Police Blame Video Games For 2-Year-Old Stabbing 5-Month-Old

from the evidence? dept

Thu, May 28th 2009 8:44am — Mike Masnick

It seems that whenever there's any kind of violence involving kids, someone rushes to blame video games. Steve L points us to the latest such case, where it's taken to something of an extreme. Apparently a 2-year-old boy stabbed his 5-month-old brother with a knife. It sounds like he didn't do much damage, but police immediately claimed that violent video games owned by a much older teenaged brother "may have played a role." The only problem? The 2-year-old neither plays the games nor watches his older brother playing them. But, why not blame the video games?

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Filed Under: blame, children, stabbing, video games

73 Comments

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Buster, 28 May 2009 @ 9:04am

Kids with games
I honestly think the parents did something stupid and blamed the kid for it... Just again just my opinion
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- jamonika, 12 Oct 2009 @ 10:08pm
  
  Re: Kids with games
  why are you so stupuid Ihate you becauseyou ugly
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- spelling games for kids, 29 Jul 2010 @ 8:58am
  
  Re: Kids with games
  The policemen have doctor's degrees in psychology now? Lol
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Avatar28, 28 May 2009 @ 9:10am

of course it was the games
The fact that the kid is two and probably didn't like his brother because his brother takes mommy and daddy's attention away from him obviously had nothing at all to do with it.
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Nelson Cruz (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 9:18am

Before video-games
So a baby playing with a knife, hurts his 5 year old brother... and video-games are to blame? Didn't anything like that happen BEFORE there where video-games??? What was to blame then? TV? Books?

Its common sense that babies shouldn't play with knifes.
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- Avatar28 (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 9:22am
  
  Re: Before video-games
  Seriously. My kids are 9 and 11 and we still don't let them use a sharp knife usually. If we go out to eat and there is a steak knife in the silverware, my youngest pulls it out and gingerly hands it to me.
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  - nelsoncruz (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 9:55am
    
    Re: Re: Before video-games
    Avatar28, good for you. But don't exaggerate either. The eskimos teach their children how to use a knife around the age of 10 I think (its a very important tool in their culture). But your kids seem to know WHY knives are dangerous, which is good. If you simply take away or hide from them every sharp thing around, they are just going to stab themselves the first chance they get. It's the difference between teaching and overprotecting.
    
    Of course that, for a 2 year old, that picks everything up and starts trashing about... dumbass parents for leaving a knife within reach!
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- windwolf, 28 May 2009 @ 9:59am
  
  Re: Before video-games
  yeah they blamed rock and roll
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  - Ben, 28 May 2009 @ 10:22am
    
    Re: Re: Before video-games
    If you play R&R songs backwards they all say "stab your little brother".
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- slimcat (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 12:51pm
  
  Re: Before video-games
  Didn't anything like that happen BEFORE there where video-games??? What was to blame then? TV? Books?
  
  Yes! In the late '40s, I became a knife wielding assailant at the age of three or four with the encouragement of older neighborhood kids. Using a tiny folding knife which you could get in a penny gum-ball machine at the time, given me by the conspirators, I attacked the hood bully, stabbing him in the left biceps. I doubt I held anything that could be considered malice toward this individual and you'd probably have to chalk the attack up to peer pressure of sorts though I wasn't old enough to understand the concept. Got a stern talking to from Mom and Dad and was grounded for several days, as I recall. Imagine how knives in gum-ball machines would go over today.
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  - Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 1:32pm
    
    Re: Re: Before video-games
    Forget knives in gumball machines, the mere thought of a knife within 10 yards of a child these days is grounds for a complete lockdown of any public facility.
    
    There are two things at work here, as I see it. First, the kid was 2. Set aside all talk of consequential awareness and long-term memory for a moment, and consider fine motor skills in children. If you've ever seen a toddler with a crayon, you know that when they draw, their hand movements when holding an implement are very jerky and could easily be termed "stabbing motions". Movements toward their bodies are smoother, such as feeding themselves, but still nowhere within the arena of precise. Movements away from them, or toward another person/object, are pretty sketchy, as they don't have the experience or muscle memory to gauge the depth and use implements with much finesse. I think it's a great stretch to imagine any malice on the part of the child, rather than to say that this kid had a sharp object and probably didn't have the muscle control to move it delicately or precisely. I'd wager that a pencil could have done similar damage, and would not have garnered the comments about video games.
    
    Second, you have a society that likes to blame and sensationalize, and forgets that kids get in trouble all the time without the help of external influences. I'm not all that old, but I recall that cuts, bruises, and stitches were fairly common when I was young, and no one called the police and the newspaper when my brothers and I threw stones at each other and I ended up with a cut on my forehead. Surely no one blamed Ikari Warriors and immediately associated our skirmish as mimicking grenade-tossing insurgents.
    
    I remember the coolest kid in my grade school. He showed up nearly every week with a new minor injury and a new story to tell about how he got it. Once upon a time we allowed children to play, and to play rough. It taught them that sharp things cut, that flaming things burn, and a host of other lessons. I sure as hell miss those days.
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Jeremy from Seattle, 28 May 2009 @ 9:21am

Really?
I highly doubt the 2 year old had the cognitive reasoning skills to find a knife, think, "Hey, I've seen this before; mybe I'll go over to my brother and stab him." or even, "Hey, this little shit is taking mommy and daddy's attention away from me, I think I'll go find a knife and stab him."

