Achievement Unlocked 25G- First to blame GTA V for Society's Problems

"Way to go Kevin! Now,
tea-bag his corpse!"

-Parents

Did you know that if you're a parent and you let your kids play violent video games, you're responsible for violence in America? Well you are. At least according to MSNBC host Ed Shultz who whipped out a copy of Grand Theft Auto V (which came out yesterday and has somehow already ruined a generation of children) and started soliloquizing:

...oh it's a dandy, it's called Grand Theft Auto and let's see, it's got stealin' cars, shootin' people, and beatin' up hookers. If you're a parent and you allow your son or daughter to watch this...you're a lousy parent in my opinion. You play a role in this." 

-Ed Shultz, on your parenting skills

Causes of the Civil War included:
slavery, state's rights and GTA V. 

I think the point he's making is that we have a violent culture and it's true, we do. But is it because of video games? Look, GTA isn't for kids, it says so on the frelling box. I got carded for it and I'm older than Doctor Goddamn Who. So what's the problem? The violent content of the game? Parents who aren't paying attention to what their kids are up to? Both? Is it really fair to blame either for the violence in our culture? Coming just a day after another mass-shooting, that's a pretty heavy accusation to lay at anybody's feet.

Yeah, ok, Mortal Kombat probably
did invent freezing your opponent and
then shattering them. You got me there.

There's some pretty sick (as in unsettling, not rad) shit in video games, just like there's sick shit in music and movies, but it's coming from somewhere. Game designers didn't invent it. While GTA is tremendously violent, it's also a satire of American culture. Letting your kids play something like GTA when they're not mature enough to understand that it's a send-up, or a critique and not a guide to living in America is pretty irresponsible, but does it really make you responsible for real-life violence? Seems like kind of a reach to me.

Hey, but you know what else is irresponsible? Making this connection:

"If you think as a parent that this is good for your kid, (again, waving the copy of GTA V) you're wrong...oh, by the way, the guy who did the shooting (Monday)? He was a big fan of this kind of stuff. Does it matter? I don't know!"

If you don't know, then why are you bringing it up?
God, it makes me want to run him over in my Blista Compact
and then collect the floating stacks of cash that fall out.