This post is a guest article from Tali and can be read in its original form here. This year's gaming ceasefire take place on Saturday, December 21st.
For decades, for as long as this little gamer can remember (I’m 28 for reference), we have had racing games, we’ve had puzzle games, we’ve had shooters as well.
So why, in the name of the wee fucking man is this still a bloody issue. Shootings at school, yes they are a tragedy, one that could in most cases probably be avoided. Gun controls / being mature enough to not go on murderous rampages. American teens; grow the fuck up.
For the last 20 years ever so often I hear how videogames make people violent. This is bull. I was bullied and harassed throughout my time in high school. I was suspended twice for self defence (I was bullied, teachers refused to do anything, I lashed out when I was punched in ribs.) Do you know how many times I said “Tali, go kill them.”
Never! I am not the most well adjusted person on the planet. I am absolutely miserable some days. I was pretty much a social outcast between 6-18 years old. I must have spent most of my weekends playing Doom, Quake, Unreal, along with other games. I am amongst the most vocal to say, videogames kept me sane.
My only gripe, my one problem with this Gamer Ceasefire is… guilt by association, we’ve spent years denying its the root cause. Now some folk are saying “In solidarity and remembrance of the dead we’ll stop firing at computer generated images for 24 hours” REALLY? So what you are implying is “Well, we could kinda be responsible for it.”
I have quickly browsed Wikipedia for these numbers on school shootings.
USA has had 254 between 1900 to through to last week. 134 of which were between 1900-1980. 120 since 1980 and today.
In the same time period Canada’s had 14. China [that nation of stereotypically crazy gamers? Two, out of 10 in Asia, which by the way, included the Ma’alot massacre in Israel, which lasted two days and was a recognised terrorist action]
Japan, had zero. Yes, the home of two of the biggest gaming companies in the last 30 years has had NO school shootings whatsoever.
Mexico has had two, listed and one of those was a drive-by which killed and wounded a few adults.
Part of me looks at these statistics and has to ask, is this a legality issue regarding firearms, or a national mindset that violence is an appropriate response. Like I said, I know what its like to be bullied, so please.
America take a long hard freaking look at yourself, as a culture, as a society and fix your damned law books to take into account the Second Amendment was from a different bloody era, when you feared the redcoats could sneak onto your lands in the dead of night rather than blame new and modern technology. Either that or… sue the British government for letting all our citizens take their peculiar brands of crazy with them. I’d love to see that one, really. I would.
PS. I am Scottish, and we’ve had a couple of shootings in schools, no where near as many as you and I don’t think anyone at the time uttered lines like “Well, if the teacher was allowed to carry a gun to work, it would have been avoided.” That shit is victim blaming.
