IT'S THE VIDEO GAMES, DAMNIT!

[DonRedwood]

Violence. No understanding of death. Shooting rampages.

Video games.

For your consideration: Last summer I hurt my back and spent a month on the couch playing video games. My partner has a bunch of "world builder" games. You play as Rome or Greece or Egypt and plan cities, build buildings, balance budgets, wage war, be King, basically. I've never been much for video games but since I was bedridden, I got suckered right in.

The first day I played all day. Turn after turn. The theme song playing in the background. The hours were sucked right up. Sluuuuuuurp. But, no biggie, I was sick, it was that or read a book or watch tv.

When I went to bed I wanted more. More! MORE!!

The next day I woke up early and started playing. I took some breaks but I played most of the day. When I wasn't playing I couldn't stop thinking about it. Should I start a war and take Macedonia?

That night my partner fell asleep and I tossed and turned. And tossed. And then I got up, snuck downstairs, turned on the computer and played until four in the morning. I finally went to sleep but my brain didn't turn off the game.

That entire night I dreamed the game. Turn after turn, worrying about my borders and my armies and my brain kept that theme song going the whole time. I woke up exhausted and jonesing for the game. Whenever I stopped playing I wanted to play and my mind kept thinking about the game...gnawing at me.

That night I went to bed at the regular time but I dreamed the game. Turn followed turn and even when i wasn't dreaming the actual game, the other dreams were broken up in turns with the game music and sound effects. My brain could not shut the game down.

I looked for new games for a break but they were all shooters. Shoot people, shoot monsters, shoot zombies. Kill, shoot, lock-n-load.

Imagine someone who is easily led playing a shooter hour after hour, day after day, killing, reloading, killing, killing, planning killing, plotting killing, killing, killing, sleeping and dreaming their game, killing, killing, killing, killing and the whole time reliving the exciting parts in their heads, making those situations play out in their imaginations in their real lives.

Their brain is still playing the video game (kill, kill, shoot, reload) as they walk through the hall at school or ride the bus or go to the movies.

I fear those games are brainwashing our youth. I fear those brains that can't turn off the game. We already know that exposure to violence on TV has effects on our children. These shooter video games are the worst television violence EVER X 1,000,000.

[cthulu2016]

1. I agree (though there is no single factor, of course)

The modern mass-shooting is almost a cliche at this point. It is a go-to fantasy resolution of certain mental problems in young men.

There are many societal factors, of course.

But the primary entertainment of a lot (lot!) of young men happens to be vivid virtual reality experiences of shooting people.

So it would be silly to dismiss it.

[DonRedwood]

7. I agree, there are many contributing factors

The video games are just so much FUN.

And I'm not talking about casual play... I'm talking addictive play.

[flamingdem]

30. I agree. In a larger sense computers mess with our interface with the world

They are easier than real life, sometimes the brain gets confused and demands that real life behave similarly.

[progressivebydesign]

54. I saw the cover of Newsweek (I think) that is saying that all of this is rewiring our brains. n/t

[dionysus]

2. .

[Ohio Joe]

3. Sheesh... Why did I just know someone would come out with this crap

Correction... Stupid crap.

[backscatter712]

4. This thread makes me want to fire up Left 4 Dead...

FIRE UP THAT CHAINSAW!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[Arkana]

71. Either that or Lollipop Chainsaw.

Nothing quite like playing a perky high-school cheerleader who's armed with a chainsaw as big as she is and a horde of angry zombies.

[Loudly]

5. The first amendment is a genuine right.

Video games are protected.

The second amendment is an imaginary one.

Your poisoned mind acts out with guns and ammunition, depriving your victims of all their genuine rights.

[Marinedem]

33. WOW!

That is some yellow cake, enriched, weapons grade ignorance.

[RadiationTherapy]

6. So you want to what?

I don't necessarily disagree with some of your points, particularly the brain trying to "solve" the problems of the game in your sleep, but I am unsure what propositions you favor to alleviate the issue?

Also, "brainwashing" means different things to different people. Can you describe further what you mean? Thanks.

