NY Post: "College Killer Crazy for Violent Vid Game"
NY Post: "College Killer Crazy for Violent Vid Game"
February 16, 2008
The New York Post, a daily tabloid, has a story in this morning's edition with this screaming headline:College Killer Crazy for Violent Vid Game
The article, written by a pair of Post reporters, claims that NIU rampage killer, 27-year-old Stephen Kazmierczak, was "obsessed" with Counter-Strike, which the paper describes as "an ultra-violent video game."
The Post quoted a former dorm mate of Kazmierczak's, Ben Woloszyn:
He played a lot of video games, especially Counter-Strike, really loud.
The Post article appears to draw a linkage between the player's actions in the game and Kazmierczak's shooting spree:
In the game, players use imaginary money to buy shotguns, pistols and other equipment they need to move around an imaginary world in which they're constantly under threat of being killed by roving terrorists.
In real life, Kazmierczak - who had become "erratic" recently after shunning medication for an undisclosed illness - purchased weapons like those used in Counter-Strike, including a Glock handgun and a pump-action Remington shotgun...
Down near the bottom of the article, the Post also mentions the killer's very short-lived stints in the Army and as a corrections officer. These episodes appear to suggest an unstable nature.
GP: While the Post article seems to confirm other reports indicating that Kazmierczak had significant mental health issues, exactly why the paper chose to focus on his past video game play is not clear. Personally, I'm far more concerned about a disturbed person with a gun than I am about a disturbed person with a video game.
We should note that the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News, which, as GamePolitics readers well know, frequently uses sensationalized reporting to smear video games.
Is there a connection?
Hey, as they say on Fox, we report. You decide.
I'd be remiss not to point out that game violence critic Jack Thompson alerted me to the Post report via several e-mails, one of which arrived under the subject line:
Screw Dennis McCauley and Hal Halpin and the ECA Donkey They Rode In On...
I kid you not.
Full Disclosure Dept: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.
UPDATE: A piece in the Northwest Herald also mentions the shooter's Counter-Strike play:
Kazmierczak often would play the video game Counter Strike, a first-person shooting game, the roommates said, but they were quick to add that the game was nothing unusual for dormitory halls.
Comments
I really don't have the patience to post a comment on all of these articles about the latest tragedy involving the media sensationalism, but I just wish we could do something more than commment here. As much as I hate to say it, I wish we could sue the bastards that report the lies that always seem to be told.
It just...disturbs me.
But that's an argument that will never be settled...
Couldn't someone sue Thompson for Libel and Slander for saying that Cho played violent video games? Honestly, they really could. Same with EA and Bioware for the Mass Effect incident. Sue for libel/slander, and eventually these people will be forced to get the facts right before slamming people.
It's incredible.
The case isn't over yet. The Bar hasn't issued its ruling.
..............oh godammit. Not those fucks. Not the Westboro Bapist Church. No no no no no NO!
LOL! Thanks much for sharing that site with me. I'll have to take a good look at it when I'm not weighed down by a need for sleep.
"…
I.
Hate.
Fred.
Phelps.
I’ve always hated him. Always. And now, even more.
Also, how is this relevent to his “cause”?"
He thinks EVERYONE is gay.
No, really, he does. He's basically using bronze-age bible-thumping to force himself to believe that he and his family are the only people EVER going to heaven, EVER, and everyone else is a godless heathen who deserves eternal damnation.
Yes, he IS that self-absorbed.
The killer was 27.
Counter-Strike was first released in 1999.
Since it is only February, let's assume that the killer hadn't had a birthday yet this year. That means that he would have been 19 when Counter-Strike was released. That means that if Jacko is telling the truth when he says that he doesn't want to ban the sale of violent games just the sale of them to minors then Jacko should not have anything to complain about because the killer was not a minor when the game was first released.
Moreover, as Counter-Strike was originally released as a mod, if such a law were to have existed back in 1999 it wouldn't have mattered anyway since Counter-Strike was free. CS was not for sale until years later.
So either Jacko should have nothing to say about this or he is lying when he has said that he doesn't not want to ban the sale of violent videogames to adults.
Why don't we just give up our hobby and start doing something else? Maybe then these people will keave us alone. I am sick and tired of this crap. If I don't fight, I'm wrong because I'm letting them win, if I fight, then I'll be in more crap about how gamers will never accept criticism.
