gamepolitics: In Wake of Rampage, New Bedford Mayor Wants Violent Games Rounded Up

Game Politics (

gamepolitics) wrote,
@ 2006-02-06 10:05:00

Entry tags:

blame, lang, new bedford, robida, violence

In Wake of Rampage, New Bedford Mayor Wants Violent Games Rounded Up

New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang has a message posted on his website in response to the deadly Jason Robida rampage that began last week in a gay bar in New Bedford and ended on Saturday with a police shootout in Arkansas that left a police officer, a West Virginia woman and Robida himself dead. The mayor's statement reads in part:

"This was a hate crime... the actions of a single deranged individual act as a wake up call to our community and once again the nation... This cycle of violence must stop. The guns have to come off the streets. The violent video games have to be taken out of our homes."

We can appreciate that Mayor Lang feels the need to make a response. However, we've yet to see any reports linking Robida to violent games, although there is ample evidence he was into racial hatred, neo-Nazism, and apparently hatred of gays as well. He was a disturbed kid who was no stranger to the local police.

There's also a bit of a disconnect between "a single deranged individual" and removing violent games from everyone's home. Unless we're misreading Lang's release, he is not blaming games for Robida's rampage. Rather he appears to be making some type of generalized statement regarding what he calls "this cycle of violence."

In any case, we're sure to hear more about Robida's motivations, since the mainstream media is all over this high-profile case. If there turns out to be evidence that this twisted, homicidal maniac was also into violent games, we'll report that. If he wasn't, we'll report that too.

In the meantime, we've seen Robida's MySpace web site. In fact, that's where the creepy picture of Robida that accompanies this article was found. While there are a lot of violent, racist and Nazi references on Robida's MySpace, not one word about games can be found.

UPDATE: Our old pal Jack Thompson posted a comment to this article pointing out that today's Boston Herald makes mention that Robida was a gamer. No mention of what he played, however. Nor does a passing mention of video games in Saturday's Boston Globe say what titles Robida may have favored. Nintendogs? GTA San Andreas? Madden? Hopefully, more facts will emerge. As always, check GamePolitics for the truth.

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(510 comments) - (Post a new comment)

	xenosphobatic 2006-02-06 05:26 am UTC (link)
	Hay guis. I smashed my thumb today. I blame violent video games. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	synabetic 2006-02-06 05:30 am UTC (link)
	I hear that many serial killers, child molesters and mass murderers breathe oxygen as well. Perhaps the world will be a safer place for everyone without oxygen... (actually, it probably would be... what? :P) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Good Job wedgetalon 2006-02-06 05:29 am UTC (link)
	Good job on finally finding the single website that remotely links that wacko's hate crimes to video games. With how Jacko was preaching in the other thread, you'd think it would've been more obvious. Anyway, excellent journalism sleuthing it out! -Wedge (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Good Job gamepolitics 2006-02-06 05:34 am UTC (link)
	Not really, but thx. I simply saw on the news crawl here that Kotaku had it. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Sad gamepolitics 2006-02-06 05:36 am UTC (link)
	I wouldn't be too hard on the mayor. His statement was all over the place. I just think he didn't know what to say, so threw in every thing but the kitchen sink. If Robida was a gamer, we'll hear about it. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	sephirothgal 2006-02-06 05:43 am UTC (link)
	That's the first tihng I noticed too, lollllll I actually know a few Juggalos irl, and they're, for the most part, damn good people. Mind you, they've also grown out of that phase in recent years... For the most part. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	megalanzero 2006-02-06 05:35 am UTC (link)
	Ant-Man fans rejoice, Scott Lang is alive and well. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mcfly0612 2006-02-07 09:11 am UTC (link)
	Ant-Man is good and all, but I want HawkEye back. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	neoookami 2006-02-06 05:37 am UTC (link)
	How quaint. An assault in a gay bar and do we have a statement against homophobia, nope! But violent video games, yes. That makes sense! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Good point!! gamepolitics 2006-02-06 05:40 am UTC (link)
	...hadn't thought of that. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	kilika_stryfe 2006-02-06 05:39 am UTC (link)
	This kind of reminds me of the video game ban that they had in Greece a few years back. Is that still in effect? And to think, I might have lived there, being 50% Greek... (Reply to this)