[DonRedwood]

18. Sure

I don't know how to alleviate the issue. People have a right to play video games. I do think parents should pay attention to what their kids are playing. Its not good for Jr. to spend all his hours killing things. That's gotta warp his perspective.

The overexposure of killing and violence numbs us into thinking that is normal. I used brainwashing because it is replaying the message of the game over and over.

I'm not against video games, even violent ones--but, in my opinion, parents should make sure they are age appropriate. (my views on nudity are similar... the internet allows kids today to see all the violence and sex they want).

I guess I'm old fashioned. I feel the same gut reaction when I see parents taking their 6 year old to see a horror movie. (When I saw 28 Days Later? That scary zombie flick, the people two rows down had their six year old with them!!)

[RadiationTherapy]

47. I agree on all points. We have no choice but to attend to our children's access to media and

try and put our own values in perspective with it.

[phleshdef]

8. Idiotic. I've played shooters for YEARS and I have no desire to even own a gun...

...let alone go shoot anyone with one.

If someone has a mental wire loose, it will manifest itself one way or another. Video games have fuck all to do with it.

[dionysus]

11. my video game body count has to be in the millions, yet strangely, shooting up a joint never

crossed my mind...

[cthulu2016]

21. Wha?

"If someone has a mental wire loose, it will manifest itself one way or another. Video games have fuck all to do with it."

Of course video games have a lot to do with it. They help provide the "one way or another." Guns also help provide the "one way or another."

Mental disorders manifest themselves in a social context. Voices in your head? It used to be angels and demons. Today the CIA put a chip in your head.

When guns are readily available and the primary entertainment of millions is vivid simulations of shooting people (Video games, movies and TV... and news, for that matter) and mass shootings are on the news with regularity then certain mental problems will result in mass shootings.

Nothing controversial in that.

It's not a reason to ban video games or anything, but one would have to be quite stubbornly dense to say that things people do are nor connected to the social context in which they operate.

[phleshdef]

26. Nope. Still has fuck all to do with it.

If someone has it in them to kill people and a desire to do it, they will go do it. I don't buy the notion that video games or television teaches them that behavior. People were killing each other in mass way before either technology ever existed.

[flamingdem]

65. Well put nt

[Arkana]

72. You haven't provided any evidence saying that video games and video games alone

have caused anyone to commit an act of mass murder.

Everyone talks about "normalization of violence" and "desensitization", but without mental illness nothing manifests. Parents need to monitor what their children watch and play and people with mental illnesses need treatment.

[Mojorabbit]

31. It may be that some people have a predispositon?

While others are not bothered at all. I do not know.

[chknltl]

39. Not even one of these?

[Dawgs]

48. +1. I play shooters all the time and would never consider getting a gun.

The OP is dumb.

[Posteritatis]

50. And it's always shooters they fret about, too

Nobody ever worries about us strategy gamers and the likelihood that we're going to crack one of these days and annex the eastern seaboard.

I feel left out.

[GarroHorus]

9. Oh good grief!

[Politicalboi]

10. This Batman movie is violent

I play first person shoot games. I'm not a 24 year old male, but it's not the video games. If it were the games, there would be more shootings. Japan and Germany have these games, and don't have the gun deaths we have here. I wouldn't be surprised if this asshole was a right wing nut who saw this movie as an attack on Rmoney. I find that scenario more plausible than first person video games.

[JonLP24]

12. You played what

I gather was a strategy based game. Those and RPGs can often lead to dreaming about the game, especially if it is fun. You can't project that experience to every type of game, I play sports games the most often but I never dream about them. I dreamed about Fallout though but it was because of the exploration, the setting, etc.

Sure mentally some people can't separate the real from the fake but most of us understand the difference.

[Initech]

13. Joe Lieberman - is that you?

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

14. I play multiplayer Call of Duty: MW3 every night

without fail. I play at least 2 hours on work nights and more on the weekends. I am pretty good at it...

I have yet to shoot anyone in real life, and I do not own guns or knives, nor do I plan on that.

