Enough with the misplaced blame.........

Time to vent.

There was obviously a terrible incident at Virginia Tech earlier this week where 33 people lost their lives and many more suddenly lost a secure feeling that they used to have at their school or even other universities. It's a terrible thing.

With that said, the media (specifically the Washington Post in this case) has not decided to print an article pointing directly to a video game that the killer used to play as a possible cause of the crime. It's a game called Counterstrike where the player plays the role of a terrorist or a U.S. soldier in battle.

In the 1980s, people blamed heavy metal music for the world's problems. In the 1990s, it was rap music. After the year 2000, the blame has now shifted to video games on a regular basis. People need to realize that personal responsibility should take precedence over any outside influences.

I play video games on a regular basis. I have no doubt that I have 'virtually' killed hundreds of thousands of humans, aliens, animals, etc. while playing video games. Despite the graphic visuals, I can assure everyone that I have never even once considered killing someone or even harming someone (though I do have quite a bit of hatred for the Kansas Jayhawks).

Video games consoles are in nearly 85% of U.S. households and PC's likely are in the rest of the homes. I have no doubt that any killer under the age of 40 at this point has likely played a violent video game at some point in their life. The correlation between video games and killers has a whole lot more to do with the widespread popularity of gaming systems than it does any actual correlation between violent games and the thought of killing another person.

Violent video games also do not help to teach a kid how to use a gun. I have shot pistols, rifles, machine guns, bazookas and flame throwers when playing games. I can assure you that I don't know how to use any of those weapons at even a basic level. I'd likely shoot myself in the foot before I was able to actually shoot someone else. I'd argue that my weekend outing to play paintball would likely teach me how to shoot a gun better than playing video games.

People need to quit blaming others or external influences for their problems. This kid didn't kill people because he shot a gun in a video game. This kid (and other similar young killers) shot these people because he was a deeply disturbed individual who obviously had some major psychological issues. He had no one to turn to and felt alone. He blamed the world for the problems that he had in his own life. The ironic part is that this kid was at a college with a chance to make something of himself, which is a chance that many people in this world that he so resented don't even get. Family matters often cause issues in these situations as well, though his sister graduated from college, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Enough with the 'straw man' arguments of how something as irrelevant to the situation as video games is the cause to a problem. If anything, it might have been a good outlet for this kid to find a way to be productive and socialize with others. Also, there's just as much violence on TV (which I think should be equally protected as free speech), but I don't see people saying that the kid likely watched too much CSI. Put this kid in the 1970s in the same situation without video games and I can guarantee that the same thing would have occurred.