HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – In the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH that left more than 30 people dead, politicians including President Donald Trump are pointing the finger at video games.
Assistant Professor of Interactive Media at Harrisburg University, Charles Palmer, said blaming video games for inspiring mass shootings is not a new argument, even dating back to the Columbine shooting in the late ’90s.
“Quite often as humans, we try to find reasoning behind acts that take place, so in this particular case – people are just trying to connect dots,” said Palmer, adding that people are just looking for something to blame and explain a tragedy. “The mass media essentially looks to see ‘well, what other things do we have in our culture that are violent?’ and then tries to make an association between those two things.”
But Palmer said there is no connection between violent video games and committing a mass shooting, citing studies that claim violent people actually consume less media than the average person.
“These [games] are fantasy and most people in society really understand that there’s a difference between the fantasy world and then, my everyday life,” Palmer said.
He said in the past, society’s ills have been blamed on various forms of TV, music and movies, and he believes video games are the target right now.
“There will always be a scapegoat, that’s just the way it’s gonna be, we’re always going to try and lay blame on a thing,” Palmer said.
President Trump seemed to disagree Monday, when he addressed the weekend’s mass shootings from the White House.
“The perils of the internet and social media cannot be ignored – mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” the President said.
Palmer explained, though, that is video games and the internet were at fault, certain countries like Japan would have more shootings.
“Sixty percent of the people play games and a large percentage of those are, you have to conclude, violent video games…well, they don’t have mass shootings,” Palmer said.