I'm also a 40-year old married female. I've been playing computer games since Pong came out. I have played silly games and what are considered violent games like CoD and even Grand Theft Auto. I have watched movies of all sorts since I was a kid growing up in Italy. I even watched plenty of nudity. I drank a glass of red wine at dinner for as long as I remember (though I don't follow that custom any more). I guess I'm the poster child for everything that could go wrong and didn't.

[siouxsiecreamcheese]

73. Same here

I'm a 35yo female and married... I play plenty of violent games, and have since I was a kid, and I also work in the industry. I'm also the most peace loving liberal I know, and I can't even kill a bug that enters my home. It's so funny how people have these misconceptions about "typical gamers".

[RandiFan1290]

15. I cast Corruption on people all day long

Especially in traffic. It has yet to work. I guess I have to work on my IRL hit rating.

[Amonester]

16. No, it's the individual player.

Personal responsibility much?

[Confusious]

17. You forgot the sarcasm tag

I blame the kids and their damn "rock and roll"

[nc4bo]

19. When playing the game becomes obsessive

to the point where it interferes with normal every day activities and there is psych/mental problem involved it's not just a game anymore.

One can never say something is 100% responsible for all problems but I'm sure for a certain type of person, it could.

If this country would care more about mental health than creating wars, perhaps there would be more interest in studying the effects of obsessive, hardcore gaming and what type of personality would be most effected.

[snooper2]

20. I think it's the music, When I get in heavy traffic on 635 I put in some DMX

Gets me in the mood to just push the motherfuckers out of my way

[Comrade_McKenzie]

22. Absolutely no link at all. Come back when you have more evidence.

Preferably something not less than anecdotal.

[JHB]

23. I've been hearing that crap for 30 years, so I'm rather skeptical of your opinion on this

People used to be real freaked out at "role playing gamers" playing things like Dungeons & Dragons, spending endless hours doing something they didn't "get'. Supposedly we were all in grave danger of committing suicide or going on murderous rampages in order to "bring the game to life".

Instead we grew up to function normally in society like just about everybody else. The small portion who hit the skids did so for far more readily identifiable and mundane reasons than anything like a gaming obsession.



You were playing Civilization, right? Yeah, that can be a time-sucker if you let it, just like any other hobby. That bit of obsession you experienced isn't unheard of, but it passes pretty soon. You found something interesting and your brain worked overtime on it. brains do that. If it keeps up you might seek help or stop, but that's obsessiveness on your part.

[jorno67]

24. Really?

Are you sure it's not red dye #5 or sex on TV?

[AsahinaKimi]

25. Its funny but quite a few years

back, people said the same thing about COMIC BOOKS.

[Sea-Dog]

27. thats right up there with "rock n roll is the devils music!"

played games for most of my life
never felt any need to kill anyone
nothing to do with video games


grandpa

[Duer 157099]

28. I will support you on this

And I speak as the parent of a teen who plays these games every day.

I also speak as a scientist who just read some research papers yesterday about using virtual reality (ie, video games) to physically change the brain, yes PHYSICALLY alters the brain. Although the study I was reading was focused on POSITIVE changes to the brain, but then they weren't violent games, but the point is still very very very profoundly valid.

[redqueen]

42. I dismissed the research initially.

I still haven't looked at any of it but it is gaining ground as more comes out.

These studies need to be more widely discussed, at the very least.

[fizzgig]

29. just like doom caused columbine, right?

or was it marilyn manson?

when i was 16 and 17, one of my boyfriend's and mine favorite pastime was to play mutiplayer first person shooters and blow the shit out of each other. turok 2 was a lousy game, but frag tag was awesome. proximity mines were my weapon of choice in the golden eye multiplayer.

to say that playing violent video games causes you to escalate to real violence is absurd. if that were the case, you would think that these would be happening everywhere on a regular basis.

[Swede]

32. NO,it's the rock and roll!

[backscatter712]

34. Hmmm... Not sure if...

[Nevernose]

35. It's the printing press, damnit!

It's gonna ruin the kids!

Seriously, Gutenberg was chastised for corrupting the youth with evil thoughts when he invented it.

