News

<p>During a Monday morning White House address, Donald Trump blamed the weekend&#39;s mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on mental health, the internet, the media, and multiple factors besides gun laws themselves.</p><p>At one point in his speech, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fact-check-trump-suggests-video-games-blame-mass-shootings-n1039411" target="_blank">Trump singled out video games as a toxic influence</a> that contribute to a culture of glorified violence.</p><blockquote> <p>&quot;We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately.&quot;</p> </blockquote><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">US president Donald Trump points fingers at “gruesome and grisly videogames” after a pair of mass shootings.<a href="https://t.co/7mHWIyu13s">https://t.co/7mHWIyu13s</a> <a href="https://t.co/UCxSFH4far">pic.twitter.com/UCxSFH4far</a></p>&mdash; PCGamesN (@PCGamesN) <a href="https://twitter.com/PCGamesN/status/1158416319315947520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>Trump wasn&#39;t the only GOP politician who connected the popularity of video games with the uptick in mass shootings.</p><p>On Sunday House minority leader Kevin McCarthy expressed a <a href="https://www.indy100.com/article/el-paso-shooting-republicans-kevin-mccarthy-video-games-social-media-mass-shooting-9039441" target="_blank">similar sentiment to Fox News</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>&quot;The idea of these video games that dehumanize individuals to have a game of shooting individuals and others, I&rsquo;ve always felt that is a problem for future generations and others. We&#39;ve watched from studies shown before of what it does to individuals. When you look at these photos of how it took place, you can see the actions within video games and others.&quot;</p> </blockquote><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here we gooooo. Trump just said videogames and the glorification of violence is a problem here in America and we must “stop” this.</p>&mdash; Timdog (@XcloudTimdog) <a href="https://twitter.com/XcloudTimdog/status/1158380989200179200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>Similarly, the Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick echoed McCarthy&#39;s concern to Fox News, claiming the rising popularity of video games presents one of the biggest cultural shifts of the past few decades.</p><blockquote> <p>&quot;We know that the video game industry is bigger than the movie industry and the music industry combined, and there have been studies that say it impacts people and studies that says it does not, but I look at the common denominators, as a 60-some-year-old father and grandfather myself, what&#39;s changed in this country?&quot;</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>&quot;We&#39;ve always had guns, we&rsquo;ve always had evil. But what&#39;s changed where we see this rash of shooting? I see a video game industry that teaches young people to kill.&quot;</p> </blockquote><p>His speculation about cultural shifts conveniently glossed over how much <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/16/americans-age-to-buy-ar15-assault-rifle-mass-shootings" target="_blank">easier it is to buy military style weapons</a> than ever before. That, and the fact that the El Paso shooter had a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/us/politics/trump-mass-shootings.html" target="_blank">manifesto directly citing Trump as an inspiration</a>.</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dear Twitter. American Republicans are trying to distract you by making the mass shooting about video games. The shooter had a manifesto. He had political motive. He is a terrorist. Stop giving the videogame idiocy air time and start talking about the terrorist and his victims.</p>&mdash; Dr. NM Adams-Quackenbush, CPsychol (@Nikky15) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nikky15/status/1158075624298360832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>This week is far from the first time video games have been used as a scapegoat for the violence made possible by lack of gun reform, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quick to point out the absurdity of that talking point.</p><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Video games aren’t causing mass shootings, white supremacy is.<br><br>Sadly the GOP refuse to acknowledge that, bc their strategy relies on rallying a white supremacist base.<br><br>That‘s why the President hosts stadiums of people chanting “send her back”&amp; targets Congress-members of color. <a href="https://t.co/8F51h46bOO">https://t.co/8F51h46bOO</a></p>&mdash; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1158074348755968001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>She was quick to point out how the increase in white supremacist rhetoric is directly linked to mass shootings, but the GOP avoids addressing that because it directly calls out Trump&#39;s base.</p><h2>AOC went on to point out how specific words Trump uses stoke hatred and fear and encourage his base to view immigrants and people of color as the enemy.</h2><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Using the words “invasion,” “infestation,”w respect to a specific, targeted group of people, implying they are vermin: this is the language of white supremacy &amp;it goes all the way to the top.<br><br>It’s not a matter of political stances. This is stoking hatred+endangering the country. <a href="https://t.co/zuziTB0c3u">https://t.co/zuziTB0c3u</a></p>&mdash; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1158172847627485184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>While AOC received a lot of backlash (as she tends to whenever she posts), there were plenty of people echoing her point.</h2><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I can&#39;t believe we&#39;re back to blaming video games. We&#39;ve done a full lap of all the non-gun excuses at this point.<a href="https://t.co/Grkv840DYe">https://t.co/Grkv840DYe</a></p>&mdash; DoctorJohn ▶️ COUNT EVERY VOTE ◀️ (@DoctorJohn_MD) <a href="https://twitter.com/DoctorJohn_MD/status/1158077047471845376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I play first shooter video games... never once thought about killing someone in real life, don&#39;t even own a gun. Games aren&#39;t the problem, the complicity of the <a href="https://twitter.com/GOP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GOP</a> and not addressing white domestic terrorism is the problem.</p>&mdash; Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) <a href="https://twitter.com/AngelaBelcamino/status/1158138990735843333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">White supremacists account for 78% of domestic terrorism in the United States, <a href="https://t.co/0W40rCUxoh">https://t.co/0W40rCUxoh</a> Cherry picking 20 faces out of the obscene amount of mass shootings we have is easy.</p>&mdash; David (@TimaciousD1996) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimaciousD1996/status/1158292942286704640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I&#39;m old enough to remember when the straw-boogeyman for white male violence was heavy metal music and before that comic books.</p>&mdash; kittieswithfleas (@kittywithfleas) <a href="https://twitter.com/kittywithfleas/status/1158077949813202944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><div class="oembedall-container sec-iframe sec-oembed-iframe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If that was chilling, see what&#39;s coming next <a href="https://t.co/MzYhswEJTE">pic.twitter.com/MzYhswEJTE</a></p>&mdash; Abolish Electoral College tyranny by acreage (@Quest2017) <a href="https://twitter.com/Quest2017/status/1158176481438306306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>While Trump largely focused his speech on mental health and the popularity of videogames, it&#39;s crucial to note that he brought up the issue of white supremacy briefly in his White House statement:</p><blockquote> <p>&quot;The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.&quot;</p> </blockquote><p>Time will only tell Trump truly means those words in his statement, in the meantime, gun reform and the rising tide of racism need to be addressed vigilantly.</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

