Video Games blamed for US Massacre in Iraq

[Tetranitrophenol]

I'm first mate.

"Up yours and have a buckshot breakfast, asshole!" Not the exact quote, but still one of the best dialogue options ever. Fallout 2.

Male humans feel a periodic need to slaughter something. We're psychotic apes, no point denying it. If we can do it virtually, so much the better. My cousin was never allowed to play games where humans killed each other(but he could play AvP) and as soon as he turned 18 he joined the Army. What I saying is those guys should have played MORE games.

But the warzone argument rings hollow in a guerilla conflict. You can't declare an entire country a warzone, and our military needs to better define what constitutes an 'enemy combatant.'

Also, why is your avatar so familiar? It's got one to many nitrile groups to be TNT.

You might be right with the guerrilla conflict. But still, the area IS a hostile territory in which is very possible for a soldier's head to attempt to be in the same place as a passing bullet at any given time.
Gotta be careful there since one mistake can mean the difference between life and death;

--"Private, why was half the compound blown up?"
--"I thought that Rocket Launcher was a video camera, Sir!"

And that situation wouldn't be slightly as funny in real life...



oh! and the compound is Tetranitrophenol

 

[Insomniac55]

Yep, as stated by others they arn't blaming their behaviour on videogames... they were just likening it, and their attitude, to the sort of thing you'd expect to hear and see when somone's playing a game. I watched the vid on youtube and it does look like they are acting in a very unprofessional and bloodthirsty manner, but really, without being there and knowing the full story and circumstances surrounding the attack, it's very difficult to judge who's in the wrong here.

 

[Agayek]

The Story was announced on yahoo news [http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100406/twl-let-us-shoot-us-troops-fire-on-journ-3fd0ae9.html]

A tragic loss of life, innocent civilians die when they are mistaken for insurgents. So whats to blame for this loss of life? Is it lack of conformation? Is it a break in the chain of command giving authorization to fire on innocent?

Nope... Its obviously "Generation X-Box" going for high scores.

Why bother challenging the way the military conducts itself in urban warfare, when we can just blame it all on Video Games?

It's not the military's fault though. It's quite clear there's at minimum 2 AK-47s in the group, and quite possibly an RPG. That is extremely dangerous for a foot patrol in that area. The soldiers who fired on them acted well within the rules of engagement and what I know of international law.

The whole problem here was a lack of communication between the journalists and the military (and maybe the journalists being really dumb and toting around assault rifles in a hot zone).

 

[masher]

Everyone LOVES jumping on the "Hate and Blame" bandwagon! =D
People should stop pointing and making biased and baseless claims, or at least put a lot more research into it.
There was a report with the topic of "Video games produce killers". In the end, it was the other way around. Kids who didn't play the games were left out of the "loop", turned recluse, and thus became the more violent group.

 

[direkiller]

What there mad about is just bandier between two buddy that have flown together it wasn't for command and i know the thought im being recorded right now did not cross thought there minds. The part were they are talking to command are very professional gave details and fired when they were told too.

I think if you heard conversations from Foxholes and fighter planes in any outer war they would sound about the same.

 

[Adam80027]

"Young soldiers in warzones tend to say things and act in ways that we might find, uh, a little less, uh, noble or heroic than we sometimes like to believe. These are often very young kids in dangerous places."

I have every respect for someone who can join the armed forces and fight a war, so I don't have to choose between buying gasoline or buying my own food. But I don't think there's anything "noble or heroic" about it. We sort of romanticize the soldier a bit, and not because his job is all that honorable. It's deplorable what occupying forces do to the inhabitants, in any war in history. What's honorable is that they do it, because it's what they have to do to keep the U.S. in the comfortable position it's in today.

It's not unusual to see this kind of desensitization in a trained soldier. Especially one who doesn't have to look their target in the eyes and pull the trigger. But that's America! We can have our cake and eat it too. While we do the dark deed of killing over there, we despise the thought of it over here. But we still do it, and nothing changes. In the same way, some groups will always have scapegoats, such as videogames, to blame these "abominations" of war on. And there will always be someone to defend them. But nothing changes in either direction. And that's the way it should be.

 

[Death_Korps_Kommissar]

I like how people can just blame their own mistakes on whatever the hell they want insted of taking the resposability for their actions. It lets us know that were safe at night and that we'll be kept safe no matter what.
[/sarcasm]

 

[Sev72]

This is a terrible tragedy but honestly, in my opinion no one is to blame. It wasn't like the soldiers knew they were civilians. I watched the video and while I am not, nor have I ever been in the army I could not tell what the long lensed camera actually was. It looked like it could have been a weapon and considering they were sent there to support troops who had been under fire from small arms and RPGs I can see how they reached the conclusion they did.