But if I never play games again, they can't blame me anymore.
I wouldn't be surprised if they've thrown in the original DOOM as well.
See: http://www.northernstar.info/article/2354/
As ALWAYS, this is a case of a person with a psychological disease going crazy. Its much easier and more politically correct to blame something unrelated like games than to actually focus on mental illness.
Are we to believe that games made this guy crazy?
REAL FACTS which surfaced:
He was a B student.
He was seen as respectful to others.
He was not a loner (even having been a part of the chess club in school and having received praise from other college students).
He was on medication for an undisclosed mental condition.
He was released from the Army for an undisclosed condition.
He received praise for his college work, which included work with the criminal justice system, including prisons.
He lived with a woman at some point (haven't seen any interviews with her).
Neighbors say he was, for the most part, quiet.
His medication obviously was working decently with little to no negative side effects (hence, the previous positive statements about him).
His erratic behaviour began shortly after stopping his medication.
So, movies, music, tv shows, books, video games, magazines, whatever, clearly had NO significant effect on the first part of his 27 years of life. Not to the degree of violence he now suddenly showed.
So, what are the potential events that ACTALLY led to this event?
The cessation of his medication may have put him in a different frame of mind than what he had been in for almost 3 decades.
And with that differing frame of mind, some event occurred that set him off. An event which he may have actedly differently to had he been on his medication.
His reasons for going off his medication? Unknown.
The event that occurred during his being off his medication? Unknown.
Speculate all you want. The Truth, The WHOLE Truth, And Nothing But The Truth beats out agenda seeking guttertrash any day of the week.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
So instead of blaming the Army mentality they blame video games.
EVEN THOUGH the main purpose of any army is ultimately to kill and of course not be killed.
Why can't we place the blame on the person who committed the crime? Responsibility.
In other news, a drunk bum at the scene said he saw the devil posses the souls of the living, and that the pink elephant will never be able to play the piano again.
Why does the media not want to blame the individual who committed the act? Because "responsibility" doesn't sell, "sensationalism", at ANY cost, does.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
WTF?
The fact that you can go buy a shotgun at a store is the problem here. Not video games.
jeez
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/02/16/niu_shootings/doc47b5d88b455...
The post needed a juicy story and telling it how it is and what it is like well that is just not fun!
Bad enough the tabloids profit from tragedy, worse still the people who want to buy it
The point is not that the army should be blamed, but that actual military experience would probably have more of an effect than any video game experience.
Keyword: "Tabloid"
Why would I want anything written on my toilet paper/fire kindling seriously?
Now I'm really mad!
When a doctor saves a life and is interviewed THEY would never say "It was all possible from the video game training I received"
I'm betting that he had Schizophrenia. Based on what little information is available and the fact that his behaviour shifted erraticly after he ceased taking the medication that sounds like the most likely scenario. Especially if you understand why people in his position willingly stop taking the meds.
People with a chemical imbalance have a tendency to stop taking the meds because their behaviour evens out. They start to think that they are cured so they don't need the meds any more. This tends to lead into either a vicious cycle of starting and stopping or a tragedy like what happened here.
where are you from? LTIC there were waiting peroids and background checks.
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/02/16/niu_shootings/doc47b5d88b455...
Sullied in the comments section as Jack Thompson refuses to read this article and instead posts his press release. Thank you, Jack. This guy spending over a year in a mental hospital, his reluctance and refussal to come to grips with his mental illness, and his abrupt ceasing of medication (ask any psychologist what effect that has.... you know soo many, Jack. Or at least you quote them hap hazardly). Nor could this have anything to do with the killer having mimmicked negative behaviors in the past due to the exposure and attention it rewarded him with (mimmicking a fellow inpatients cutting behavior).
Nope, it's that fucking video game. Everyone who's played it is a walking timebomb waiting to explode. Well, with luck, this students killing spree took out five of his fellow timebombs. Sixteen just injured... shame. If he had trained a little harder he could have taken more of his fellow unstables out of the general population. Goddam, I feel so dirty for typing that. That's just evil... is this the mental condition you train yourself to exist in, Jack?
