Prince Harry kills Taliban; thanks practice on video games

[Johnny Novgorod]

This idiot is making us look really, really bad.

 

[Galletea]

The only shitstorm here is if people keep going on about an incoming shitstorm. Videogames are going to help hand-eye co-ordination. He's a soldier, trained to kill people, not a psycho, made more psychotic by gaming. People need to stop fearing a media backlash about every single mention of videogaming and violence in the same sentence and just calm down.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I salute this guy, he's the one member of the british royal family who I respect. I love his attitude and that he kicks ass. Wish our president had a kid like him.

 

[Daverson]

I think you're taking that statement out of context. Yes, skills in X are usable in Y, but you could equally say "I've mutilated kidnap victims, I thank my haberdashery hobby for practice" or "I've made millions refining illegal drugs, I thank my cake cookery lessons for practice". It's not like he's pulling a Brevik and saying "I practice drowning kittens in CoD".

Also, the insinuations are quite offensive to the men and women who serve our country. Just putting that out there.

 

[RedDeadFred]

See ordinary people would just be able to laugh this joke off (I mean he's obviously joking) but being who he is and how rampantly idiotic the media can be, I see this being blown way out of proportion.

 

[RedDeadFred]

This idiot is making us look really, really bad.

It was obviously just a joke. What are you, Fox News?

 

[Oly J]

I myself am going to wait for the shitstorm before commenting, this could amount to nothing, and I'm hoping it does

 

[Timmey]

Fair enough, pretty sure playing video games does improve your hand eye. Good on him for doing a real job and doing it well. Can't see any problem here really?

 

[Daveman]

Hilarious because the game he is referencing is FIFA.

But yeah, nobody will care.

 

[llew]

If I remember correctly, you need an above average BARB score (56+?) with additional qualifications...He's either dumber than he looks or he just doesn't give a fuck.

its the second one, this is the man who pinched an apache helicopter and flew it into his back garden because he was given time off... being royalty he essentially gets a "do what i want for free" card

 

[Timmey]

Also can i add being a gunner in an attack helicopter is very similar to playing a game. They simply scroll a crosshair over a target on a Video screen and push a button to fire. Just like in Playstation games.

 

[The White Hunter]

If I remember correctly, you need an above average BARB score (56+?) with additional qualifications...He's either dumber than he looks or he just doesn't give a fuck.

I can say that it's likely he just doesnt give a fuck given his past japery.

OT: Meh. Thats just how he is, if his older brother said it then there may be an issue to discuss.

 

[lordmardok]

Prince Harry has spoken for the first time about killing Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, saying his role was to ?take a life to save a life?.

The 28-year-old Apache helicopter co-pilot said had taken insurgents ?out of the game? during his 20-week tour of duty, which ended today.
As the crew member in charge of the aircraft?s weapons system, the Prince had his finger on the trigger of its rockets, Hellfire missiles and 30mm cannon, flying scores of missions to destroy Taliban targets and protect British servicemen on the ground.
He said his job as co-pilot gunner was ?a joy?because I?m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think that I?m probably quite useful?.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/9816905/Prince-Harry-confirms-he-killed-Taliban-as-he-returns-from-Afghanistan-saying-Take-a-life-to-save-a-life.html

This is going to go down well...

All those gamers on Halo are going to be awesome at bombing the Taliban!!

I wonder what the conservatives will say about this. On one hoof, "He's killin' Turrirists!" on the other hoof, "VIOLENT VIDYA GARMES!"

 

[Major_Tom]

Great, now the next school shooting will involve a gunship.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Ok, two scenarios. 1, it was a passing remark or amusing anecdote and means very little. 2, videogames actually do help people prepare for combat and we need to pretend to all the idiots protesting videogame violence that communism is still a threat. And rename FPSs to "Pre-emptive Homeland Defence Simulators". All the enemies are Russian, Arab and Korean anyway.

Seriously though. Using a gunship turret is not, I think, that hard, and probably resembles playing a videogame.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

Oh good, someone callously killing people to the point he describes it as 'joyful,' associating himself with videogames.

 

[Stryc9]

How is that this guy always manages to do or say the stupidest shit at the worst possible moment EVERY SINGLE TIME HE DOES SOMETHING!?

I don't know about overseas but right now in the US we're having this kneejerk ranting about violence in video games and how people use them to train for committing mass murder and so on and so on as always happens whenever something bad happens here and "famous" people saying shit like this doesn't help people to see the facts that playing video games DOESN'T make you a better killer.

The US media\idiotic anti-videogame groups are going to have a field day with this one. They now have the "Look someone famous says that vidjagaymes made them a better killer in the name of freedom so it's got to be true for people that train to commit evil acts too!" example to make them look more credible.

 

[ninjaRiv]

Ok, leaving my own personal feelings for the Royals aside (I hate them) it does seem like he's only commenting on his Hand eye coordination. But this was a stupid thing to say. Then again, he's known for his stupidity.

 

[Karma168]

But there's something else about this that bothers me... he calls his job, which consisted of killing people by dumping explosives on them, "a joy?" Prince Harry, man, fuck you. Seriously. Regardless of one's feelings on whether the war is justified or not, doing what a soldier does is some heavy shit. Not a single person I know who's been deployed would describe what they had to do abroad as "a joy."

(My first thought upon reading that was, "Oh, I bet this one was the dumb bastard who thought it was cool to dress up like a Nazi." So I googled it, and hey, whadaya know.)

I don't think he meant it was a joy to kill people, rather it was a joy to actually get to serve. He was out on there on the ground a while back but got pulled out after some magazine blew the media black-out - from what I can tell he genuinely wants to be out there fighting alongside 'ordinary' soldiers, he's not out there as some PR campaign but because he wants to be.

When he says his job is a joy I think he means it's a joy to be out there and serving his country, what that entails is just a bad side-effect. He spoke in a TV interview about how good he felt going to help soldiers on the ground and I'd say it's clear he takes his job seriously.