[Posteritatis]

49. Goddamned cuneiform. It was all downhill from there. (nt)

[earthside]

36. It is the popular culture that includes video games.

All the people who say excessively violent video games have no impact have this obstacle to their argument: then why spend millions of dollars on television ads to persuade people to vote for Obama for President?

Because advertising and electronic media and mass communication do have an effect on people. Why did folks dress-up in Batman costumes last night if movies have no impact on how people behave.

The problem, in my opinion, is not video games in isolation, but as part of the tapestry of popular culture that pushes and pushes and pushes violence and decadent behavior on people ... mostly for the purpose of selling products and recruiting soldiers for future wars.

The problem sometimes for liberals is admitting that popular culture can be detrimental and negative -- without jumping to the charge that some self-restraint amounts to censorship.

Without resorting to laws and regulations, we can simply decide as individuals that we are not going to give-in to violence so much. Liberals and progressives can certainly chose to practice a certain level of civility and respect that leads to a more peace-oriented culture.

[redqueen]

43. Well said. nt

[JonLP24]

46. Speaking for myself

I don't say they have no impact but not the extent people assert that they do. It's like no one ever committed a violent act before a movie was produced. They spend a lot of money on ads but there is still a heck of a lot of voters who already have their minds made up and no amount of ads are going to change.

As an individual, I'm going to continue play games Rockstar produce including the ones w/ violence and I'll doubt I'll begin feeling violent impulses.

I agree in different ways regarding the culture. I always felt w/ things like music, TV, games -- they reflect society rather than the other way around. On Mondays, I watch Hawaii 5-0 and every episode they're skirting the bill of rights (which bothers me more than the violence) but I recognize it is the culture that accepts this sort of thing like torture rather than cop shows influence them towards those type of opinions. I realize they can influence it but again, only to a point. I'll never be OK w/ torturing or blackmailing suspects no matter how many times I watch that show.

[Shankapotomus]

37. I disagree

Video games are just a reflection of what is already on our minds as a culture. If anything video games transfer such desires and thoughts in individuals out of the real world into the virtual world. I mean, what are your chances of replicating world domination in the real world? If anything, going through that experience in the safe format of a video game would eventually exhaust your infatuation with such aspirations in the real world. It allows your adolescent mind to grow up within the previously unavailible safe confines of a pixelated screen instead of experimenting with such impulses in real life. Violence, from a behavioral standpoint in video games, of course, reinforces the already competative culture that exists but it is the safest expression of such behavior and thinking because it satisfies such admittedly warped desires without a real life body count.

Here is an additional counter of why videos games are a positive transference of our cultural violence:

If two nations had a choice of settling a dispute by fighting a real war or having representatives of each nation fight the war over an online multiplayer war simulation, with the loser agreeing to concede without any real bloodshed, which option would you choose?

[Taverner]

38. Um, no. Media doesn't "make" anyone do anything they weren't already going to do

If not video games, it would have been Rambo movies. If not Rambo movies it would have been the violence in Shakespeare, or more likely, the Bible (seriously, have you ever read that book? waaaaay violent)

No, we don't know why he killed those people

My first thought is mental illness - it seemed way too similar to Charles Whitman

Whitman, if you will remember, had a tumor the size of a golf ball in his head

[redqueen]

40. That does seem to be part of it.

Glorification of violence in any form doesn't help.

[lilithsrevenge12]

41. If this was true both of my brothers would be mass murders.

Especially the older one. He is beyond addicted to his xbox, yet he has never been in any kind of physical confrontation. I don't fully agree with what parents let their really young kids play, but that doesn't determine if you are going to go on a killing spree. The video games probably didn't help, but he was mentally ill to begin with. This was a tragedy and we all wish we could prevent from happening again, but there are sick people in the world who will fly off the handle whether or not these violent video games are available to them. If these video games factored into something like this as much as it did, don't you think we would have these kinds of shooting on a weekly basis?

[justiceischeap]

44. As a gamer who likes their games more violent than less

I have no desire to own a gun or shoot REAL people, or harm them in any other way. However, it is a great stress reliever where I'm not actually harming a PERSON.

