The Australian Christian Lobby is calling for a ban on violent videogames in the wake of the Oslo massacre, but the government says it's unreasonable to blame games for the behavior of a "madman."

 

 

As expected, the horrific mass murder in Norway last week that claimed the lives of 76 people was linked, however tenuously, to videogames, as the killer referred to [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-2-Pc/dp/B00269QLJ2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1311697705&sr=8-6]Modern Warfare 2[/ame] as part of his "training regimen" in his manifesto and said that a professed addiction to [ame=http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Pc/dp/B002I0HKIU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311697747&sr=8-1]World of Warcraft[/ame] is a great cover for more subversive activities. That's enough of a connection for Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Jim Wallace, who said that any game that can push even just a few nutcases "over the edge" should be banned.

 

 

Source http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111895-Oslo-Murders-Lead-to-Calls-For-Game-Bans-in-Australia

Insane minorities using a legitimate tragedy (which had nothing to do with video games) to push their backwards political agendas down the throats of the sheeple of Australia

:blowup:

I just find it funny he quoted MW2 as part of his 'training regimen', mustn't have heard of Project Reality If games ever got banned because of this (or something similar), I fear politicians would have lost all dignity... O wai...

Well in Norway one retailer has taken some games off shelves. They're not banned, just one company is no longer selling them.

 

http://fronttowardsgamer.com/2011/07/29/cod-and-wow-to-be-removed-from-norwegian-shelves/

 

I can see why they would remove MW2 due to the "No Russian" level but removing other games he played like WOW doesn't make sense. There are millions of people playing these games and are fine, but they only need one psychopath to claim that the games are harmful.

 

Its like if they stopped selling Flight simulator because it could have trained the 911 terrorists.

didnt he say he agreed with what john howard was doing in australia...i wish they could have banned him

i find it disheartening that leaders get airtime by drawing on an awful event in pursuit of blah blah blah

 

Edited August 1, 201115 yr by arkwrite

... so when a priest is charged with possessing and propogating child porn, the church should be banned? Similar logic?

ye what about violent movies and tv shows how do we know there not influencing maniacs... ban everything by the sounds of it

I say ban the clothes he was wearing, the food he ate and most importantly his favorite tv show.

I may be wrong (didn't read the article above), but iirc, Jim Wallace was once

commander of the SASR.

 

With all respect, there would appear to be some irony in his stance on

violent video games in the light of his personal history...

Does anyone else see the irony in a christian religious groups spokesperson trying to place blame for the violent actions of a fundamentalist christian at gamings feet ?

Does anyone else see the irony in a christian religious groups spokesperson trying to place blame for the violent actions of a fundamentalist christian at . . . feet ?

 

you could also read that as

 

Does anyone else see the irony in a islamic religious groups spokesperson trying to place blame for the violent actions of a fundamentalist muslim at . . . feet ?

 

not to get too political or religious or anything but just because someone says they are "religion x" doesn't actually mean they are. hell a lot of people say they are catholic simply because they had a bit of water sprinkled on their head as a baby and have never stepped into a church before.

 

i dont agree with banning violent games myself but especially when you see some of the stuff thats put to air or plastered on billboards these days, western society as a whole is becoming very liberal in whats out on tv and in print. sure you can place an MA15+ rating on a show and air it late at night so the kids dont see it, but what about the model wearing a nice little nothing on the billboard you drive past with the kids in the car? Sex and violence sell, simple as that. Just take a look at the trailer for the remake of Conan, from the brief glimpse you get it looks like they've thrown in a sex scene when EVERYONE who knows the original Conan knows it aint about the sex but about crushing your enemies, seeing them driven before you and hearing the lamentations of their women! a.k.a the violence in the most pure Arnie fashion!

I lost my final scraps of faith in the american media when tvone played a segment from one of their news shows and it showed a clip of Mw2 and was talking about how it was a major influence in the attacks. It's a videogame, if there's a tiny percentage of crazed gunmen that play videogames then doesn't that just mean they're already crazy and just happen to play games aswell?

What about the Port Arthur massacre? Did space invaders train him to do it?

 

Sure, I understand people are looking for a scape-goat after the event, its only natural. But why not look at where he got the gun from? Why the Speacial Forces didn't respond quicker? I just wish people would stop blaming video games for everything. It doesn't train you to kill. Give anyone who plays MW2 and they would probably shoot themselves in the foot.