It's amusing how these school shootings get blamed on Counter-Strike, one of the most unrealistic shooters ever. You can get shot several times and run around like nothing happened, you can reload all your guns very quickly while jumping around, you can snipe people with 100% accuracy, as there is no scope sway....
That, and moving a mouse on your table and clicking is nothing like holding a gun and shooting it.
Unless you're, you know, playing as a terrorist.
Couple things to point out here:
-Counter-strike is a deathmatch game.
-While there are shotguns and handguns, there is no Remington or Glock
-The game characters where jumpsuits and vests. Kazmierczak's dress (or Steinhäuser's for that matter) aren't similar.
-There's no reward for killing hostages.
Andrew Eisen
the common counter-arguement to "I play games and I'm not violent" that people like jack thompson use is "we don't care" or 'you haven't gone violent YET" so trying to reason with them is impossible
Andrew Eisen
Maybe he saw it as logging out....
..too soon?
maybe Penny Arcade was onto something with thier Mass Effect strip awhile back..lol Are gamers godless liberals?
and as evidenced quite a bit on newshounds.us and other left wing watchdog groups...FOX news and thier pundit parade really pushed for Mitt Romney in this election. And many of us know how Romney feels about violent video games...heh heh
I could be just drawing conclusions...but remember. video games makes on awesome scapegoat for those that never played them.
Yup
"jackthompson wrote on Feb 16, 2008 4:21 AM:
" IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE - Feb. 16, 2008
Illinois School Shooter Rehearsed for Massacre
on Counter-Strike Video Game
On Friday, Miami attorney Jack Thompson appeared at 10:15 am on the Fox News Channel to warn of the role of violent video games in numerous school shootings such as the one authored by Stephen Kazmierczak at Northern Illinois University, as well as Columbine and countless other such incidents.
Thompson specifically mentioned the ultra-violent first person shooter game Counter-Strike which was played obsessively by Robert Steinhaueser, the author of the worst school shooting in European history-at Erfurt, Germany-and by Cho of Virginia Tech, as reported by the Washington Post. You can see Thompson's specific reference to Counter-Strike on Fox yesterday morning in streaming video at www.gamepolitics.com.
Note that Thompson said to the Fox anchor that it was too early to know if Stephen Kazmierczak was into violent video games like Counter-Strike by saying "We'll see."
Well, now only the blind will not see, and by their choice.
The following is to be found presently on-line at the Northwest Herald at [www.nwherald.com]
From his two college roommates, as reported yesterday afternoon:
"Kazmierczak would often play the video game Counter Strike, a first-person shooting game, the roommates said, but they were quick to add that the game was nothing unusual for dormitory halls."
What is unusual is for school shooters not to have wittingly or unwittingly rehearsed themselves on these murder simulators. These games not only feed an appetite for violence but they are teach killing tactics and scenarios.
Yesterday afternoon at 3:55 pm, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich opined on Fox News that "violent video games" figure in these massacres. He was right. Thompson was dead on right in identifying Counter-Strike as a likely training device.
Thompson wrote legislation passed unanimously and signed into law in Louisiana about these murder simulation games. A recent poll taken by the video game industry itself found that 65% of Americans want federal legislation to restrict the sale of these murder simulators. That percentage will grow after the Valentine's Day School Massacre.
Contact Jack Thompson for more information
++++++++++++++++++++++
Jack Thompson is a Miami attorney who has appeared on roughly 250 national and international television programs about the hazardous sale of violent video games. He has appeared on 60 Minutes twice, the Today Show eight times, and before state legislatures testifying as to this public safety hazard. He was recently profiled on ABC's Nightline, and he is the author of the internationally distributed Tyndale House book Out of Harm's Way about this problem. The publisher deleted from this book the chapter presenting a fictionalized account of a student who jumps onto the stage of a school auditorium and opens fire with a shotgun. The publisher said it was "too disturbing" and would alarm the public."
What won't Jacko use to promote his agenda? I mean seriously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1aZcsY-O8Q
February 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Oh, and you don’t commit suicide in Counter-strike either.
Andrew Eisen "
I went to see if there was a console cheat code for "suicide", but I think it depends on which "Counter Strike" it is.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Write your comment in a word processor, copy and paste, and DON'T move the cursor in the comment box (not even a space, which is funny because spaces count as words).
