• Opinion

Donald Trump and the Violent Video Games Boogeyman

The leader of the free world continues to point fingers and assign blame to targets without merit.

Chris Jarrard

February 27, 2018 1:10 PM

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This piece is an opinion and does not necessarily represent the views of Shacknews, its staff, or ownership.

In the wake of the horrific events in Parkland, Florida, America’s head honcho, Donald Trump participated in a meeting with lawmakers this past Thursday. The agenda for this meeting was to discuss school safety and determine, once and for all, what is causing the continuous stream of mass shootings, particularly those involving young people. The president, doing what he does best, claims that he keeps hearing from “more and more people” that violent video games are negatively affecting the minds of today’s youth.

It’s not the first time that Trump has floated ideas or theories attributed to things that non-specific people or entities are “saying”. Whenever he has some comment or idea on a controversial topic, he almost always phrases the thought in a way that implies lots of people agree with or believe it. This tactic helps to distance Trump from the idea, so when it is inevitably proven false or less than credible, he can claim that he never said the thing he suggested. From “Obama is a Muslim”, to “Hillary Clinton had Vince Foster Killed”, and now “Violent video games caused the Parkland massacre”, the president will say anything to get a rise out of his base, while attributing the nonsense to “others”.

For anyone interested in the truth on the link between violent video games and violent behavior, more than a few studies have been published and all have reached the same conclusion: no evidence to support a link between the two. The most recent of such studies was published in January by researchers at the University of York. An article published by Polygon in 2014 goes on to show that huge mainstream video game releases often have a correlation with drop in violent crimes. The president's staff have easy access to this information and more. The president could have made it a point to be as well-informed about the topic before he started with his trademark spraying of conspiracies and falsehoods.

That’s not the kind of person Donald Trump is and he will never change. Always better to blame someone else than accept responsibility for his own words and actions. He has never been held accountable for them in the past and the November 2016 election only helped to reinforce the idea that whatever he has been doing is right. Meanwhile, the pile of dead children in Florida will be quickly forgotten because “it was video games that caused this.” When the next school shooting comes around, expect more shoulder shrugging and scapegoating. Trying to refute the garbage with truth is pointless. The only way to force change is to get out to the polls and toss these clowns to the curb.

Click here for a list of upcoming midterm congressional, state, and local elections for 2018.

Click here to find out how you can help the victims of the Parkland shooting.

Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.