# We need a scapegoat... Jews? Nope. Arabs? Hmmmm. Gays? Maybe. Video games? BINGO!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 20, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823 "2002-11-20T23:42:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/1 "2002-11-20T23:42:58Z")
[http://www.idsnews.com/story.php?id=13298](http://www.idsnews.com/story.php?id=13298) According to this editiorial, Investigators are now buying video games in the search for a possible motive of the DC Sniper Shootings. If they look hard enough, I’m sure they could find a connection to the Kennedy Assasination or the Branch Dividians in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, too. That doesn’t mean its really there. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/2 "2002-11-21T00:20:20Z")
While I agree wholeheartedly with the contemptuous dismissal of such “investigations,” I do think that it would be the height of irony if it was discovered that Malvo was addicted to _Ethnic Cleansing_ from Resistance Records. ---
**Author:** ![glarGH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/76d3ee/32.png) [@glarGH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glarGH)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/3 "2002-11-21T00:33:49Z")
ARGH. The folk who keep pullin shit like that need a kick in the ass… **Mort Furd** , do you think you can fit them in? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/4 "2002-11-21T00:36:11Z")
God, I hate this fucking shit. How on earth is a video game going to make someone go on a homicidal rampage, any more than a violent play or book or movie? Of course, after years of playing Super Mario Brothers, I do sometimes jump on snapping turtles so that I can knock people over with their shells. I mean, who doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/5 "2002-11-21T00:39:46Z")
Whilst I agree that the “blaming” video games for violent people such as the snipers is wrong, it seems to me that in any _particular_ case, looking at video games might be probative. It seems like they’re turning up a new victim twice a week in this case. If, indeed, the culprits were gamers and if, indeed, they took some inspiration as to targets, methodology, or what-have-you from one or more particular games, than checking out the games might be useful in identifying additional crimes they may have committed. No different from picking up some astrology books when dealing with a Zodiac killer in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![glarGH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/76d3ee/32.png) [@glarGH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glarGH)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/6 "2002-11-21T00:40:53Z")
Looking back upon this… > [@](#): > > We need a scapegoat… Jews? Nope. Arabs? Hmmmm. Gays? Maybe. Video games? BINGO!! How can Bingo be that dangerous or detrimental?? ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/7 "2002-11-21T00:43:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\* > No different from picking up some astrology books when dealing with a Zodiac killer in my mind. \*\* I think it’s more like picking up a Rachel Carson book when dealing with environmentalist terrorists. There’s a connection, sure, but it’s more like they’re both symptoms of the same disease. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/8 "2002-11-21T00:48:03Z")
Feh-- People mistake cause and effect _all the time_. Nothing new. Hell, one of my favourite games, apart from the beloved GTA series, is the old stand-by _Postal_. I see that there’s a [Postal2](http://www.gopostal.com/company/) out now. Missed it-- Can’t wait to get it. I agree with the developers: > [@](#): > > We believe that the vast majority of people are, in fact, NOT inbred zombie murder-bots just waiting for some entertainment product to finish their “programming”. We also do not believe that ANY creative industry should ever have to castrate itself under politically-motivated censorship guidelines designed around the imagined needs of six year-olds or clinically psychotic persons (unless that is their intended target audience, of course). Postal was great fun. Taking an _actual_ flame-thrower to an _actual_ marching band would not be entertaining in the least, regardless of my burning hatred for the “music” of John Philip Sousa. Sort of like how _The Three Stooges_ are a “laff-riot”, but I’ve managed to supress any latent urge to put peoples’ eyes out with my fingers. Most of us know this, because we’ve grown up with video games, and know that any psychotic urges that we may have are totally unrelated to them. Hell, I’ve always loved playing military combat simulations, but that doesn’t mean I’ve ever gone off my nut and considered joining the frigging _army_. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/9 "2002-11-21T00:50:29Z")
