Games Kill Kittens

Two young boys, ages six and seven, have admitted to stoning and hanging a kitten to death. Guess what is being blamed for this? That's right, everyone's favorite scapegoat - video games. Specifically, Grand Theft Auto (again).

Apparently, the boys used a video game controller for the hanging. The local sheriff says:

Quote:

“This game allows players to kill cops and rape women,” Arpaio says. “It’s little wonder why they perpetrated such violence against that little animal.”

Here's the original news story. Warning: potentially graphic video showing at least part of the kitten. You can read it to see some more of the inaccuracies of how the media views video games. Plus, they also blame the mother of one of the boys for being an illegal immigrant.

Oh, and the punishment? Absolutely nothing. The kids are too young to be charged under the law.

The hell with the law. Animals have rights to! That kitten deserved to live just as much as you and me. I don't care if they are little kids, they deserve a good smacking.. I'm sorry and I don't condole violence in anyway, especially towards kids, but being a cat person it just makes me so angry when something like this happens.

And to anyone who likes GTA good for you, if you enjoy that then whatever, but its idiotic games like this that are giving games bad names. Giving it a mature lable doesn't do crap. Sure a child can't buy it but if your teenager can or the adult buys it and the child plays it when the parent isn't home its still to blame. I use to watch my cousin play GTA when I was younger, nothing against the game but I found it stupid, and after so many years and all the bull thats going on due to the game those * at Star or whatever company its called should stop making this stupid game! GOD!

Sure I have a few games that are a bit graphic such as the Tenchu Stealth Assassin games but when me and my wife have kids I'm making sure games like that are kept away from our children. If my kids play games its gonna be games like I grew up on, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, Zelda, Mario, you know simple games that were enjoyable and are still enjoyable even years after their prime. I'm sorry but after reading all that I'm extremely ticked off right now.

I fully agree, Kaloes. These kids definitely need a heavy dose of punishment for this. Instead, they're going to get off with nothing. Maybe years of therapy, but the article makes it sound like even that is unlikely.

Okay, I read the post here but I'm not reading or looking at anything else right now having to do with this. I don't want to get too upset or feel too bad right now as it will ruin the rest of my day. I do feel bad enough just reading this happened to a kitty.

I love video games, but I have heard so much about this one stupid game that maybe it should be outlawed if it helps promote such behaviour in any way.

If the kids are too young to answer for their behaviour, then what about their parents being charged somehow??? That happens sometimes in other cases or situations. The kids should not get off scott free - they should pay somehow to learn that their behaviour was wrong. If they don't learn right from wrong now, when they grow up, their behaviour could be worse.

I wonder what PETA has to say about all this????

Something like this happened in a town I lived in as a kid... the most violent game we had back then was Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Bad kids have been killing animals long before there were video games (that's how Jeffery Dahmer got started).

BTW, I've played a couple GTA games and don't recall seeing any kittens.

Yea but thats a given, Mike Tyson's PunchOut was a good game, even though it was somewhat violent. Boxing is a sport, and GTA, well thats just a bunch of thugs killing everyone and crap. Of course kids have been killing animals and stuff long before games were invented, but still. That was out of rebellion and well just pure evilness. This is taking a kid and copying a game, since they couldn't kill a cop or rape a woman they did next thing, kill a poor defenseless kitten.

Oy... I'm cat person too, but just about ANY innocent animal getting killed like this...what is wrong with people?! I understand the logic of hunting for food, but just...killing an animal to kill it? And no surprise to see video games getting blamed, AGAIN. Yes, GTA falls under the category of 'bad taste' in my opinion but I'm getting sick of it being blamed for stuff like this because it'll always rub off on video games in general. If the kids can't be charged, fine, but what about the parents? Once again, parents aren't doing their parenting job and keeping this game that isn't intended for kids out of their hands. Of course, back in 1950 and 1960, rock and roll was getting blamed for all kinds of social ills and I can't help but see this as being similar. Rock and roll and now heavy metal, even though some of it still causes controversy, is now more or less accepted by most people. I don't have a solution, but outlawing GTA has the potential to be a very slippery slope that could set a precedent...and I don't want to think about what that precedent could be.

I understand where you're coming from Caged but out of all the things going on lately GTA seems to be the one thing that keeps popping up now adays. Sure its the parents responsibility to keep their kids away from these games, I understand cause I hope to be a parent one day, but still, not one single game has caused as many problems as the GTA series. And sence when does GTA mean lets kill cops and rape women, i thought GTA meant stealing someones car >.<

My understanding is that GTA doesn't involve rape - the sheriff was just using it as a scapegoat without actually knowing the game. If you read the article, the reporter says the kids "used a wire from the video game controller they were playing, Grand Theft Auto." Last I checked GTA wasn't a controller. It's a symptom of bad reporting, of the media automatically jumping on video games without even doing basic research.

If they weren't blaming GTA, they would be blaming another game. Remember Mortal Kombat? That's next in line for the anti-game crowd.

Caged Wolf wrote:

If the kids can't be charged, fine, but what about the parents? Once again, parents aren't doing their parenting job and keeping this game that isn't intended for kids out of their hands.

An excellent question! It looks like nothing is going to be done to the parents, either. Child Protective Services isn't even willing to do anything. The illegal immigrant might get deported, but I doubt that.

it still ticks me off though