RFK Jr. Blames violent video games for Mass Shootings.

Ooh, so original. Going back to those age old talking points eh. So fresh, so new. Why does anyone listen to these wind bags?

Battlefield and CoD are responsible for war?

Oh jeez, I glad they didn't have video games in 1914, otherwise they might have killed a bunch of people!

You mean the same dumbass that blames an ingredient that hasn't been in vaccines in over 20 years for Autism, an ingredient that has never been shown to cause autism in the first place? Does anyone actually take this jackass seriously?

Bobby Kennedy must be rolling over in his grave.

Yeah unfortunately 40% of Americans do take this jackass seriously.

I mean, typical boomer shit from an ignorant boomer. I'm not surprised at all.

Remember when Coloumbine happened and politicians started blaming DOOM (a several year old game at that point) and Quake? Hell didn't they also try to blame the Matrix simply because the shooters were wearing trench coats? meanwhile the film came out like what? one or two weeks before the shootings?

Politicians just LOVE their scapegoats.

Crime in the US peaked in 1993... when Doom first came out. Then it started dropping until recently.

Conclusion: violent video games cause a drop in crime.

But it peaked the same year Doom came out. Obviously Doom was the cause of the peak!
I should add, that as less people played Doom, violent crime reduced.

Well he's right.

Until the invention of video games no one ever killed anyone ever. Then pong came along, and it was mass murder every other day.

Proof:

RFK Jr do better...Tylenol killed 7 people in the 90s, Kirk was obviously killed by Tylenol.

Not this again...

Back to the 90s.
Hear me out...James Tiberius Kirk was supposed to be a descendant of Charles Aswipe Kirk. Slowly these photos will fade away and be replaced by photos of Christopher Pike.
- Then we'd be in a timeline where Spock dies instead, which ends up much worse. (per Strange New Worlds)
- I concur

I thought they figured out a long time ago that it was actually the ADHD medicine causing it

God. Are we back on this loop again?!! Incidentally what is the most selling game currently?

A game about a bug with a needle? Super violent.

I'm old enough to remember "Mortal Monday" with the release of the first Mortal Kombat on consoles and everyone was CONVINCED that it would result in kids ripping the spines and hearts out of peoples bodies.
Hell I remember when the original TMNT and Power Rangers was bad because it would encourage kids to do "ninja stuff" to the point where in the UK they changed "Ninja" to "Hero" and eventually Michaelangleo wasn't allowed to use nunchucks anymore because out of ALL the weapons the turtles had, THOSE were a no-no. Sword? Sai? that's fine...even the boe! but heaven forbid a child crafted their own nuncucks!
We never left it, its just not been getting as much traction. It also pivoted, to "Video games cause sexual violence towards women". And yes, GTA was the main culprit as it always has been.

Switzerland has a comparable number of guns as we do, and the last mass shooting they had was 23 years ago

so does he believe that Swiss people do not play video games, or what

He was so close to the truth, yet so damn far

Spoons made me fat!

Well, he's retarded, so take it with a grain of salt.

Yeah sure its not idiots like this calling democrats child rapists thats doing it

Ask Jack Thompson how that line of reasoning worked out for him

what in the 1993

It's just a rehash of the same silly satanic panic in the 80s. Same idea, different scapegoat, slightly different thing it supposedly causes. But the repugnants have a multi decade history of this shit and trot it out every 5-10 years
I know, right? Jack Thompson called, he wants his shtick back.

Not sure if this is the type of reaction post appropriate here.

RFK Jr. Blames violent video games for Mass Shootings.

I agree. Those who miss out on playing violent video games, end up resorting to real life violence later.

RFK Jr. is the epitome of The Weekly World News.

His Brain worm is right. I remember when Pong first came out, and I'd get so pissed off when playing it, that I wanted to kill somebody.

Funny, Hillary Clinton said the same thing.

And Tipper Gore in the 90s.

He outed himself as an ignorant fool.

He's been doing that his entire life.
Hey, that's an insult to ignorant fools

Charlie Kirk would like to have a word. Go ahead Charlie, Charlie? CHARLIE NO!!!!

Charlie yes! Charlie always yes!

Been playing bloodborne all week. I still have no desire to go out with two wagon wheels assembled together with some kind of cog mechanism to toss it over my shoulder and slam it into dogs that are too aggressive for my tastes.

Dogs or pigs?
Do not lie to yourself hunter, it calls to you just as it calls to all of us. The need for blood the call of the hunt.
Throws spider Patches into the Walmart

Jesus K Rist he is stupid.

Better loosen gun laws some more, that'll fix it.

so the cheap access to assault weapons that NO ONE FUCKING NEEDS is not a factor? Also, the lack of mental health care? Yeah... right....