[Posteritatis]

45. The post-tragedy IQ plunge is in full effect, I see. (nt)

[CBGLuthier]

51. So what explains ALL of the mass murder events before video games

and let me tell you there are tons of these. Every decade back to the beginning of the century and beyond. We are a violent people.

Sure maybe some mentally ill people get obsessive about them but the games themselves don't make people mentally ill.

[TeamPooka]

52. I love First Person Shooter video games...

and have played them for decades.
I have never, not once, felt the urge to grab a gun and go shoot people for real.
You can try to blame movies, games, music or whatever you want but the only blame lies with the person who is committing the crime.

[progressivebydesign]

53. I totally agree but it's not a popular opinion.

Just WHAT do people think is happening when they give their children simulated violence as a steady diet every day? Do they not realize that it changes their brains? And now there is indications it rewires adult brains, as well.

You cannot spend hours playing violent games, watching violent entertainment, without it changing you in some way. At the very lease it dehumanizes people, and add to that the isolation of technology, and it's a disaster.

We're losing our humanity. Schools cut arts and other liberal arts for technology. I've seen parents with young kids rent Seven for their little boys to watch, and buy GTA for young kids, too. And they think it doesn't matter. But it does.

And now the fashion and entertainment industry is targeting girls and women. We see more images of women with guns, in violent roles, using guns as jewelry. Corporate America is destroying us this way, and too many parents are complicit. I know parents who have a newborn, and they put the baby on their chest while they play WoW, and violent video games for hours.

From the standpoint of young people, whose brains develop until their in the early 20s, there ARE developmental milestones that the brain goes through, and stupid ass ignorant parents don't know or care. In the brain around 8 or 9 is when the EMPATHY gets developed. You give your 8 year old boy or girl violent games and movies to watch, and guess what happens? And so it goes as the brain develops, violent "entertainment" is like junk food for the brain. Kids are supposed to be watching stories about a dog who is in peril, but someone does the right thing to help them, at that age. NOT shooting people in a semi realistic form. Child development should be a required course for having a kid, frankly. And the connection with these stories, is that we're seeing the generation of dead-eyed, zero-compunction, adolescents and young adults. The gang teens and young adults have zero value for human life, zero empathy. They grew up with a diet of music and videos that depict shooting and killing as a glamorous life, with no consequences for it. Ever see an interview with young gang members? They say openly that they don't care about other people, and what they might be feeling. Or they cannot relate to how they would feel if it was their family member. Sorry, but "entertainment" DOES affect young people. Even if they don't go out and shoot someone, they develop no shock over violence, they are most likely to make a Youtube video of someone needing help, than to actually help them.

We're letting the corporate "entertainment" juggernaut destroy the humanity of our kids, with the lame ass parent's help.

[Amonester]

59. "when they give their children"

Now, THAT's (more) the problem, IMHO.

Why parents do not seem to love their own kids enough by "supervising" their access to all that crap (including violent video clips of any kind).

They fail at their responsibilities.

[Amonester]

63. Just to add: There should be "Parenting 101" (201, 301, ...)

programs inserted in all educational programs somehow, and everywhere (IMHO).

Dreaming, perhaps. But shouldn't it be obvious?

[Arkana]

70. Have you considered at all that it might be a parent's responsibility

to monitor what their children are consuming?

Or would that get in the way of the anti-video games jihad?

[surrealAmerican]

55. If you had actually invaded a few neighboring countries as a result ...

... you might have a point. Yet somehow, even as a compulsive (Civilization?) player, you had no compulsion to take those activities into the real world.

Do parents need to keep an eye on what their children are doing? Certainly, but that's true about much more than just video games.

Is there too much violence in popular entertainment in this country? There is, but what do you propose to do about it?

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. Hmmm no...

By the way, I guess in your mind mine craft is part of the problem too.

By the way, I play scenarios like that in my mind, as a reporter I might find myself in a situation where I will need to well, find cover in a jiffy...

Does that make me nuts or just have a mind for our violent reality?

[d_r]

57. the Japanese have the same video games we do and very little (comparitively) violent crime

Video games are not necessary for this type of violence, and video games are not sufficient to cause this type of violence.

