Pong killed my father.

Violent media is, in my opinion, highly likely to have an impact on kids who would snap to this degree. Note I said media, not video games. Someone who is prone to mental instability is going to be affected by violent imagery. Note the word prone. If you bring your kids up exposed to violence and sex and profanity they can still turn out just fine. The key, I think, is contrast. With knowledge and understanding of what they are seeing and the moral and societal impact the material suggests they will walk away wiser and more mature- not crazed and ready to shoot their friends. I was sneaking into my aunt's videos and watching all sorts of R and NC-17 rated material when I was all of 5. The difference is when I would get caught my parents would sit down and explain what I had seen and the underlying meanings. They didn't condone it, they hid the shit, but they knew enough that when I did get ahold of materials I shouldn't that they needed to give me answers to what was going on.

This leads to the topic of Censorship. My parents tried to censor me by hiding things I wasn't supposed to see- standard fare. This is right to do. Parents need to monitor and regulate what their kids are intaking, But I sought these out as a kid because of this. And if we impose censorship to the levels that people like Jack Thompson want all we are going to do is pique interest. In a society like that where touchy information is frowned upon and hid kids aren't going to have the benefit of explanations. To make sure I'm not misunderstood: I am all for the banning of sales of violent or inappropriate materials to minors. I am not in any way for censorship though. Regulation is fine; Dictation is not. The point is is that being aware of violence as a child is not a negative thing- Awareness over ignorance.

I'm getting off on a tangent I never meant to but my main problem lies with people like Jack Thompson. This guy finds grieving families and abuses their post-tragedy emotional state to use them as ammunition in his little personal war. He doesn't give a siht about these people- he needs faces and names to market for his crusade. Preying on the weak in this way is about the biggest demonstration of cowardice I can think of. He isn't helping a damn person- he's just trying to make a name for himself.

There are people who through variable conditions and experiences develop the predeliction that could lead to a violent outburst. This is a small percentage of the population. Newsflash: Of the millions of people who have grown up playing video games the majority of us are well-adjusted citizens.

Ctrl Alt Del says it better than I can. Everyone should go to www.ctrlaltdel-online.com and read Tim's statements on this.And it's nice to see a Fight Club reference in this strip- the comic's been getting a bit stale over the past few months. It's usually hilarious though.