Mouse your cursor to the code box and click there. The word count should stay at "1". Enter the code and hit the post comment button.
I noticed that though it says it only allows 100 words, John Bruce's post was longer. I wondered how he did that. Then I realized he probably just copy/pastes his press releases into lots of comment sections to spam all the news articles and make certain his lies and deceit are spread everywhere.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Just strike me as odd that when somebody kills in the name of God, nobody blames the Bible, they just blame the individual as being mentally ill. Why isn't it the same here?
You see, Jack Thompson is advocating Sodomy and beastiality!!!
Now that we see what a reactionary statement is, lets move on...
Elomin, normally something like that, because it doesn't garner a shock reaction, is just given the most brief of mentions because the new agencies want to trump up something that can cause a panic. If you are familar with "The Music Man" or at least "Trouble in River City", it follows along those lines. Create a scare about something rather mundane (in the case of The Music Man, a pool table) then start harping about the evils of said mundane thing to whip the mob into a fervor of panic about it. Then start 'selling' a solution, cure, fix that will ease all their minds and put a nice and tidy profit in one's pocket. This, in a nutshell, is broadcast news.
Strangely enough, it never really seems to come up. It gets mentioned but you have idiots like Jack saying, "ZOMG! VIDEO GAMES DID IT!" and that sadly gets the press.
We knew he was obsessed with gay porn, but the beastiality is new...
Two simple questions:
1. Who owns the rights to Counter Strike?
2. Why aren't they suing our favorite gay porn distributor for slander and/or libel and/or defamation?
but it said AFTER he stopped taking his MEDICATION
Some reasons I see:
Some people are just looking for blame, they don't care for facts, they just need to blame something. No matter what to help them feel better or sleep at night. They think all causes have a simple effect.
Then there are those with an agenda. From anti-gaming to media outlets that see gaming taking up slices of their profits. Anything to crush the industry so that their's is secure.
Also, some people want to be ignorant. They don't want to look at facts because they just KNOW they are right no matter the evidence.
And that's the short version of the story.
Of course, there are a great many details, and the Northwest Herald does an excellent job of diggning into that issue. And the overwhelming stories about how he was while he was on his meds versus what happened when he went off them paints a very decent picture of his life over the last 10 years. There are, of course, many details we'll never know, but I think that these stories in detail give us a fairly accurate... "rationale"... for what happened. Even if we can't excuse or fully understand what happened, we can get a fairly decent image of why it happened. In some part anyway.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
And that's Thompson in a nutshell. You can mention the following in this case:
--Suspect was legally an adult when Counter-Strike came out in 1999.
--Suspect had military training and possibly civilian weapons training.
--Suspect had a history of mental illness of some sort.
--Suspect was taking medication for aforementioned mental illness.
--Suspect was legally able to purchase weapons (and did so.)
--Suspect stopped taking the medication that made him normal.
--Suspect was an avid Counter-Strike player.
Jack will pick one of those facts and run with that one and ONLY that one.
Tabloid trash will not see this fact, or the rest of the story in a rational light. Instead they will speculate, further the moral panic spreading in our country, and cause more damage by giving this killer the press he most likely desired--much like the Virgina Tech and Columbine shooters received after their heinous crimes.
SHAME ON YOU NY POST.
Its easy to want to give up the good fight and let these "trashloids" run our games through the mud but I believe that with this online community, and many others, we can have our voices heard. We've done so before with Faux News on the Mass Effect debacle, and also with our favorite conservative blogger who reported on the single sex scene in the game. We should respond to this article in the NY Post, and other similar sensationalist articles that will no doubt surface, with brief but poignant e-mails, letters, and phone calls.
If the offender played Counter-Strike at some point before killing innocent people, it must be the reason for the killing.
Stunning, really. I can't wait for the part where anybody who disagrees is decried and incessantly mocked.
I think the problem with all the classic, logical fallacies is that they're all named in Latin, so people don't notice them when they happen in English.
I personally would consider that it might have been a factor, but in consideration to everything else its involement would be minmal in impact. However, I am not a certified psychologist or anything so I certainly cannot belive that my word is true. I'll just wait for the reports later on.
