When violet tragedies like the Aurora, CO shooting that resulted in the death of 12 people happen, media — and often people who know nothing about video games — try to somehow tie in video games as the cause of the tragedy. We saw it with the Columbine shooting and the Virginia Tech shooting. So does it come as any surprise that Fox News is trying to report that the suspect, James Holmes, played World of Warcraft.
In an article, Fox News was talking about Dr. Lynne Fenton, who is the medical director of the University of Colorado's Student Mental Health Services. They wrote:
On May 30, 2012, Fenton and two graduate students presented a Student Health Case Conference talk called “World of Warcraft: The Use of Archetypes in Psychotherapy” during the university’s psychiatry department’s grand rounds. World of Warcraft was reportedly one of the video games that James Holmes frequently played.
Fox News thought that the fact that Fenton did a study on World of Warcraft in relation to psychotherapy, and that at one point in time James Holmes played World of Warcraft was newsworthy. Congratulations Fox News. You've figured out why he did it. Maybe the Lich King told him to go into that theater and fire off rounds at the audience.
It amazes me how the news media continually tries to bring video games into light as the problem and root of violence in this country. I guarantee at least one of the people that donated money to Farrah Soudani (a vicitim that received over $150 thousand from the help of The Chive to pay for her hospital bills) played/plays World of Warcraft. And yet there's no news of that. Video games are only the cause of evil, heinous acts, not good.
World of Warcraft is no more a contributing factor to James Holmes mental state and reason that he shot people than him once eating a Hot Pocket that burned his tongue. Or him watching the horrible programming on Fox News… which is probably a lot more responsible for any national tragedy.
You can follow Movies and Culture Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ
[Source: Fox News]
