Mass shootings are all-too common in America. The Gun Violence Archive counted more than 693 shootings in the US in 2021, a concerning increase from the 610 in 2020, and a heartbreaking leap on from the 417 in 2019.
According to that same tally, there have been around 198 shootings in the US in 2022 so far, which averages out to about 10 attacks a week. That's the kind of statistic that's so disgusting, so shocking, that it's genuinely quite hard to comprehend.
What will the US do about this? Nothing. Again. Rather than take measures to restrict the country's scarily relaxed gun laws or combat the online radicalism that's consuming internet users of all ages, the US media has done what it always does: pinned the blame on video games and called it a day.
As I'm sure you've probably heard by now, this weekend an 18-year-old white male walked into a supermarket in Buffalo and opened fire, killing 10 people, in what has been described as a racially motivated attack.
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The media swiftly responded to the tragedy the way it always does: by looking for something other than gun laws and racism to pin the crime on. Fox News anchor Jon Scott interviewed former special agent Bernard Zapor, and it soon became clear Scott had a clear line of questioning in mind for the criminal justice expert.
“It seems like things have gotten so much worse since video games became so realistic and so violent," Scott said. "Have you done research or learned that video games tend to just desensitize people to the actual result of pulling a trigger?”
Oddly, Scott failed to reference the shooter’s harrowing 180 page manifesto that's filled to the brim with racist memes and conspiracy theories.
Zapor didn't exactly agree with Scott, instead choosing to pin the blame on... social media. Okay then.
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“I think in terms of causation, what the information shows us is as we become more disfranchised as individuals, and groups, people leave a faith for example, the family units become smaller or more disconnected, we live further distances," he explained.
"We’re communicating through a medium that was never really intended for human beings, which is online. Or through texting. Or these kinds of things. We get separated as humans to have connections that build inner morality."
IDK guys, I just think after 198 shootings in less than six months, it might be time to look at those gun laws. Yeah? Yeah.
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