposure to this legendary archetype and the death of his father when the shooter was just 12 (cited by CNN).
Maybe he sought a male figure to connect with, and a "world is black and white, good and evil" idol was just what he imprinted on as a kid. He connected with that trusty rifle or shotgun that The Duke carried in movie after movie. By all accounts, he was obsessed with acquiring and maintaining a sizable arsenal.
Is it unreasonable to think that this broken, scared, and lonely kid tried to shelter himself by creating a hero complex that spun out of control? Isn't it plausible that his delusion was so profound by yesterday afternoon that when he was in to the landlord for over $1000, he decided to shoot it out with a Deputy (just like the Old West) because life just wasn't fair enough to him? From his perspective, he stood at his door like John Wayne did in The Alamo, defending the base from a fundamentally evil attack. I guess they should cancel the Fillm Festival benefitting people with cancer. You know, since this is obviously John Wayne's fault.
To say that is no more unreasonable to say that than it is to forward that his obsessive video game-playing contributed to his unique set of moral judgments. Due to a careless sourcing error, a local evening newscast implied just that about an hour ago: his obsessive game-playing drove this shooter to do this crime.
Maybe that is reductive, irresponsible, and an indictment on the complacency of modern media in the United States...just maybe.
Here's the thing: if he hadn't had the video games to dive into, wouldn't he have found a different analogue, like a gun range, hunting, or paintball? What about Laser Tag, which we know to be the true sport of murdering deviants?
Are video games really the gateway drug that leads to people getting real weapons in the dozens? I'd love to see a study showing overweight, pale nerds who play D&D becoming gun nuts only because they love playing Metal Gear Solid.
Sweet Jesus, I just made a grim discovery. His dog's name is Lucy. My dog's name is Lucy.
Based on some media reports, that must make me a psychopath waiting to blow. We may share a similar appreciation for the adventures of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
Back to movies and TV and other sources of deviant behavior later this evening after I eat something. I have some screen captures and critical essays that may very well be considered...counter-cultural in nature.