Here’s the quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer article:
“Lovett often wore all black and was something of a loner. He spent a lot of time on the computer and was proficient at video games, even giving advice online to players of a game called Mech Commando about how to rearm and rearmor their combatants.”
Here’s the link if you want to read the whole thing:
I can only assume that “Mech Commando” is really Mechcommander.
[sarcasm] I never realized that watching tiny animations of mechs running around blasting each other would inspire someone to carjack, pull a gun on a cop and conspire to murder kids they didn’t like. Damn that Microsoft, anyway. [/sarcasm]
Oh, yeah, they’d also better round up all those copies of The Matrix. Clearly that’s inspiring kids to evil.
The ring leader went by the name of “Neo” or “The One”. Not only were they idiots who’s plan failed due to a fugged up carjacking, but they were incredibly unoriginal.
And among the names Lovett used in a letter left for his family was “the Neo,” an apparent reference to the main character of The Matrix, which is both a movie series and a computer game.
Aaaand, either he went by “the Neo” as a combination of the 2 lame monikers or the reporter is a complete moron.
EDIT: Loyd, I miss your “As Ever” sign offs. They were quaint and reminded me of happier, simpler times. I wish you would start back. I mean it. :)
Wow. Ignoring that every single thing the kid himself seems to talk about and reference has to do with the matrix (thank god they let us know this comes in two forms, the safe movie form, and the evil mind control form - a video game), they really try and tie shit into video games.
he was struck by how the three Oaklyn suspects also had been armed with swords.
He said a sword was “not a typical of weapon of choice in a carjacking” but is a feature of the game Grand Theft Auto Vice City, which includes carjacking.
“In a sense, these guys probably were acting out a game,” Thompson said.
Who the fuck uses the sword in VC? WHO?!?! WHO!?!? Where are the crossbow murders that Half-Life must be causing?
Warriors of Freedom: Browser based empire management game. Players choose and alignment and build an army which can be comprised of humans, dwarfs and elves.
Yeah, no wonder these kids were dangerous. They were busy honing their marksmanship skills and desensitising themselves to violence by playing a browser based empire management sim. How fucking stupid are these media people? You should be required to have an IQ > shoe size to write for a major publication.
“Warriors of Freedom” was the name the oldest one gave to the group. It’s a fairly common grouping of words these days, so I’m not surprised that someone Googled and came up with something. The oldest one signed his letter, “the Neo,” among several other nicknames. Other than that, there’s no mention of “the Neo” anywhere else. His mother and sister also died about eight years ago, within 18 months of each other, and he was continually pushed around by his classmates. Certain members of the press have trying desperately to link violent video games to the group’s behavior–trying to find similar patterns between the role of the character and the daily life of these teens. But I think his personal life is a far more compelling indicator.
The media’s obsession with finding a scapegoat every time these things happen is getting kind of creepy. “My god, white kids can only be driven to do these things by evil influences!”
The thing about the Brit media is that they’re honest about their slant, and moreover, they’re not lazy.[/quote]
The Guardian has its own cute liberal slant and then some, but they damn sure follow the goings on in America better than a lot of the American publications.
I remember wanting to kill many of my tormentors in high school. Since these shooting became so en vogue with the kids today, I have wondered if I would have acted onthose feelings if I had not been a momma’s boy and had had access to Daddy’s arsenal. (Luckily, dad was across town and was a minister. So I tried to kill them with love, ) It is curious as to the trigger for such events, but the nutty home life and personal tragedies is most assuredly at the root of his anger and isolation.
And as always, those with the lack of fashion sense suffer. Do they think I always wear black because I like it!?
Well, I do, actually, but it’s also because I can’t combine any other colors to save my life :/
Most of the BBC’s slant is kept to the editorials and such. Still, I think they do far better news reporting then even some of the major US papers. Then again, I am a liberal.
I read the Toronto Star since, well, I live in Toronto.
“Now that the SARS scare is over, citizens of Toronto have to go back to fighting the disease of never ending boredom.” mangled quote from Late Night talkshow host Conan O’Brien
) It is curious as to the trigger for such events, but the nutty home life and personal tragedies is most assuredly at the root of his anger and isolation.