Dr. Phil evaluates Va Tech shooter

News Type: Opinion — Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:08 PM EDT

Parents across the world, rejoice! Dr. Phil has yet again saved the day…or maybe not. Last night, Dr. Phil paid a visit to Larry King Live, and had a few things to say about the cause of the horrific incident at Virginia Tech. His enemy: video games.

Now video games have been debated as being the source for violence in young people for quite some time. Even the military uses video games to simulate war-like events for soldiers. While many children and teenagers play these games, have they led to more violent habits than my generation who watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, like the Columbine shooters, or to my parent's generation who played "Cowboys and Indians, like the shooter at the University of Texas?" A lot of researchers would probably disagree with me and say that evidence supports that children who play video games today are more violent than ever before.

But let's get back to Dr. Phil. He addressed the shootings at Virginia Tech by saying:

The problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me - common sense tells you - that if these people are playing video games where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath, or someone suffering from mental illness, add in a dose of rage, the suggestability is just too high. And we're going to have to start dealing with that. We're going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murderers of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose.

It is understandable that Dr. Phil is frustrated and wants to send a message to American's during a very sensitive time. However, it doesn't make a very strong point when we really don't know that much about the Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-Hui. Yes, we may know that he was suffering from a mental illness, but do we know that he was an avid video game player?

Dr. Phil should reevaluate his diagnosis.

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{"commentId":650383,"authorDomain":"lisah7"}

lisah7

I agree with you. Dr. Phil going on a rant about video games is not helping the situation. Cho Seung-Hui seems to have had many issues and we don't know if video games was one of them. Also, I actually read for one of my classes last week about video game violence effects and it talked about how violence on TV has more of an effect then video games. It even said that some researchers have found that video game violence is a way for angry kids or teens to channel that anger. Instead of being violent in real life, some get their rage out in the form of video games. I don't know if all this is true, but to point the Virginia Tech shootings as a result of video game violence seems a little absurd to me.

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#1 - Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:39 PM EDT

{"commentId":650431,"authorDomain":"ksilva27"}

Katie S.

I agree with you about video games being a way to channel anger...come see my boyfriend play Madden on his Wii.

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#1.1 - Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:05 PM EDT

{"commentId":651892,"authorDomain":"msk7"}

Matt Kirchner

I understand the argument Dr. Phil is making, but I think it is far too easy to blame video games and entertainment for the violent acts in our society. Believe it or not, but violence is actually declining, but then something tragic like this happens. Should video game creators and entertainment leaders be more careful about what they create? Sure, but unless they are using their product to brainwash society to commit violent acts, I don't think we can only blame them. How about his environment? Or, what I have more of a problem with is his access to two hand guns. Honestly, who needs two hand guns, let alone one? Why don't we have a discussion about the second amendment before blaming others for the faults of our society?

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1 vote

#2 - Thu Apr 19, 2007 1:10 PM EDT

{"commentId":664399,"authorDomain":"blythe-lawrence"}

Blythe Lawrence

That's as ridiculous as Joe Lieberman blaming Marilyn Manson for motivating Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold for the shootings at Columbine. I think that while video games (not to mention movies and television shows) do glamorize violence to some extent, people can generally differentiate between that and real life.

I agree with Matt in that the answer is restricting people's access to violent weapons. Cho Seung-Hui never should have been able to purchase those guns.

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#3 - Wed Apr 25, 2007 12:27 AM EDT

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Dr. Phil Suggests Video Games to Blame for Virginia Tech Shootings	gamestooge.com	Tue Apr 17	5
Dr. Phil Blames Video Games for VT Massacre	GamePolitics.com	Tue Apr 17	3
Were video games to blame for massacre? - Games - MSNBC.com	msnbc.com	Fri Apr 20	0

KATIE S.

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Dr. Phil evaluates Va Tech shooter

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