I'm pretty sure the mass shootings are just emulation of the mass violence the ultrarich inflict on everyone on a daily basis.

I hope the shooter's name is Mario Brother

The CEO killing was nothing more than a correction of the Free Market. His denial policies went to far, and the market corrected the problem. In addition, his company, and other health companies as well, loosened up their denial policies as a result of the killing, almost certainly avoiding deaths. THAT is the very definition of a Free Market correction.
This is another one. MAGA policies have gone too far, and are promising to go further, despite outrage from the majority of the citizens. Now one of those citizens has attempted to reduce some of the most vicious, treasonous, and influential rhetoric by removing the source. It's another Free Market correction.
The Free Market is the Conservative religion, you would think they'd be cheering at evidence that it is working.
- Well what is the saying, free market for everyone else, but socialism for themselves.

Microwaved Mel Gibson can fuck all the way off with that nonsense.

Peripherally related:

https://www.psypost.org/sexualized-video-games-are-not-causing-harm-to-male-or-female-players-according-to-new-research/

Oh wow, we're really hitting all the classics.

When you are trying to avoid the most obvious solutions at all costs, you have to recycle the greatest hits.
We got time travel before GTA 6
We're almost back to blaming violence on D&D. Exciting times.
- It's those skateboards that done it, and the comic books the hooligans are readin. And all them lady folk wearin trousers! It's the devil I tells ya!
- They're communing with Satan, I hear!
- We'll get there, just give it time.
Tipper Gore just got a tingling sensation in her naughty bits.
*If you saw the pre edit you're welcome.
- Aw man what'd I miss?
Can't risk hinting that the policies that they push directly lead to the material conditions that cause these shootings.

"Yo, Charlie got PONGED"
Games of Mass Destruction
Yup, famously before that, violence didn't exist at all.
- No but his dad and uncle were still alive.
These guys were evil! 😯

Oh we're doing this one again? Good luck, things have changed since the last time you dusted this one off.

i blame mass shootings for video games

There was one helluva gamer in Utah today.

I live in Utah and have a coworker that was supposed to be there for class tonight. Wild times...
How many more until he can call in a drone or an air strike?

What did they tell him about how his father and uncle died?

Probably the truth, just like they told him the truth about vaccines.

The Kennedy assassinations were clearly the result of the Hula Hoop.

this is so obviously false it's enfuriating coming from the head of HHS. Lots of coutnries all over the world have the same violent video games we do without the mass shootings.

“Switzerland has a comparable number of guns as we do, and the last mass shooting they had was 23 years ago,” said Kennedy, 71. “We have a mass shooting every 23 hours.”

“There are many things that happened in the 1990’s that could explain these,” he added. “One is the dependence on psychiatric drugs... there could be connections with video games and social media.”

okaaaaaaay... follow that train of thought just a liiiiiitle bit further bobby. Do you think Switzerland is stuck in the 80s or something?

train of thought
bobby
You got yourself in a cul-de-sac there. The worm ate the train long ago 😂
- God damnit Bobby...

Christ, man. It’s either “god had a plan” or “captain price from mw2 indirectly shot the suspect, your honor”

Games don't cause mass shootings.

Conservatives(policies) do.

Conservatives (reactionary fear mongering) do.

This man is an absolute moron, him saying this is no different from the uneducated garbage he’s been spewing

Are we really restarting this conversation for the FUCKING millionth time???

Didn't work last time, won't work this time

It actually galvanized people against the movement and made a younger generation more politically aware, including many probably seeing (voluntarily even) their first testimony to congress as they flipped over from MTV to CSPAN to watch some of their favorite rockers.
So yeah good call GOP
They are really in the shitter with ideas, they have a lot of levers right now, but they are truly staggering under their own weight. Their coalition isn't going to last forever.

    
WhatYearIsIt.jpg

I played a lot of Pac-Man and now I'm munching for pills in dark rooms while listening to repetitive music. It's true, I love techno parties. Joke, I barily ever played Pac-Man.

I also played a lot of age of empires. Now I annoy everyone with "whololoooo" all the time. Joke, no I don't.

It probably has nothing to do with widely available guns.

Here in NL we don't have that, but we do have loads of mass shootings. Oh wait, no we don't. But we don't have violent video games. Oh wait, yes we do.

This comic is 26 years old. Still relevant.
- https://auknewmedia.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/pacmans-effect-on-behavior/
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it’s guns.

