In 2004 a US teenager murdered a homeless man. The teenager blamed his actions on his having played violent video games.
Penny Arcade is a blog comic about video games. Gabe, one of its authors wrote a response to the story that ironically(?) blamed the kid’s parents. Gabe then received an extraordinary letter from a reader who claimed to be the murderer’s step-mother. Read all of it. If it’s for real then it tells a tale almost as disturbing as that of the murder.
[…] [Via Pootergeek, who writes: “If it’s for real then it tells a tale almost as disturbing as that of the murder.”] […]
You never hear stories about teenagers who claim that pro-evolution soccer made them go out and play real football. My wife just bought me a cursed PS2 last Chrimbo (I’m suspicious why…) and it just makes me sit jelly-brained in front of the damn telly with absolutely no intention of conjuring the actions of those wicked pixels into reality. I rue the day she brought that thing into the house, but if it were ever to leave, I think I’d probably do a Renton.
Oooh. It’s like a real-life “We need to talk about Kevin”.
Very good book, I recommend it to anyone.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Need-Talk-About-Kevin/dp/1852428899
It takes a little patience at the beginning to get into the flow, but once it clicks, you can’t put it down. Very moving….