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Teens charged with "Mortal Kombat" killing


Schwaltzvald
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Not unlike the shootings in Tuusula some time ago, there's part stupid, part crazy, and part influence.

Stupid - Drinking while babysitting

Crazy - Wrestling moves against a little kid

But what's the influence? There's violent movies, violent comics, violent games, violent language, violent news, violent stories, violent pictures, violent music... and violent people. Which of these is really the most dangerous?

The world would be a better place without Mortal Kombat. But that's got nothing to do with this. Why not blame human nature, since it's responsible for a lot more evil than games?

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This has been argued before....like, a decade before this happened. Mortal Kombat was one of the reasons the rating scheme came out for games. Obviously when people pissed and moaned about it years ago and it didn't do anything to deter the franchise, what makes you think this'll be any different?

And calling it a "Mortal Kombat-styled death" is utter bullshit. There is a whole genre of games dedicated to fighting; complete with punches, kicks, and body-slams. It actually sounds closer to Street Fighter than MK, since when you think MK you think of Fatalities. (much like what people here have already said)

And if some asshat thinks this will "sound the drums of anti-videogame violence" for there political career....lets just keep in mind that better people have tried and failed years beforehand. If anything, use it to solidify a stance against underaged drinking or for stricter parental guidance.

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What we have here is a bunch of sick fucks that got drunk, and somewhere in their tiny fucking brains, two synapses collided and decided it would be fun to beat an innocent 7 year old girl to death. I could give a shit what made those synapses collide. Maybe it was Mortal Kombat, maybe it was something else. THAT IS NOT THE POINT. An innocent child died because the people charged with caring for her were being fucking irresponsible. Your games will not disappear because of it. The world will not change. Tomorrow morning, no one will care. They should be caring about that child, and two people should ride the lightning, not because of whatever influenced what was going on in their drunk fucking skulls, but because they were charged with caring for a CHILD, and they KILLED her. THAT is the greatest fucking betrayal on this earth.

Wingless is right. A child died. Who gives a fuck what Jack Thompson thinks about it?

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As a kid I loved Power Rangers, and jumped around playfighting with my friends and made wooden swords and stuff (later Power Rangers was banned from Sweden), but I could never had killed anyone.

Yeah, kids have done play-fighting since the dawn of time. Several decades ago they probably played GI vs Nazis. Centuries ago they probably played at Knight vs Other Knight. And before that they probably played Hercules vs Random Mythological Creature. And hell, sometimes they just play Me vs You. Same activity, just the "skin" that keeps changing.

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Shame this happened. Having one sibling kill another sibling must have been a nightmare for the mother. I can't imagine getting that kind of news, and knowing your family just... self destructed.

Not sure why killing a child is only getting the teenagers possibly 48 years though. Seems like their actions should be bringing the likely possibility of life sentences. I mean, they beat a little kid to death, while drunk, and they're being charged as adults. See no reason for them not to be put away for good.

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Somewhere I heard that something deemed a "life sentence" in court could technically be as short as 20 years. I think in a Criminal Justice course I took. So either my prof was on crack, and in violation of law, or there's some crazy terms being thrown around in the US legal system.

Fun fact! See bottom of cereal box for answers.

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Somewhere I heard that something deemed a "life sentence" in court could technically be as short as 20 years. I think in a Criminal Justice course I took. So either my prof was on crack, and in violation of law, or there's some crazy terms being thrown around in the US legal system.

Fun fact! See bottom of cereal box for answers.

Depending on what your state's laws are, with a life sentence, you'll be up for parole in either 15 or 20 years. If you're convicted in a federal court, then it's an actual life sentence, because there is no parole for Federal Crimes.

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Parents don't have anyone to blame accept themselves. They exposed their children to so-called "violent" video games and they have to pay the cost of their actions.

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, you can't rely only on the government to solve all your problems. Take some responsibility for your irrational choices in entertainment for your children.

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Parents don't have anyone to blame accept themselves. They exposed their children to so-called "violent" video games and they have to pay the cost of their actions.

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, you can't rely only on the government to solve all your problems. Take some responsibility for your irrational choices in entertainment for your children.

Awesome. Someone actually gets it. Bravo Dark Lime, bravo.

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Am I the only one here who sees the kids as blameworthy? Sure, the outside stimuli of alcohol and, yes, mortal kombat contributed, the kids weren't coerced or fooled into doing anything against their will. At what age is a child's actions attributable to that child and not the parent? I think that's the question that this thread seeks to answer, and it's a toughie. You can't just blame the parents, because that assumes a hell of a lot about the family, not to mention that it's the first step on a slippery slope of blame-transference. On the other hand, is a child that, like most children of a young age, has little or no "Theory of Mind" or, literally, sympathy in relation to others really accountable for his or her actions?

EDIT: just because I feel like ranting :3

Just so you all know, this manslaughter would not have happened without the outside influence of the game. However, the same could be said for almost any external stimulus at the time, including the alcohol. That is my major problem with Jack Thompson. He makes a leap of judgment from the fact that without the video game, the murder would not have happened, to a theory of causation; that video games cause violence. Even if violence was consistently higher in people who played violent video games, that does not infer causation.

Here's an idea, JT.

Maybe violent people are more likely to play violent video games, and maybe violent video games don't make people any more violent than they already are.

Statistically, they're equally likely.

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At sixteen and seventeen, they know right from wrong unless they're heavily retarded. They knew drinking at that age was wrong, they knew beating the shit out of a 7 year old was very wrong, and frankly, they can spend the rest of their lives in an 8'x10' cell thinking about how wrong it was as far as I'm concerned.

Even a horrid parent can't stop teenagers at that age from knowing what they did was way past something to blame on childhood ignorance. As such, the blame lies solely in the laps of Lamar Roberts, and Heather Trujillo... not the game, not the alcohol maker, and unless the parent knew her daughter drank and knew what abusive pricks she and her friend were when they got drunk, not even with the parent.

It's just that simple.

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So this is what they call semi-accidental murder these days, "Mortal Kombat" killing?

It's sad that this happened...it's also sad that they're giving this serious situation a stupid PR spin. Blaming it on videogames once again. The headline is simply hideous and whoever thought of it should feel sorry for him/herself. This can be easily blamed on wrestling if the writer thought of a catchier title...either way, this shouldn't be blamed on entertainment and you all know it.

My condolences go to the family.

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I would have thought that by "Mortal Kombat" they would have meant harpooning someone in the chest...

hahaha, when it first came out on SNES, I was about 3-4 and crazy addicted to it. Then one day at the park, I slid down a slide headfirst into an unsuspecting little girl standing at the bottom. I frikken thought I was Raiden lol. Needless to say, she was prolly scarred for life from that incident and I got my ass whooped that night lol. Now that I think back on it, that was the first girl i ever truly loved...nah, jk

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