Mmmm… _Postal_… _Grand Theft Auto_… (Personally, I think they should blame the gays.) Esprix ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/10 "2002-11-21T01:02:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RexDart \* > \*\*I think it’s more like picking up a Rachel Carson book when dealing with environmentalist terrorists. There’s a connection, sure, but it’s more like they’re both symptoms of the same disease. \*\* Great example, actually. If I, as lead investigator, had some evidence that an environmental terrorist in custody had picked targets based in part on a Rachel Carson book, I’d tell one of my people to pick up her stuff, and maybe some selections off Amazon’s “people who like this book also liked…” list and do some reading over the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/11 "2002-11-21T04:15:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by glarGH \* > \*\*How can Bingo be that dangerous or detrimental?? \*\* You’ve never been near a VFW on a Tuesday night, have you? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/12 "2002-11-21T05:52:57Z")
Nah, they still have smokers to scapegoat for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/13 "2002-11-21T06:00:51Z")
Yeah, but that’s a finite resource. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/14 "2002-11-21T06:04:39Z")
First it was comic books. Then it was rock and roll. Now it’s video games. It’s always something. Yet these people never stop and think, “Hey wait, they have the same games in Japan, Australia, Canada, and Europe…” ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/15 "2002-11-21T06:09:46Z")
Don’t forget Dungeons and Dragons, which teaches kids to learn REAL magic spells direct from Satan’s lips. ---
**Author:** ![Fang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@Fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fang)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/16 "2002-11-21T06:11:33Z")
[Obligatory Onion link.](http://www.theonion.com/onion3842/beltway_sniper_video-game.html) ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/17 "2002-11-21T08:36:11Z")
Back in the old PVG (pre video game) days it was Dungeons and Dragons that took the blame for the actions of many a deranged lunatic. I played for years and it is from there that my user name derives. I’m a pretty sweet guy… really. No-one ever killed anybody and we had a hard and fast rule that if you go home and murder your loved ones you wouldn’t be able to play with us anymore. If anyone went home and murdered their family or tortured their cat we never heard about it although there was that rumour about Kevin and the gerbils… anyways … Do I look like a raving psycopath to you? Do I look like someone who would shoot people from a clock tower? Do I look like a spree killer? . . . . . . . . . . . ANSWER ME GODAMMIT!!! I PRAY THAT THE ALMIGHTY LUCIFER WILL PUNISH ALL THOSE WHO DO NOT STRIKE THEIR KEYBOARDS AND GIVE ME THE ANSWERS I SEEK!!! DO I LOOK LIKE A RAVING FREAK TO YOU??!!! YOUR MOTHER CHUCKS ROCKS IN HELL!!! BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!! shit… was that out loud? Really… I really am a sweet guy and I quit playing D&D years ago. Now I just play video games. Fear me. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/18 "2002-11-21T13:16:10Z")
I only really game with The Sims, and I’ve noticed no adverse psychological effects at all. And my Fourth of July guests thought it was FUNNY when they had to climb over the edge of my pool to get out. Really! ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/19 "2002-11-21T14:21:11Z")
POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN “THE SIMS” AND “BARRED ROOM KILLER” The Barred Room Killer, known for her heinous crimes of inviting people over for a party and then barring them in a single room without food, water or restroom facilities until they perished, may have gotten the idea from the computer game, The Sims, in which players control little people in simulated household environments. But for some, the fun takes a morbid turn when the game player sends the “Sim” people into an empty room and then removes the door, barring the people from leaving. They eventually die of starvation, after humiliating themselves by their inability to use a toilet. “It’s, like, so fun,” one New York resident said, who only wished to be identified as S1mK1llah. “You can like, remove the doors and everything, and like, they’ll p\*\*\* themselves and then they’ll like, die.” Will Wright, designer of The Sims, says any connection is absurd. “It’s just a game. It’s a dollhouse simulator. The idea that a game, any game, could be responsible for the murder of dozens of people, is ridiculous.” Police are investigating whether the game’s content was the inspiration for **Zette** , the Barred Room Killer now in custody. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823/20 "2002-11-21T17:24:23Z")
Hehe So the investigators get free video games and will be paid to play them. Kudos to them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-scapegoat-jews-nope-arabs-hmmmm-gays-maybe-video-games-bingo/137823.md?page=2)