The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: Viewpoints

Sagan Harris First-year media arts student

I was going to write something funny this week. Of course, procrastinator that I am, I waited until the day of the deadline to sit down and write anything at all.

Unfortunately, by today, I wasn't in a humorous mood. Seeing the headline on this newspaper, "Massacre At Virginia Tech," in bold black lettering tends to bring out the cynic in me.

But I'm not here to chide the newspaper on its front-page sensationalism.

Let's face it, dear readers: we, as Americans, love instant gratification. Anything less than our way, right away, seems pretty inconvenient. We like easy answers; we like to not think a lot. We like obvious, comprehensible explanations that make sense to us without us needing it repeated or expounded on in further detail.

When occasions like this arise, examples of violence among "young" people, the same easy answers always appear: violent video games, heavy metal and the like.

Honestly, I'm waiting for it. I haven't watched the news in the last few hours (it's more or less just the same stuff being looped over and over), so there's a big chance that Jack Thompson, Sen. Joe Lieberman and the rest of the so-called "whistle-blowers" are already setting up camps outside CNN (or Fox News, horror of horrors), getting set to do what they do best - scare people foolish enough to actually believe their paranoia-based arguments.

I've seen so many good points defeated because the other side continually used fear tactics, expounding on what could happen rather than what actually was happening. Of course, the public still doesn't know the complete story. But that won't stop Thompson and his cronies from speculating. Speculating very, very loudly.

Their biggest argument is that violent video games and heavy metal cause children and young adults to commit atrocities. But there is a simple refutation for this: the kids were messed up before they even got their hands around a controller or a CD player. Anyone who plays Grand Theft Auto or listens to Cannibal Corpse and actually thinks anything involved is acceptable behavior already has something wrong with them.

So don't lose your heads, people. In these desperate times, when it seems like there's a new crisis every single day, it's so easy to fall out of control and give into fear itself: fear of failing a class, fear of losing someone you love. There's always a logical, reasonable way out: if you keep cool and assess a situation, an answer can be found.

And if some censor-happy, moral majority member decides to bring up how many people listen to heavy metal and play video games then kill others, shut 'em up with just one question:

How many folks play video games and listen to heavy metal and don't kill people?

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