Grand Theft Auto Kills Three, Steals Car - I Guess It's Fate
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Truth is, despite the fact that we might have been shepherded in a certain direction, many of the same things that I mentioned above would have happened anyway. People have been parroting quotes from books and stage plays long before movies. Young children have been doing stupid and foolish things for all time, and will continue to do so with or without MTV. Women are always looking for the inspiration and the means to change their appearance. The desire to get out of the house and dance was always there among the populace, and the GAP commercial just gave some people an excuse. The underlying social tensions were always there during the 60’s and 70’s. Lennon’s music just expressed it more eloquently then anyone before him.
And people always grow up thinking they are invulnerable, with or without a big red S to wear on their chests.
So video games aren’t going to “re-program” someone to act out violently or not. Those impulses were probably already there, hence his desire to play GTA as often as he did. Trust me, Bassmaster 5000 isn’t causing people to run and go fishing anytime soon. The people who play those games already liked to fish. It didn’t brainwash anyone. And while we all might have violent impulses within us, almost all of us have the self-restraint to not act out on them.
Brain research shows that the brain of a teenager isn’t fully developed in the centers controlling things like “impulse decision.” While this may be another factor in the murder, an “impulse” is something along the lines of buying a candy bar in the checkout isle of the supermarket, not stealing cars, murdering two police officers and a 911 dispatcher.
And we are not talking about a 12-year-old boy named Lionel Tate. We are talking about an 18 year old man, a person considered an adult by almost every measure we use to size up these types of things. And even if we were talking about a 12-year-old boy, the same questions come up.
Where were the parents? Did he even have parents growing up? What of his teachers? Didn’t he have a mentor figure to go to for advice, or impart some wisdom sometime in the kids 18 years of button mashing? Didn’t anyone teach him right or wrong, in church school or otherwise? What of his friends and peers?
If GTA is responsible in any way for Devin Moors actions, then these people also share the responsibility. Quite frankly, they share more of it that a simple video game.
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