It's called the 'Gish Gallop.'
The best way for the Right to defeat the Left in an argument is to unload a torrent of lies, half truths, complete nonsense, and other disinformation. The idea is to overwhelm the other side's ability to form a coherent response, because there's too much to unpack.
Trump knows Kennedy is an idiot, but he's a useful idiot in that he forces the Left to deal with him.
It's because we have Trump to deal with that we have him to deal with.
Who do you think they'll run in 2028?
Because Brain Worm Jr is Trumps gift to the world.
- Who the fuck is downvoting this comment? Genuinely why? Is this some pro-trump instance or something? Like wtf I don’t understand what I said wrong…
Same reason any other politician is on the news. Because unfortunately they dictate our collective plight as Americans. And really outside the US as well.
Because they control the country and people should know what they are doing. It's not that complicated.

No, Nazis like you do. Look at Charlie Kirk. Nazi down.

Hey, dude was a POS but I'll never condone violence.

His office leaked his plans to link video games to behavioral issues earlier this week, so he already had the press release ready, he just swapped some words around.

Even if you've never heard of video games, you can tell this is total bullshit by the fact that RFK jr is saying it.

Hey fuck you....I know video games didn't cause shit...it seems like I ate that part of his dumbass brain.

Well, if you take away video games we'll have to find entertainment somewhere

Only someone completely disconnected from the rest of the world could take this argument seriously. Every country on the planet has access to violent video games, but somehow we have the most gun violence outside of a war zone in the world. But clearly it’s the video games. 🤦‍♂️

*Not the most gun violence in the world - I overstated.

It's straight disinformation. Nevermind that everyone else plays the same games, let's cherry pick the one western nation that has a comparable number of guns per capita and not think about that any further.
we have the most gun violence
If we look at "intentional homicide rate" (choice of weapon agnostic), the US is 66th and just above Greenland. I think this statistic is better than "gun deaths" since it excludes suicides and accidental deaths and looks at intentional murder.
The number is way higher than it should be, but probably way better than most assume given the news.
- why should we exclude suicides and accidents?
  also Greenland isn't a very reliable comparison statistically since their grand total of intentional murders in 2024 was 3. Canada is ranked 111 with a rate less than half of US. UK is ranked 142 with a rate less than a quarter of the US.
- Fair enough, but still this is a bull shit argument.

Jack Thompson

For those who don't remember this guy, he was pretty obnoxious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(activist)

Played adventure games and fighting games growing up. Never in my entire forty-something years have I even thrown a punch at anyone.

Japan LOVES video games, you don't see them being brought up for the reason they have sooo maaany murders. Oh wait...

(Now I play MMOs and I never cast a spell at anyone either, in case y'all wondering...)

World War 2? Nanking? Unit 451. They were plenty messed up.
- So you are saying videogames fixed them?
- They also gave us anime. I wonder what effect that has had on the world. Nyaaa~!
I played tons of first person shooters, GTA, etc, and I also have never thrown a punch at anyone.
- I've punched multiple people, but I know I punched people before I ever had a game console or computer.

https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/jfk-files-reveal-lee-harvey-oswald-played-violent-video-games/

Remember when Mortal Kombat came out and we all started ripping each other's heads off and pulling out still beating hearts? Those were the days.

Yeah. When all y'all are talking about how we need government intervention and legislature to get you what you want?

THIS is why some of us are very wary of that and don't think "We are just idea people. Other people can make it a law" is at all a good idea.

If its a stupid idea. RFK jr. has had it.

The single biggest factor for American military hegemony in Grenada was Pac-Man.

Jfc, this again?

Wolfenstein was pretty good, ngl

Is the shooter a person of color? Seriously, ask yourself that. Likely that is the citing factor for someone coming up with fucking bullshit like this. When the shooter is white, the defenders of gun rights will point to mental health. The point I am making is that POC will be a used as a scapegoat to upturn causes in society for their actions while a white person is largely upheld by gun rights advocates as a sign of failure to address mental health.

To be fair, a lot of POC gun violence is gang related, not mental health related, because POC tend to be stuck in poorer areas and resort to gangs to make ends meet. There is certainly white gang violence as well, but there's also a lot of mental health related crimes that happen to be committed by white people, probably because they have more ready access to guns that the average non-gang affiliated POC.
Games are unrelated to both cases.

I blame faulty condoms for RFK Jr

If I don't pass that ant zone on silksong I'm going to shoot something.

Will somebody shoot this guy to make him a martyr?

Is this real?

A polly who doesn't know what they are talking about. nothing new here.

Poor innocent guns being used for evil, good thing someone stands up for them. :')

Video games? You mean mass murder training simulators.

It depends on the individual. Those who cannot distinguish fiction from reality are the ones to watch out for but it’s tough to figure that out.

It really doesn't.
The only legitimate link between violence and video games is that violent people seem to like violent video games. I haven't seen any compelling evidence of a video game causing someone to kill.
- And what do you think makes people violent? Their upbringing, their environment, their circumstances, and so on. Obviously, if video games are a significant part of their lives, they can contribute to violent tendencies especially if someone cannot distinguish fiction from reality. That’s exactly my point.