On a whole irrelated topic, I saw Bill Clinton speak at my university, and got to shake his hand also. I was too dumbfounded to say anything, but he is a very eloquent speaker. He didn't say anything about videogames or anything, but brushed on the subject of public health care (universal health care) and talked a little bit about mental illnesses and how we need to be more proactive about it. I don't know who I will vote for, but it was an opportunity I'm glad I didn't pass up.
Clearly, we must immediately, for the safety of us all, ban Jodie Foster.
people actually believe what they say? what a sad world we live in
Lol! I read that and I spit my drink all over my desk when I saw that.
And I would lke to add something, I believe Lewis Black said it best.
"I'd be nice if we could get someone to teach us [Americans] it [common sense], but who the **** are we gonna get?"
The guttertrash do flock like some out of control skin virus, don't they?
John Bruce, FOX News, LaRouche too probably (if not yet, then soon).
But, gee, look at the guttertrash that has joined in:
http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/index.html
Press Releases > Other press releases tab:
"Thank God for NIU Carnage. Thank God for the Shooter. Thank God for 6 dead. "
Sick perverted Mental Molesting bastards.
Nightwng2000
NW2K software
Why does history HAVE to keep repeating itself!!!
And this just shows how desperate Thompson is to have ANY game connection. He likely wants to show that even adults should be denied access to violent games.
Actually, there's no evidence that he was a "violent person".
He had an undisclosed mental health problem, but that isn't evidence that it was violence related. Just going off medication won't make someone instantly violent. Something, a word or act, overhearing and (mis)interpreting something overheard, any number of things might have set him off while he was off his meds that might not have had the same effect if he had been on his meds.
We just don't know. And only he could have answered that without speculation.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Kid plays The Sims; Starts living life.
God, I can´t believe those people really exist! They make look Jack Thompson a funny and unharmless dude!
But people do, all the time. Though it's a lot harder to drum up support for something like banning or restricting the Bible than banning or restricting video games. And people who stereotype all Christians come off as bigots to the majority of the population, while people can make uninformed statements stereotyping "gamers" without rising as much ire in a lot of people.
Regarding killers playing video games, I'm just waiting for people to finalize realize that pretty much everyone from certain generations plays video games now, so pointing out the fact that a killer played a particular video game, by itself, has about as much relevance as pointing out that he breathed oxygen.
JT attacks games as the cause and we all know that playing a videogame doesn't make us violent so we attack him. This issue is not games or whether normal people will kill others because of them. The issue here is that there are disturbed people out there who ARE violent. Naturally these people are going to be attracted to violence, whether it be movies, music or videogames. However a predisposition to violent media also does not mean that you are a violent person. The problem here is that some deranged people WILL use some games as some sort of murder simulator (if they see it that way). And some MAY be set off by violent media, but some people may also be set off by a chair.
This is an interesting clip in which Dee Snider talks about how Tipper Gore sought to find bondage and sodomy in his song about foot surgery:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ILc5FGVJxRQ
But because a very few messed up people just happened to play videogames doesn't make the games the culprit. The conclusion here is that Jack Thompson is obviously such a deranged person and should not be allowed near a video game.
This guy had alot of things going against him. A recent break-up with his girlfirst, going off his medication, and purchasing fire arms with intent. Just to name a few.
I do not know Illinios laws regarding the purchase, ownership and usage of firearms. I am annoyed the firearm salesman was in shock that his guns were used in the commision of murder. What did he think his firearms would be used for? Sewing a Quilt?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IvtQo9f4pI4
I'm waiting for hover boards, and future-music to be invented so that all the old farts can start blaming all our problems on them instead of video games.
I mean seriously. With Virginia Tech it seems like the media went on the "Violent Video Games Did It" blame game before the fact went out. But now the fact cames out pretty much after it happened and its still the god damned video game industry's fault. How the hell can anyone read that and still think violent video games did it after hearing that he didn't take his medication?
Its god darned mind boggling!!!
Has anyone ever killed anyone *with* with a videogame?
Anyway its Saturday night. I'm off to drink whisky, and let out my sociopathic character.
Actually I'm not.
And on a completely unrelated note, I watched a mum tell their kid to put canis canem edit [Bully] back on the shelf because it was rated 15. I wanted to go shake her hand, but she may have thought I was hitting on her. What with me being a grown up and all...
Plus, Thompson's been trying every dirty trick in the book just to keep his precious license.