	I dunno, really... samsoneffect 2006-02-06 06:04 am UTC (link)
	This one seems like the violent video game bit was just thrown in there along with the kitchen sink, microwave oven, and your favourite kitchen appliance. I wonder if Jack had anything to do with that, or if that was genuine, or if he just let that one out. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	t3dy 2006-02-06 06:12 am UTC (link)
	the comments on the myspace are sure a walk on the wild side. (Reply to this)

	abno 2006-02-06 06:17 am UTC (link)
	Oy.... Well, that's lovely... Maybe the mayor will not be mayor next election cycle.... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	tough_obstacle 2006-02-06 07:05 am UTC (link)
	Dude, it's Mass., it's one of the most corrupt commonwealths out there. In Boston, there's been so much pocket lining and nepotism in that city, it's ridiculous. I doubt anything will change. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	A little something. pyrocy 2006-02-06 06:21 am UTC (link)
	I think it's the best time that I post this. Took me long enough to make it. It's a mock/parody "anti-game" propaganda poster. No, I do not support videogame censorship and scapegoating. ;-) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: A little something. semperar 2006-02-06 07:03 am UTC (link)
	Congratulations, you win the Internets. We hope to see you compete next year in the 2007 Internets as well! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	shogun_of_truth 2006-02-06 07:56 am UTC (link)
	"However, the connection between this crime and the Bible is at least as strong as as the connection between it and violent video games." I just wanted to point out that Jake Robida was an admitted Atheist, so this point is kind of invalid. From his My Space: Good job on the rest of the E-mail though. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	morlock 2006-02-06 06:36 am UTC (link)
	people like that give juggalos a bad name... i mean, its hard to do, but still. i still listen to ICP - i think some of their music is funny/silly/and sometimes actually skilled. i don't actually believe that people should axe others and stuff like that... if you do think that way, then you have more problems then i can even think of. (Reply to this)

	finaleve 2006-02-06 07:00 am UTC (link)
	This "maniac" reminded me of something in a movie. This movie was was called American History X. Maybe this mayor should see this movie and maybe get an understanding of this person instead of his quick decision on pointing the finger at video games. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	tough_obstacle 2006-02-06 07:06 am UTC (link)
	That movie was brutal. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	udx 2006-02-06 07:46 am UTC (link)
	You can take our guns. You can take our games, but the violence won't go away. Criminals will find other means of weapons to get what they want. Racial hatrid will NOT remove the violence. In fact, it might just make it worse. (Reply to this) (Thread)

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	Countdown to Thompson yzzerdd 2006-02-06 07:56 am UTC (link)
	When do you guys think Thompson is going to make a reply in this thread? I say in the next 10 hours. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Countdown to Thompson rum_monkey 2006-02-07 06:24 am UTC (link)
	Sigh, please stop bringing him up when he hasn't made a comment. If we want the troll to go away, we need to stop invoking his name all the time. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	semperar 2006-02-06 08:50 am UTC (link)
	..."blindless?" (Reply to this) (Parent)

	... warpstarmstr122 2006-02-06 08:50 am UTC (link)
	reads headline briefly scans article You gotta be kidding me... Way to pounce on the first thing that pops in your mind to tag as a scapegoat, Mr. Mayor. Jackass. (Reply to this)

	I'll give Jack Thompson a cookie... jerico6 2006-02-06 09:24 am UTC (link)
	if he responds to me personally. me laughing (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: I'll give Jack Thompson a cookie... ianc14 2006-02-06 11:53 am UTC (link)
	Even if he did, he wouldnt respond to points rasied. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	slyfoxx 2006-02-06 10:36 am UTC (link)
	You know... if politicians discovered that a killer played preschooler games that starred Elmo, they would probably try to have those games banned as well. There seem to be some really ignorant and stupid people in power these days. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	slyfoxx 2006-02-06 10:40 am UTC (link)
	Come to think of it, I'd LIKE for it to be discovered that this guy played kiddie games, just to show politicians how stupid they sound when they blame games without any real, hard evidence. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	markusdragon 2006-02-06 10:57 am UTC (link)
	So many drugs references, and they blame videogames ._. What is this world coming to? (Reply to this)

	desert_thunder 2006-02-06 11:11 am UTC (link)
	You know, no matter how far violence in videogames ends up going, we're still above the the ancient Greeks and Romans. Think about it: Grand Theft Auto versus slaves being publically murdered for entertainment purposes... I think Take Two can pretty safely take the moral high ground in that argument. (Reply to this) (Thread)