[nc4bo]

64. But doesn't Japan have a high suicide rate?

Not sure so don't hold me to it I think I read it somewhere in passing.

Perhaps they tend to internalize more than others?

[d_r]

74. different cultural meanings

to both aggression and suicide.

Japanese kids will also show aggression to "others" groups but not to their own - think about how Japanese soldiers tortured others during ww2.

I guess my point is that our aggression is based in our culture.

[Egalitarian Thug]

58. You just went through the initial phase. It doesn't last and rationality remains

dominant, assuming rationality in the first place. Blaming video games, firearms, bad parenting, bullying, etc., only allows us to continue to ignore the commonality of our collective sickness. We are Krishnamurti's profoundly sick society and until we change that, we will fail to change anything else.

[cleduc]

60. Look up the name Charles Whitman

and then ask yourself what video games were available in 1966.

If that's too recent, try Leung Ying in 1928 or Andrew Philip Kehoe in 1927 and imagine the video games available then.

Two key common things in most of these mass murders seem to be mental health issues and the availability of weapons to those with these mental health issues.

[VenusRising]

61. From PBS

Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

1. The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.

According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers — 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system. It also misdirects energy away from eliminating the actual causes of youth violence and allows problems to continue to fester.

2. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.

Claims like this are based on the work of researchers who represent one relatively narrow school of research, "media effects." This research includes some 300 studies of media violence. But most of those studies are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment. That's why the vague term "links" is used here. If there is a consensus emerging around this research, it is that violent video games may be one risk factor - when coupled with other more immediate, real-world influences — which can contribute to anti-social behavior. But no research has found that video games are a primary factor or that violent video game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer.

[shugah]

62. oh, absolutely

young men playing violent video games - and hundreds of thousands of them do! - all roaming the streets killing people! yikes!

okay, what i really meant was "bullshit."

just because you experienced a game obsession doesn't negate the fact that i happen to know a plethora of young male gamers that are NOT killing anyone.

[flamingdem]

66. I've seen social damage to young men who grow up obsessed with games

I worked in the biz. These guys lack social skills. They don't talk much to women. They are a bit pent up.

This is just my opinion and I know a lot of people play these games, but there are alcohaulics and social drinkers

[Posteritatis]

75. The game *industry* is kinda distinct from players as a whole

I do some game development as a hobby with several friends, but I'd sooner play Russian roulette with an axe than actually work directly in the industry.

Hollywood's seventeen kinds of fucked up, but that doesn't reflect on movie buffs.

[dogknob]

67. Yes! Some of them even promote a secret liberal agenda. We must eliminate them all!

Last edited Fri Jul 20, 2012, 04:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Just look at this rubbish, will you?

This obviously marxist video game has the audacity to make the successful businessman look like a complete idiot! His remarks were obviously taken out of context. I hear that this so-called "adventure role-playing game" features several storylines where violence is not even an option. What kind of tree-hugger, yoga-doing propaganda are we subjecting our children to? The socialist super-villains who are attempting to warp the minds of our children by creating such a game obviously do not "get it;" everything in the world is ultimately decided by violence, so we must condition our children to accept that "that's just the way things are" instead of wasting their time with "alternatives."

If anyone here plays Skyrim, then you know the context (state of perpetual war promoted by people who see themselves as superior) and probably disagree with the OP.

[siouxsiecreamcheese]

68. it's not the games

I work in the game industry, I'm female and I play shooters all the time. I have never once in my life thought about owning a gun or having the urge to shoot a real gun. I think the world would be a much better place if guns were never invented. However, the people that do tend to live out their fantasies with gunplay would do it regardless of if they've ever played a violent video game before. Why? Because these people are mentally ill. Sure, guns don't kill people, people kill people but it sure as hell makes it a lot easier. What we need is less guns and more care for the mentally ill.

[Arkana]

69. You're kidding, right?

I and millions of others like me have played every violent video game in existence. I have never felt any urge to kill anyone because unlike crazy people, I can separate reality from fantasy.

It is not violent video games that made this guy shoot up a theater. Mental illness did that.