@ jccalhoun graduate student
The judge Jack Thompson should sue the soon-to-be-ex-attorney Jack Thompson for giving him a bad name.
Please do the world a favor and vent your rage, frustration and twisted sense of pain at game critics and TV news producers (bonus points for those of the Fox variety). Additionally, prior to your deadly deeds make sure to make a video and write a note about how all the violence, murder and mayhem on TV, in the news and movies has pushed you over the edge. Try to do some good at least once in you life during your sorry existence.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that there are people out there who actually believe this because it is in their main source of news. Does being in the public eye cause your intelligence to drop or something? This is beyond simple media bias, this is a gross misuse of power. This controversy is going to be far worse. Now, they are going to act as if video games are bad for everyone since he is an adult. I may be against video game legislation, but since I am an adult I figured it wouldn't affect me too much so long as nothing is all out banned. Now they are going to hijack and I'm too pissed to type anymore.
Then post it on youtube. Imagine what would happen? thousands of videos posted, it would get on the news, (not fox but other news) and out voices would be heard. But it will probably never happen.
You have the right Idea, but please don't say it'll never happen. that type of thinking just isn't constructive. I for one think there will be a breaking point for gamers. When we all have had enough, right now we all just shake our heads and grit our teeth at what we know as sheer stupidity of it all.
I'll still post my discontent with all the flat out lies I've been seeing on news sites and papers. I'll point out the massive holes in their so-called reporting and point out the facts. My video won't get that many views I'm sure, but with those who have watched we go away knowing more about the situation.
But that's just me though, I'm optimistic to the core.
1st time poster, long time reader. Thank you for reading.
BANE XXIII
Minneapolis, Mn
In all honesty, though, I'm disgusted with how they do this to games in the media when something like this happens. The guy played games, most college guys have, or do, play games. Just like they go to class. And read. And eat. And breathe. So on.
As was said, I'm more distrubed that he dropped his meds and could get guns, rather then him getting CS.
yea, after I posted that, I was like wait a second, that does not make sense. But it was to late. But you get the idea. I'm sick of the media using these school shootings to advance there own agenda.
This, obviously does not surprise me, but it is still disturbing how a newspaper gets people all afraid about a Videogame instead talking about the more serious issue about the person himself/herself.
sad, but seriously I would love to see Bill Gates take a stand and try to protect Videogames against this sort of shit that goes on.
Because Microsoft is part of the Videogaming Industry, and people are more likely to listen to Bill Gates instead of us gamers because people still think we are just kids...
THAT WOULD JUST MAKE MY GODDAMN DAY.
I think we have a correlation between loud things and murderous rampages.
I have friends that go to NIU. All these bottom feeders coming out of their cracks to feed on the blood of the innocents absolutely disgusts me.
If you want to see the flyer the wingnut Westboro Baptist Church is distributing, here it is: http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20080214_northern-illinois-un...
There's a group organizing a counter-protest to their planned protest. Unfortunately, I'm in Arizona right now and can't join in. And remember, any and all action against the WBC should avoid any physical harm or threats of physical harm. They need lawsuits to bankroll their "church."
I think this says it all. Taken from the same school newspaper which brought us the Counter-Strike quote. I blame the U.S. President.
These people are lucky I'm a Christian. Thats all I have to say. What a bunch of idiots.
We should NEVER give up, so what if they say we can't accept critcism, that's a much better alternative then to let thme have their way.
Oh and we are not losing we are winning, Grand Theft Auto sill lets you kill cops, Insomniac said they'd put more churhces in Resistance 2 etc. Jack Thompson will indeed get disbarred, and time is on our side. Eventually the scapegoating of video games will die down, and people will accept it for the harmless fun it is. It's happened time and time again, with rock and roll, with comic books, with violent movies, and a whole mess of stuff we now consider harmless.
Do not worry about those insignificant idiots who shout to the peaks about the false link between video games and school shootings. Despite how gamepolitics may make the picture look very few major news outlets (other than Fox) have reported on the video game link.
Gaming isn't the exception, it's the baseline... if they DON'T play games then it's notable, not the other way around.
video game penetration is roughly equivalent to TV penetration nowadays... it just amazes me people will blame stuff on games whilst ignoring TV...
(not that i think either has anything at all to do with violence, but thats a different story)