Thailand Overreacts; Bans Grand Theft Auto Due To Stupid Kid
from the yeah,-blame-the-game-instead-of-the-kid dept
What is it with people wanting to blame technology for crimes rather than the idiots who perpetrate the crimes? The latest is that Thailand has banned the sale of Grand Theft Auto IV after an idiot kid killed a cab driver when he tried to carjack the taxicab. The kid claimed that he was copying a scene from the game, and wanted to see if it was as easy to do as in the game. In other words: "Not my fault! The game made me do it!" And, of course, the government believed this killer, rather than recognizing that it wasn't the game, but this kid's own demented brain that was responsible. If it wasn't GTA IV, it would have been something else. Banning GTA IV isn't going to stop such violence, but it will give anyone caught for murder a nice excuse about why it's not their fault.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: ban, blame, grand theft auto, murder, thailand
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Of course
Really, it seems like we have completely eliminated the concept of personal responsibility.
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What a precedent
Kill someone because someone said it was cool? Talking is banned!
Where does it stop? When do we say that people are responsible for their actions, no matter what kind of influences are out there.
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Re: What a precedent
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wow
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Hrm
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Re: Hrm
And what if I kill someone because a book told me to?
If we murder all the cashiers at Wal*Mart next Sunday (or Saturday if you are Jewish) will the Christian Bible be banned?
Exodus 35:2
"For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death."
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Just think if the kid read a book about Charles Manson. They really need to re-think this.
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Child Abuse
Or maybe give it to some disenfranchised group so they can start a new country there.
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GTA IV
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Re: GTA IV
This is only applicable if you actually believe the kid's story. I find it far more likely that the kid simply needed a scape goat for his actions in order to avoid responsibility.
There is a more informative article of the incident here. From the article:
Police quoted Polwat as saying in a statement: “I needed money to play the game every day. My parents give me only 100 baht a day, which is not enough. I am also fed up with them fighting. They are civil servants and do not make good money,” he said.
He said bought two knives with money given to him by his mother and then went to rob a taxi driver, though he did go out with the intention of killing the driver. The killing occurred after the driver reached for a metal bar to defend himself against the robbery.
Sound a little fishy to you? The kid saying he needs money for the arcades to play GTA IV....except it isn't an arcade game. He's lying so he can reduce his sentence or claim insanity because he's facing the death penalty.
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Re: Re: GTA IV
Yeah... I was originally going to write that as well, but I'm wondering if he meant that he needed to pay for time in an internet cafe or something to play it -- which is more common oversears than in the US. Many kids play computer games at internet cafes, so that may have been the situation.
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Re: Re: Re: GTA IV
He had paid to play the game at a local shop in Bangkok, and said he had needed more cash to continue playing it and that the taxi driver looked like an easy target.
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Re: GTA IV
Yes, GTA is not checkers, but it's up to the parents to decide what the kid should play with or not. If parents are too weak to have their kids obey, well, what about not having kids?
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Lol @...
...the killer kid
...Thailand
...people who think GTA4 is so worth playing that it's either:
A.) a misdeed to ban
B.) something worthy of imitation, staged or real
C.) a good game
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Re: Lol @...
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Also many kids have this game, how many of them have stabbed or shot someone. Whatever it is it's a really really really small percentage.
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Payback
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Well, actually,
Violent games do, as I know as a player of them myself on occasion, bring rise to some of the same emotions (i.e. physiological reactions) as do actual violent situations, though perhaps not as intensely for most of us. If you happen to be overly sensitized, again for whatever reason, the physiological reaction could quite possibly override your cognitive ability to remain rational. One way to check on the verity of this theory would be to statistically compare the rate of crime ascribed to game violence among gamers with the rate of emotionally disturbed people among the general population. Just an idea. But the point is, we really need to read up on the latest cognitive sciences before we make black and white declarations such as the one stated in the post.
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Reality.
I think everyone involved in the banning of the game should be slapped, and get a grip on what's really happening here. It seems like the economic situation in Thailand, and it's affects on parenting skills should be the focus of what took place.
And as for putting him to death by lethal injection, perhaps a more "GTA" style death would be appropriate in order to truly punish him for his actions. Just my opinion.
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Re: Reality.
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...
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And we can't have them playing Portal or they might go around melting holes in government buildings. . . .
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Not entirely correct.....
But before delving into that, lemme point that that your article is somewhat misleading. I mean, a casual reader of your article may justifiably think that the ONLY response of the Thai Government to the incident was to ban GTA IV and no action was taken against the kid. This is most certainly not true. While I admit I don't have factual information, it is highly unlikely that the rogue kid was simply allowed to go scot-free. The more probable scenario is that GTA IV was banned in addition to the kid being prosecuted.
Secondly, lemme say that creating provocative products (games, websites, etc) that can have dangerous effects on impressionable minds (now age has got nothing to with this; so the disclaimer saying that such things are meant for an adult audience only is of little practical value) and then washing your hands off the predictably adverse fallout is a very POLITICAL position to take. It does not reflect a genuine problem-solving attitude. Going by your logic, nothing at all should be banned; anything and everything should be permitted, any & every random, devilish output of a demented mind should be allowed to come into the market, because humans are expected to be supremely rational and utterly incapable of being influenced by anything at all. How rational and practical is such an expectation? And to the best of my knowledge, GTA IV is supposedly meant for entertainment purposes only. Now, how can the kind of violence depicted in it constitute entertainment for any normal, sane person? If the creators of the game believe humans can get entertained by violence & gore, can we legitimately take them to be sane and in possession of a stable mind?
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Re: Not entirely correct.....
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Re: Re: Not entirely correct.....
"This is a gray matter issue where there is no black or white.."
Deja Vu! I've seen this line used many times in many different contexts but as always it's just a poor attempt at obfuscating the issue and making the wrong look as good (or as bad) as the right. As it's not having the effect you intended, I think we would now be better off ignoring it altogether. :-)
"..is kinda ignorant"
Not sure what ignorance has got to do with this. Probably, you mean I'm ignorant about the fact that one is supposed to get misled by your argument.
"You decided to take his argument for face value..."
Nowhere in my comment have I indicated so. In fact, the very second sentence makes it clear that I consider the kid guilty. No idea how u got this into your head; maybe yet another of your random presumptions...
"No sane person would attempt any of this."
You have not provided any fact or evidence to support this assertion; again you seem to be pretty quick at jumping to your preferred conclusions! :-)
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Lol...
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Violence as Entertainment
There is a disturbing and growing lack of compassion (which leads to selfish and criminal acts) pervading the culture as a whole, and GTA is more a reflection of it than a cause.
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wtf
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Really now?
A) The kid (as far as I know) isn't using GTA as an excuse trying to lessen his charge
B) Some people are insane, and do stupid things when influenced by violence around them.
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Not much I can add...
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Thai politicians
I spend a few weeks in Thailand each year visiting my sister.
Most Thai's do not have (powerful) PCs and use internet gaming cafes. GTA disks could be bought in most shopping centers for about 100 THB (~US$3).
Don't blame the Thais. Thailand is the country where the military leaders went to the king to ask permission to stage a coup. With the king's OK the coup succeeded with no shots fired.
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GTA IV
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Dont see the harm
Mr T Bundy
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Stupid fuck....
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Re: Stupid fuck....
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No online play for me...
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