Progress on the video game front but for the wrong reasons
by David Atkins
Politico has a simultaneously gratifying yet depressing story on the issue of video game scapegoating in the aftermath of the Navy Yard shooting
In the wake of the Washington Navy Yard shooting this week, cable news hosts quickly honed in on the shooter’s obsession with playing military-style online games, repeatedly asking whether it was a factor in the mass shooting.
But that line of questioning was all but missing on Capitol Hill, where hardly a word was uttered about video game violence. Instead, Democratic lawmakers and anti-gun groups focused their efforts on the push for a vote on background checks legislation. It was a stark contrast from previous shooting tragedies and also a clear sign of the investment video game companies have made in making friends in Washington.
“I think you are going to have crazy people no matter what. The same argument was made when movies were invented, same with comic books, same argument that comic books are going to cause violence,” Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) told POLITICO. “I think people like to assign blame for something. Otherwise it’s hard to make it fit in their mind of why someone would do this. Sometimes I think bad things just happen.”
When asked about the connection between gaming and mass shootings, other lawmakers pivoted to talk about mental health, background checks for buying guns and how government contractors obtain security clearance.
“The culprit is people aren’t getting either the help they need and then when they try to get help there is not a good reporting requirement,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said speaking to mental health issues when asked about the relation between video game violence and violent acts like at the Navy Yard. She also said she supported background checks legislation and that security at schools should be addressed.
The fact that the witch hunt against video games is subsiding is a good thing. As more and more video game players become reliable voters, playing Harold Hill in River City over video games will die as sure a political death as the scapegoating of dime novels, pool halls, comic books and Bruce Willis movies. The evidence is overwhelming and varied that video games do not in fact lead to significantly greater violence, the strongest of which is the obvious international comparison:
But the problem is that in Congress, it isn’t that cooler and more rational heads are prevailing. That would be a pleasant fiction. In reality, it’s the money talking.
Sales of Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V just rocketed past $1 billion, vastly eclipsing any other form of entertainment and setting industry sales records. That kind of money doesn’t just indicate a significant number of voting customers; it means the ability to lobby and buy votes in Congress. Which appears to be exactly what’s happening.
In modern American politics, even when good things happen they often do so for the wrong reasons. The power of money tends to be absolute, for better and for worse.
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