ESCAPIST UPDATE - April 17th, 2007
VIRGINIA TECH - THE MORE THINGS CHANGE... Television psychologist (and Scary Movie 4 star) Dr. Phil McGraw and lawyer (and Batman fanatic) Jack Thompson agree: April 16th's tragedy at Virginia Tech was the expected result of a society that is steeped in violent video games and movies (but mostly video games).

McGraw appeared on the Larry King show the evening of the 16th, and Thompson appeared on Fox News a couple hours after the incident, before the culprit's name was even released. Neither were aware of gunman Cho Seung-hui's background, psychological profile, or any evidence of possible motives for his actions.

It's a safe claim to make this early in the investigation. After all, if you're right, you'll get lots of calls for more interviews and you'll really look like you know what you're talking about. If you're wrong... well, no one really follows up on these things, anyway. If we would hold these people to their words whenever they mouth off like this, we'd see a lot less of this nonsense, and may even see more effort put towards finding a real solution.

No one seems to have publicly mentioned traditional RPGs as a possible cause yet. The focus has changed, but our dependency on scapegoats hasn't. Violent films will likely always be a target (and pointing a finger at them while starring in a movie that satirizes violence is an interesting career move). Just eight years ago, people were trying to connect the Columbine massacre with Dungeons & Dragons and Vampire: The Masquerade (among many other things) with nothing to go on. Fifty years ago, it would have been Thompson's beloved Batman comics.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.