Seeing that Jack went out of his way to email me this morning to point out that he was "right" about the shooting being spurred by Counter-Strike, I thought it was probably worth another round of Dissecting Jack's Lies.
Hit a jump for his confusing quotes and how accurate they were:
1: "We find from brain scan studies out of Harvard that if you get started playing, for example, violent video games you can more likely copy-cat the behaviors in the games".
Verdict: False
Evidence: While the study of adolescents by Harvard and Indiana university researchers found that video games can spur "emotional arousal" and lower self-control it never made that final leap. In fact David S. Bickham, a research scientist at the Center on Media and Child Health at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, told the Washington Post that the study, while interesting, wasn't conclusive.
2: "The disturbing thing that keeps popping up in many of these as in Va Tech, Columbine, Paducah, where I represented the six parents of the three girls shot and killed, is that you can rehearse these types of massacres on simulators which are called video games. And you can therefore made more proficient in doing this".
Verdict: False
Evidence: Va Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho only had a passing interest in gaming years before the shooter. A lawyer tried to draw a connection between the game Doom and Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but that was tossed out by a federal judge. Paducah shooter Michael Carneal also played Doom, but that was found to not be connected to the shooting. Video game as murder simulator and training tool just doesn't hold any water.
3. The worst school shooting in history until Va Tech, was by Robert Steinhauser in Erfurt, Germany who trained on Counter-Strike Half Life. That's the game that Cho at Va Tech trained on in High School.
Verdict: Not exactly true
Evidence: While it is true that Steinhauser and Cho both played Counter-Strike at some point in their lives, with more than a million copies sold, that could probably be said of a lot of college students. Saying that Cho "trained on" the game is a bit of a stretch.
4. "And um the effect, the affects the psychological affect of the shooter, plus his attire is suggestive of a couple of the games in which the "hero" wears this type of attire".
Verdict: Likely false
Evidence: The description by those present don't make it sound like he had a flat affect. One person said "It looked like a theatrical thing the way he walked onto the stage." Others described his behavior leading up to the shooting as erratic. Not surprising of a man who had recently been dumped by his girlfriend and had stopped taking his medication, possibly anti-depressants. Simply wearing black doesn't mean he was dressing up like the "hero" from Counter-Strike.
5: "I lost my train of thought. I wrote a book...
Verdict: True
Evidence: Jack did indeed write a book, and I think he lost his train of thought about two decades ago.
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Since I pawn at Rainbow six Vegas, does that mean I am training for a shooting?
For anyone with a remotely gullible side, the kids thing is neither going to happen nor meant to be taken seriously.
As usually nothing he said is true, other than the book which im sure no one would buy if they have at least some sort of brain and common sense. People Games alike, i order a massive burning of his book, while your at it please hold signs saying "Gaming is nirvana and its beneficial, and JT needs his meds"
That should help people know the truth.
The sooner people stop making articles on this nutjob, the sooner he fades away and never irritates us ever again.
(gets in a Jet)
This guy needs to crawl up and die. HE IS A BLOODY PEST!!! All old people in politics(or most of them,srry Miyamoto) target games for our kid's behavior. Why cant we look past games and think,"ITS THE PARENTS FAULT!!!"
Actually I'm pretty sure the world would cave in on itself if that ever happened.
I don't know why they still have him in Interviews, if I was a News Reporter, I would just say to him: "Oh shut the hell up with your video game analyses, Jack, don't you have anything better to come up with? Geez!"
But that means I would lose my job, so.... meh, the trut has to be told eventually
Everything he seems to go on about is always inconclusive. Try and get some actural evidence instead of trying to convince others that inconclusive evidence is not conclusive.