Oh F'n Hell

CNN has decided to join the "it's fun to scare the **** out of parents" fray:

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, I`ll tell you what does have do with violence, strong emotional experiences. And when those kids are gaming and they press the button or the mouse and they actually kill somebody and there`s an emotional charge that does rewire the brain. And another thing that affects violence is lack of parental rules. So a question I have with these games are, Where are the parents.

GRACE: You know, Dino Lombardi, I`ve only got one minute left. But in the last Tennessee shooting, where a kid shot two cops and a third person, they had been watching this Grand Theft Auto for days on end. It said life is like a video game. And you`re still telling me this is OK?

LOMBARDI: Well, I`m not saying it`s OK, but I don`t support censoring it.

GRACE: Yes, you are!

-- CNN's Nancy Grace via kotaku

So you have a psychotherapist actually trying to bring the conversation to the parents, which God forbid might enter into a debate about children because it might deter you from the thought that your video game will kill you. Thankfully there is a respectable journalist there to go after the facts of the situation and try to bring a level of intelligence to the discussion right?

Wrong.

GRACE: … children can get this, Jack Thompson!

I really feel for parents these days. They've got nobody to turn for help. The government is more interested in opening lawsuits than extending information. The mainstream news is out to freak them out for better ratings. So while I think parents and information are the keys to this issue, both items are running out of friends quickly. Someone out there should be feeling ashamed for themselves, because there's simply a public good which isn't being done here ... and someone has the job to deliver it.