Smells Like Teen Violence? The Truth Behind Violent Videogames

            Of the top four school shootings of all time, Columbine was the only shooting in which video games may have played a role. As a matter of fact, the largest school shooting of all time, the Bath School disaster, happened in 1927. 45 people died during this shooting, which happened 45 years before Pong was released, let alone Grand Theft Auto IV. The third largest school shooting of all time took place at the University of Texas in 1966, once again before video games even existed. Both of the ruthless killers that committed the shootings suffered from depression. Depression links all of the top four school shootings together, not violent TV shows, and certainly not violent video games.

Even with the increasing amount of violence in today’s media, including video games or television, we cannot attribute violent crimes to them. The real reason that children are violent is because of the environment they live in. Columbine served as a wake up call for Americans to take action in stopping violent crimes. The only problem is that it may have made us too easy to point fingers at violence in the media. Americans need to focus on recognizing when children are at their weakest and being able to offer support instead of turning our backs on them. Imagine if somebody you knew needed support in their hour of need, and their whole support simply gave that person the cold shoulder. Marilyn Manson, a famous rock singer, was asked what he would say to Harris and Klebold if given the chance. He simply replied, “I wouldn’t say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, and that’s what no one did.”