Another day in these here United States, another mass shooting, this time, at a video gaming tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. The shooter, who killed himself, was a competitor who lost a match, then returned to the venue and shot up the place. I imagine that the horrible people at 4chan, 8chan, and the various incel forums are already proclaiming him 'an hero'.
As exposed in the whole Gamergate fiasco, nerd culture is a cesspool of misogyny, racism, and general nastiness. The abuse, including rape and death threats, that women gamers face is horrific. The usual shit-talk that accompanies gaming has occasionally metastasized into something more sinister, including terroristic acts as 'SWATting', which have ended in fatalities.
I'm shocked, but not surprised, that toxic gamer culture has claimed its first mass shooting directly related to video gaming... though I in no way subscribe to the Conservative trope that violent video games 'cause' mass shootings- it's a distraction from the real issue of regulating access to firearms, and in this particular case, the video game the shooter played was a football simulation, not a First-Person Shooter. The culture of casual cruelty and entitlement that prevents a lot of these angry young nerds from handling setbacks in an emotionally appropriate fashion is the problem. Was it inevitable that this toxicity would lead to a case of mass lead poisoning? More importantly, will this mass-shooting be the start of a larger movement to defuse dangerous nerdrage?
Speaking of a toxic culture, this is America. If the gunz don't get you, the cars will. It is the great taboo to speak truth about our addictive, diseased preoccupation with the automobile.
ReplyDeleteBut the automobile gives us the illusion of freedom! Sure we are in thrall to Big Oil, but the lure of the open road is real!
ReplyDeleteWe are not in thrall to big oil, we are in thrall to the cars first transportation system in this country. The lure of the open road is corporate capitalist propaganda but you are right about the illusion of freedom, that's why the TV sells SUV's and pickups as "Freedom Machines". A lot of workers in this country drive to work so that they can work to drive because a large proportion of their wages goes to paying for and maintaining their automobile. Its not about the choices we make, its about the choices that are made for us.
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