Bloody Hell, is it that time again? Recently, UK internet provider TalkTalk had its website taken down and its stored customer information accessed by supposed hackers. Panic ensued as the media got its grubby hands of the news, and then the whole thing turned out to not be quite as bad as anticipated. Of course, you can't have a scandal without someone or something to point a finger at, and so The Daily Mail's gone ahead and blamed video games. Again.
The newspaper, which is usually more interested in reporting on what designer outfits our reptilian overlords are wearing, puts the blame squarely on a 15-year-old boy who's apparently a "violent video game addict". It goes on to adorn the story's page with pictures of Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto V. The latter's image features main character Michael in a balaclava, holding a gun, while the backdrop is engulfed in flames β presumably mirroring the current state of TalkTalk's headquarters.
What's more, when attempting to describe what Grand Theft Auto actually is, the publication mentions the ability to hire prostitutes and have sex with them before beating them to death. Of course, the writer also throws in a few references to various murders β all of which have tenuous links to video games.
Described as "a baby-faced loner who rarely leaves his bedroom", let's not forget that the supposed culprit is only 15 years old. The fact that Grand Theft Auto V has a nice big '18' on its box aside, you'd have to be pretty misguided to think that video games are the sole cause of this chaos. Fortunately, misguidance is The Daily Mail's speciality.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 33
Nicely put @ShogunRok, I wouldn't use TDM to wipe my ar*e.
The daily mail? If I want a better and more reliable/ trust worthy newspaper I would rather reach for the daily sport π
@DerMeister that Punk reaction is my everything.
I hate the DM. I tear up whenever I see a copy in a relative's house.
That's the Mail for you. Sensationalist garbage with headlines like "ARE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RAISING HOUSE PRICES TO TARNISH DIANA'S MEMORY?".
They're the best example of Poe's law there is, and a stain on journalism.
@marston1983 at least the sport is funny.....
I find the Daily Mail hilarious - a paper supposedly committed to family values that has on at least one occasion ran a "femail" column encouraging women to cheat on their husbands.
And video games are the biggest problem in society right now. Sure, guys.
I'm surprised that they didn't say that violent video games cause cancer, seeing as they think everything does
@Anchorsam_9 Just wait for a fairly high-profile gaming youtuber to die from cancer, and then we'll get the "link between violent video games and cancer found" articles.
@Anchorsam_9 They do cause cancer but only physical copies. Boo. That evil plastic from China.
@Riririn That's another campaign platform for Donald Trump then
@tudsworth @Anchorsam_9 http://www.anorak.co.uk/288298/scare-stories/the-daily-mails-list-of-things-that-give-you-cancer-from-a-to-z.html/
Always makes me chuckle.
@SteveButler2210 So, in order to stay cancer free, I can't eat anything, use anything, be a man or a woman.
Crap
@SteveButler2210 thumbs ups π
@SteveButler2210 There is no way any collection of humans can be that idiotic, could they?
It's so easy to play the victim game to not do research as a journalist. They should have a board overlook and fact check journalists, frankly most have no idea what they are talking about. Gaming, or otherwise.
Funny because I've played all of these games, many when I was a teenager yet I have a wife, job, 2 cars and have never broken any laws. Where did it all go wrong for me? π
I'm surprised the Daily Mail has time for all this nonsense in between blaming immigrants for everything and missing princess Diana
The daily mail once reported, on page 1 the worst rain ever, page 4 the worst droughts ever. My mum buys it and she's paranoid.
More delusional than Lindsay Lohan
As soon as I saw the headline, I thought 'yep, Daily Mail'.
Nice to see my powers of clairvoyance still going strong. Ahem.
huh half surprised it isn't the guardian when the descriptor was crap.
Eh, all the newspapers are fit only for my litter box these days, but the Mail is no worse than the rest of them.
The Guardian now peddles SJW clickbait. The Torygraph is mostly advertorials and sub-Buzzfeed timewasting. The Sun and the Mirror are chip wrappers. The Times is paywalled.
If you want vidyagames news, the dead tree media isn't the place to find it. (And neither, by the way, is Eurogamer, with its wow-just-wow trash stories about games like Far Cry 4 being "problematic").
@sonicmeerkat lol, that's what I was thinking as well.
As an American, so distant from this mythical paper of days and mail, I'm glad I came across this pleasant ballad a few years back to fill me in on what a beacon of truth I'm missing out on: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI
Sock-wearing boy hacks into Talk Talk. Minister calls for sock ban.
I think the fact that a little kid who "rarely leaves his room" is better at IT than an entire corporation of professional adults is the problem here, not what games he plays.
@Fath To be fair, it's not as bad as Fox and some other US networks. It just stands out more against the usually more mild-mannered UK newspapers. I'm sure Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly would consider it to be disgusting socialist propaganda, still.
I had a feeling it was them before reading the article. I'm psychic or something.
@Matroska Nah, they might be even worse than Fox if such a thing is possible. They're like the love child of them and the National Enquirer.
@Vincent294 Well Fox just casually say that a place like Birmingham in the UK is a "Muslim stronghold" where white people fear to tread. They have a whole section based on that. I live in Birmingham, in a town called Bournville which is 90% white. The entire Muslim population of the UK is a lower percentage than the Muslim population of Russia, a country depicted at 100% white in American media.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11338985/Fox-News-terror-expert-says-everyone-in-Birmingham-is-a-Muslim.html
Fox says that bathtubs kill more children than guns, something factually untrue and in incredibly bad taste since between 2002 to 2012 over 28,000 American children were killed by guns, 13 times the amount of US soldiers killed in Iraq in the same period.
They deny global warming. They reported that Obama is a Muslim. A study has shown how only 10% of what they say is factually true in its entirety. A staggering 31% is completely false.
http://www.ijreview.com/2015/01/242336-politifact-rates-fox-news-biggest-liars-television/
If they existed in England, they'd be the crazy guy down the pub that says Princess Diane was abducted by aliens. By comparison the Daily Mail are just a bit silly and predictable.
The. Daily. Fail. Enough said...
@Matroska True. Both are ****, agreed?
and no point was the question directed at this boy Parent "why did you let your Son play these 18 Rated games" ......................it what it there for and not for show.
But it very easy for the DM to blame us gamers and our games.
@Fath Thank you for that song, it considerably brightened my day!
@TheLobster Glad I could help!
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