The reporters don't blame games they simply say the soldier are acting like they are playing a video game which they kind of are.

 

[SpireOfFire]

thats what happens when the military lets anybody in. you get trigger happy morons.

dont blame video games, blame the low standards of the military.

 

[RJ Dalton]

I've said this before:
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFU- *explodes from rage*

 

[HaloHappy]

Swear to God if I hear one more of these stories where someone blames video games I'll kill whoever the articles about, just to get them to shut their fucking lying mouths!

 

[Doodlebox]

No, it's because of idiot soldiers being idiots.
If they can't do their job, it's because they weren't trained well. They're just trying to make it so the officers are given a free pass from being terrible officers.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Actually, I hear that "all of the correct procedures were followed in this tragic incident"... so, it would seem, that the procedures are at fault.

By the way, your thread title screams at me like a Daily Mail headline.

"Rapist played Pong, blames video games for making him want to 'score'!"

 

[Void(null)]

By the way, your thread title screams at me like a Daily Mail headline.

"Rapist played Pong, blames video games for making him want to 'score'!"

Thread title was intentional provocative and punchy. I figured it would be more interesting to start with a bang.

 

[tsb247]

It's war. Shit happens.

Well seeing as how the American army is one of the most advanced armies in the world,shit like this shouldn't really happen.Unless it's some sort of stupidity shit.

All of the technology in the world cannot prevent friendly fire incidents in all cases at all times. ANY (and all) armies on earth have done things like this before, and things like this will continue to happen in the future.

The pilot and gunner saw a threat (or what they perceived as one), asked for permission to fire on that threat, recieved permission, fired, and were probably horrified to find out that they killed innocents after the whole thing was over.

This could have happened to a British, Australian, German, Czech, Russian, Swedish, ... etc. helicopter crew as well. It's war, and things like this will always happen from time to time. It's never pleasant, but it's a fact of warfare - hell, it's a fact of life. Innocent people die sometimes, and while regrettable, there's not much we can do about it but learn from it and move on.

 

[tsb247]

No, it's because of idiot soldiers being idiots.
If they can't do their job, it's because they weren't trained well. They're just trying to make it so the officers are given a free pass from being terrible officers.

They did their jobs just fine, and they followed the proper procedure for carrying out the operation they were performing.

They perceived a threat (although they were mistaken in this case - it could happen to any of us), asked for permission to fire, were given permission, and fired.

Did you not watch the video? That journalist's camera case is slung like a rifle, and the video notes that insurgents were killed in the attack.

I don't think you understand how this 'military procedure' thing works. The gunner may have had only seconds to eliminate the target, and he had to have clearance to fire. He was in a hurry to fire because if he hesitated, he could have lost the initiative - or been shot down if the man had been carrying an RPG. Would you not want to, "Hurry up and fire," if you were hovering 200' or so in the air and faced certain death by a rocket-propelled grenade? That's probably what was going through the pilot and gunner's minds in the instant they asked for clearance to fire.

The average person, if placed in the same situation, would probably act the same way. It's about self-preservation. The gunner or pilot reacted to a situation that they thought could turn dangerous, and I should point out (again) that some actual 'bad guys' were killed as well (as mentioned in the end of the video)! Do you have any idea how much stress is involved in air combat? It's almost as tense (if not more) than the combat faced by troops on the gound. Generally you get shot at by things far more devastating than simple bullets.

Is this tragic? You bet your ass it is, and that poor helicopter crew will have to live with this incident forever. They will undoubtedly be reprimanded by their commanding officers as well. However, they did nothing wrong.

Calling the soldiers, "Idiots," only demonstrates your ignorance and unwillingness to accept the fact that these soldiers are competent individuals who simply made a tragic mistake. Seriously, grow up. If you think you could do a better job, why don't you enlist (at some point), climb into an attack helicopter, and see what happens when you think you see a guy pointing an RPG your way - or at least carrying one down the street in your general direction with no knowledge of whether or not he intends to blast you out of the sky.

Either be constructive or don't post. That's it.

 

[Sven und EIN HUND]

Are you fucking serious? Wow, I guess gaming is the flavour-of-the-month scapegoat, but.... Oh, nah, it's been like that for YEARS.