Dr. Keith Ablow visited America’s Newsroom on Friday (9/13/13) where he delivered another one of his crackpot “analyses” which, in this case amounted to a conclusion that guns don’t kill people, video games kill people. Host Martha MacCallum seemed to agree.
MacCallum began by noting that three of the mass shooters of recent note were big video-game players. She added, “Many health professionals believe that these games inspired several of our nation’s mass killers.” Not surprisingly, she didn’t say how many professionals thinks so nor did she name a single one.
MacCallum continued by acknowledging that it was “not only about video games” but that the individuals were disturbed. Nevertheless, without making any attempt to isolate just how important a factor the video games were, she said, “We were told after these disasters that a lot of different things needed to be addressed. And it doesn’t seem that there’s a whole happening in the video game arena. Should there be?"
Of course, Ablow thought there should be. He called it a “bankrupt argument” that only a small minority of video game players wind up committing violence. He “explained”:
These are drugs. Yes, some people can use cocaine and just have bad judgment. Other people get addicted. And still others become violent on drugs. This is a drug and the outliers are at risk. Yet this drug has no warning from the Surgeon General on it, which it should, and it’s legal when most drugs are not but this is just as toxic.
Let me say that I am no fan of violent video games and I do not feel they are healthy. But to say that they have the same physical effects as a narcotic and suggest they should be treated the same way is the kind of thing I’d expect a real news host to question (and let’s not forget that America’s Newsroom airs during what Fox says are objective news hours). Or at least ask for proof.
But not MacCallum. She seemed to feel that her role was to help further Ablow’s thesis. She said, “There’s no doubt that these videos desensitize even the healthiest of children to some extent, right?” She went on to complain that while “there’s been an attempt to deal with guns,” the same is not true for what she called “the mental health part of this cocktail.”
To listen to both MacCallum and Ablow, the only mental health issue to address is video games. MacCallum asked, “Where’s the bumper sticker? Where’s the outrage? Where are the groups on Washington? Where’s the fight over this, Dr. Keith?”
Ablow replied:
It’s maddening because guns are irrelevant to this problem. All of these killers… are mentally ill. We have a crumbled mental health care system that can’t address them. But more than that, we’re exposing people most at risk to a new and toxic drug called ‘virtual entertainment’ and the worst of it are these violent video games.
Guns are irrelevant to the problem of mass shooting? You can chalk that up as another far-fetched theory that MacCallum didn’t question, much less challenge. Instead, she again deliberately gave it credence. She said, “It is poisonous and you know what? Parents need to step in and take these things out of your kids’ hands. They are dangerous.”
Ablow said, “Yes, no different than having an open bar in the house or lots of drugs.”
MacCallum closed with further props for Ablow. “Great point. Great point.”
Video below via Media Matters.
But hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day so even the blowhard can get one right every once in a while. But the rest of what he said is of course, worthless.
At one point, one of the states around the delta of the Mississippi (LA, MS, AL or AK) actually deliberated on the opportunity of banning a Disney cartoon that portrayed the three little pigs as one white, one black and one pie-bald. The supporters of that bill felt that this was an outright invitation to inter-racial marriage (they clearly knew nothing about Walt Disney’s politics).
Simply can’t make that sort of stuff up.
1) Doom causes Columbine: Neither of the shooters even liked Doom, they were so counterculture that anything they could have liked, they didn’t the second is was popular- but Doom had a map maker. Harris used the map maker to make a map of his school to plan the shooting- Something he could have done with a pen and paper.
Apparently this all slipped past the scapegoaters of the time, because they also tried to blame movies and bands the shooters didn’t like because of their self-stigmatization.
2) What is there left to say about Jack Thomspon? His own kid was killed by a gang member that was related to someone he was bragging about trumping up charges on. Thompson could not produce one other case of violence inspired by the franchise, or even back up his ridiculous claim that his son’s killer needed GTA to learn that a baseball bat can be a weapon.
Futrthermore, Thompson is about the biggest case of selective prosecution that ever lived, because he only goes after games from Rockstar- A company which, when his son was killed, he had personal issues with the founder and president, Dan Hauser around the time his son was attacked.
3) Literally every other case: No shootings were tied to Lethal enforcers. Boys didn’t start fight clubs over SFII. No one tortured turtles over Mario. Kids didn’t steal swords and slashed up their street over Zelda and Ninja Gaiden. All of those cases were made up by… gasp Christians and Republicans!
Literally every case- Made up by the “moral majority.”
You want cases that come with proof and testimony from offenders? Backyard wrestling and NASCAR inspired street racing. Oh, wait- The people they cater to think those are part of the religion- ABORT!
And FYI- When GTA V comes out on Tuesday, chances are you’ll only see me again when someone wants to watch TV, or I’m posting from work.