AOC shares why she disagrees with Republicans who blame mass shootings on video games.

During a Monday morning White House address, Donald Trump blamed the weekend&#39;s mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on mental health, the internet, the media, and multiple factors besides gun laws themselves.At one point in his speech, Trump singled out video games as a toxic influence that contribute to a culture of glorified violence. &quot;We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately.&quot; US president Donald Trump points fingers at “gruesome and grisly videogames” after a pair of mass shootings.https://t.co/7mHWIyu13s pic.twitter.com/UCxSFH4far&mdash; PCGamesN (@PCGamesN) August 5, 2019 Trump wasn&#39;t the only GOP politician who connected the popularity of video games with the uptick in mass shootings.On Sunday House minority leader Kevin McCarthy expressed a similar sentiment to Fox News: &quot;The idea of these video games that dehumanize individuals to have a game of shooting individuals and others, I&rsquo;ve always felt that is a problem for future generations and others. We&#39;ve watched from studies shown before of what it does to individuals. When you look at these photos of how it took place, you can see the actions within video games and others.&quot; Here we gooooo. Trump just said videogames and the glorification of violence is a problem here in America and we must “stop” this.&mdash; Timdog (@XcloudTimdog) August 5, 2019 Similarly, the Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick echoed McCarthy&#39;s concern to Fox News, claiming the rising popularity of video games presents one of the biggest cultural shifts of the past few decades. &quot;We know that the video game industry is bigger than the movie industry and the music industry combined, and there have been studies that say it impacts people and studies that says it does not, but I look at the common denominators, as a 60-some-year-old father and grandfather myself, what&#39;s changed in this country?&quot;  &quot;We&#39;ve always had guns, we&rsquo;ve always had evil. But what&#39;s changed where we see this rash of shooting? I see a video game industry that teaches young people to kill.&quot; His speculation about cultural shifts conveniently glossed over how much easier it is to buy military style weapons than ever before. That, and the fact that the El Paso shooter had a manifesto directly citing Trump as an inspiration.Dear Twitter. American Republicans are trying to distract you by making the mass shooting about video games. The shooter had a manifesto. He had political motive. He is a terrorist. Stop giving the videogame idiocy air time and start talking about the terrorist and his victims.&mdash; Dr. NM Adams-Quackenbush, CPsychol (@Nikky15) August 4, 2019 This week is far from the first time video games have been used as a scapegoat for the violence made possible by lack of gun reform, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quick to point out the absurdity of that talking point.Video games aren’t causing mass shootings, white supremacy is.Sadly the GOP refuse to acknowledge that, bc their strategy relies on rallying a white supremacist base.That‘s why the President hosts stadiums of people chanting “send her back”&amp; targets Congress-members of color. https://t.co/8F51h46bOO&mdash; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 4, 2019 She was quick to point out how the increase in white supremacist rhetoric is directly linked to mass shootings, but the GOP avoids addressing that because it directly calls out Trump&#39;s base.AOC went on to point out how specific words Trump uses stoke hatred and fear and encourage his base to view immigrants and people of color as the enemy.Using the words “invasion,” “infestation,”w respect to a specific, targeted group of people, implying they are vermin: this is the language of white supremacy &amp;it goes all the way to the top.It’s not a matter of political stances. This is stoking hatred+endangering the country. https://t.co/zuziTB0c3u&mdash; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 5, 2019 While AOC received a lot of backlash (as she tends to whenever she posts), there were plenty of people echoing her point.I can&#39;t believe we&#39;re back to blaming video games. We&#39;ve done a full lap of all the non-gun excuses at this point.https://t.co/Grkv840DYe&mdash; DoctorJohn ▶️ COUNT EVERY VOTE ◀️ (@DoctorJohn_MD) August 4, 2019 I play first shooter video games... never once thought about killing someone in real life, don&#39;t even own a gun. Games aren&#39;t the problem, the complicity of the @GOP and not addressing white domestic terrorism is the problem.&mdash; Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) August 4, 2019 White supremacists account for 78% of domestic terrorism in the United States, https://t.co/0W40rCUxoh Cherry picking 20 faces out of the obscene amount of mass shootings we have is easy.&mdash; David (@TimaciousD1996) August 5, 2019 I&#39;m old enough to remember when the straw-boogeyman for white male violence was heavy metal music and before that comic books.&mdash; kittieswithfleas (@kittywithfleas) August 4, 2019 If that was chilling, see what&#39;s coming next pic.twitter.com/MzYhswEJTE&mdash; Abolish Electoral College tyranny by acreage (@Quest2017) August 5, 2019 While Trump largely focused his speech on mental health and the popularity of videogames, it&#39;s crucial to note that he brought up the issue of white supremacy briefly in his White House statement: &quot;The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.&quot; Time will only tell Trump truly means those words in his statement, in the meantime, gun reform and the rising tide of racism need to be addressed vigilantly.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quick to point out the absurdity of that talking point.