I say ban the clothes he was wearing, the food he ate and most importantly his favorite tv show.

 

Did you know that 90% of serial killers drink milk

and 100% breath air! We should ban that too

Can't help myself - I've sent a comment to the ACL website.

Here is the link to their full statement. More detail from their perspective than the write up from escapist.

 

http://australianchristianlobby.org.au/2011/07/mr-norwegian-tragedy-highlights-impact-of-violent-video-games/

 

“If there are even a few deranged minds that can be taken over the edge by an obsession with violent games it is in every Australians interest that we ban them.

 

“The studied indifference of this killer to the suffering he was inflicting, his obvious dehumanising of his victims and the evil methodical nature of the killings have all the marks of games scenarios.

 

“I have said before that as the commander of SAS, responsible to train people to kill, I would never use these games because they show no controlled use of force and no mercy. Even though the people I trained were psychologically screened and a select few.

 

“How can we allow the profits of the games industry and selfishness of games libertarians to place our increasingly dysfunctional society at further risk? Even if this prohibition were to save only one tragedy like this each twenty years it would be worth it.

 

 

I think his argument relies on the notion that videos games tipped the Oslo killer over the edge and therefore caused him to act it out. This point is flawed. The man's plan seemed so precise, planned in detail for so long that the notion it was video games which gave him the idea is just silly.

 

Wasn't he planning it for a few years? If so MW2 may not have even been released yet...

 

I also find it bizzare that Jim Wallace makes reference to how he would never use games to train SAS soldiers because they don't show used of controlled force & mercy. I should bloody well hope not. He of all people should know the difference between reality and what is depicted on a screen...

Edited August 2, 201115 yr by PhoeniFOX

What about rather than banning games, how about they ban religious movies/shows/magazines/radio?

 

Since at the end of the day all religion is a form of controlling the minds of those who are weak. Nothing more than a poorly written story of inciting violence where if told enough magically becomes true.

 

Yep, religion..... EPIC FAIL!

Wrote something that will be deleted shortly

 

You're no better than jim wallace in making unfounded generalisations.

 

We have rules against posts about religion for a reason so I suggest you stop using this topic to peddle your own agenda...

Yep controlling the minds of the weak.....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZZr_p6vB8]‪Nelly - Hot In Herre‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

You're no better than jim wallace in making unfounded generalisations.

 

We have rules against posts about religion for a reason so I suggest you stop using this topic to peddle your own agenda...

 

true that, if you actually look into religions, lets take Christianity since this bloke claimed to be a Christian. You have the Old Testament and the New Testament right? The Old was written before the birth of Jesus and dealt with the tribes of Israel and God establishing them in the Mid East right? Israel was persecuted time and again by other tribes/nations who worshiped idols due to them turning away from God. With me so far? Nearly every time something bad happened to them was due to them being led astray from God by THOSE IN AUTHORITY who twisted God's teachings to suit themselves (does that sound familiar to Jihad, Crusades etc?).

 

FF to the New Testament, this part deals with the coming of Jesus and the beginning of the church. Now, THOSE IN AUTHORITY had been leading Israel astray for ages now, killing prophets God had sent to turn them back to him as they went. They see Jesus and as He is teaching the people to turn back to God and reject what the religious rulers a.k.a THOSE IN AUTHORITY had been teaching which was not from God. So they kill Jesus, He rises again after 3 days and a bit later the early church is formed. Jesus taught love and compassion, not what most ignorant people (and Conan quotes in Conan The Barbarian) believe about religion.

 

Using a Spiderman quote:

with great power comes great responsibility

and how bout this?

power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely

 

So, you get someone who has a power complex and they get in charge, they'll do/teach whatever is necessary for them to stay in power. Want another example? Take Communism, it was apparently to liberate the working class yet all it did was liberate them from their money to prop up the regime who is in charge. Why would they do anything to help the working class when they start reaping the benefits of position when they get there?

No political or religious discussions - these threads/posts will be locked and deleted on sight. Both subjects are far too sensitive to be entered into here. There are plenty of other forums out there dedicated to these sorts of discussions.

 

:read:

 

Politics - Check

Religion - Check.