He was probably banging around like 2 year olds are wont to do and his retard parents left a knife out.
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- mommacita1984, 23 Jun 2009 @ 2:24pm
  
  Re: Really?
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- mommacita1984, 23 Jun 2009 @ 2:24pm
  
  Re: Really?
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- mommacita1984, 23 Jun 2009 @ 2:29pm
  
  Re: Really?
  You said it, word for word what i was about to say, and you are right, people blame videos games for our childrens violence. but my question is this, when i was younger we really didnt have any video games and if we did it was some kind of mario brothers. But what we did have were the looney tunes for television, and i do believe that that coyoto and roadrunner were a little bit on the hostile side. blowing each other up or setting each other on fire, one was always trying to hurt the other, dropping pianos on peoples heads. I mean come on people were there children back then that actually went to acme bought a bomb and blew up our siblings? all due to that cartoon??? anyway I hope everyone see's my point. its all in how you raise your kids, teaching them right from wrong, and that weapons are dangerous even if they see them on tv, THAT IS PRETEND!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 9:22am

two year old children don't have permanent memories, wtf?
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- spoondaddy, 28 May 2009 @ 11:10am
  
  Re:
  If your retarded please don't waste our time by making comments
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  - Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 11:12am
    
    Re: Re:
    If you're going to call someone retarded, please spell you're correctly :)
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    - spoondaddy, 28 May 2009 @ 11:40am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "If you're going to call someone retarded, please spell you're correctly :)"
      
      Is anyone impressed by spelling natzis? Opps I speled dat wong
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      - Eponymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 12:19pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I wouldn't say that anyone is impressed, per se, by spelling nazis, but I would say that every time I read a comment with shite grammar and/or spelling, I wonder how the poster manages to remain gainfully employed.
        
        This site maintains fairly intelligent discourse and commentary, and so jabs at your shortfallings are within the field of fair play. When you fail to properly compose your thoughts, it reflects poorly on the community. Bearing that in mind, I will ask that you proofread your comments. If you refuse, I will send a two year old to your house.
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        Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 12:28pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "If you refuse, I will send a two year old to your house."
        
        With knives and a copy of Grand Theft Auto.
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        Eponymous Coward, AKA Doug (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 12:48pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        No need to send the knives, the child will find one in a logical place, such as on a desk within the main living area of the offender's home. Though, with a name like spoondaddy, flatware may be located in the bedroom. Who knows?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2011 @ 2:02am
    
    Re: Re:
    guess sara palins kids wont be making a comment.
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FFS!, 28 May 2009 @ 9:31am

FFS!
FFS!

Can't the parents be charged with negligence for letting their 2yr old child have a knife.

I feel a scream coming on!
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- Josh, 28 May 2009 @ 9:35am
  
  Re: FFS!
  Can't the police be charged with stupidity and be made to sit in the corner with a dunce hat on? It tends to work with kids who have the cognitive abilities marginally above the level of the 2 year old in question.
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Tom Landry (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 9:34am

sounds like a responsible police department.

No doubt they'll petition the court to try the 2 yr old as an adult.
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Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 9:45am

Er?
Just to make sure I understand the issue correctly: A two year old -- who's cognitive capacity to make and retain permanent memories is EXTREMELY limited, btw -- grabbed a knife, in some way did some kind of damage to his little brother with it, and....we're blaming video games?

Again, to understand:

1. a 2 year old was allowed access to a knife sharp enough to be considered dangerous

and

2. a 2 year old and 5 month old were under so little supervision that the 2 year old was allowed to do any kind of stabbing with this knife that he had access to

and

3. we're blaming video games.

....I'm fucking speechless.
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 10:45am
  
  Re: Er?
  Really, than why does my 2.5 year old remember that using a chair can help her gain access to the counter top. She wants access to the counter top because she remembers that that is where the M&Ms are.
  
  It is ridiculous to blame a video game but it should be questioned where the toddler learned to stab.
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  - Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 10:48am
    
    Re: Re: Er?
    "Really, than why does my 2.5 year old remember that using a chair can help her gain access to the counter top"
    
    You're 2.5 year old is a super human and a threat to the establishment. A car has been sent.
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  - Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 10:58am
    
    Re: Re: Er?
    Man! You got yourself a true Doogie Howser, MD!
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    - Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 10:59am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Er?
      Complete with homosexuality and a tickets to awards shows. Enjoy!!!
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Rob (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 9:46am

I keep thinking that there is no way the public discourse in this country could descend any further into the realms of inanity and then I see this... Seriously, a 2 year old has access to a knife and they blame VIDEO GAMES for the inevitable stabbing that ensues? Have these cops ever spent any time around a two year old before? If you let a two year old child get a hold of a knife, someone is gonna get stabbed, the child has nowhere near the mental faculties to understand the implications of such things and needs no outside influence to misuse them. His parents need to be locked up on criminal negligence charges.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 10:19am

where in Xmen is there a knife????
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- cvpunk, 28 May 2009 @ 11:20am
  
  Re:
  Wolverine's hands... duh
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Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 10:26am

More of the same, never ending, evidence that cops are dumb. Most cops seem to be uneducated assholes with something to prove. Nothing surprising here.

What qualifications do cops have to say what goes through the mind of a 2 year old? None.

Why should we give their conclusions any credit? We should not.
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- Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2009 @ 5:32am
  
  Re:
  "What qualifications do cops have to say what goes through the mind of a 2 year old? None."
  
  Really? I always thought cops had minds akin to a 2 year old's...
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Mike, 28 May 2009 @ 10:34am

Knife
I think we are all missing the point, who made the knife, because like guns, can the parents sue the knife company for MAKING the knife. There are bad parents then there are STUPID parents, I think this qualifies as both.
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 1:03pm
  
  Re: Knife
  Off topic but it's just like record companies should not be able to sue google because one of their users uploaded copyright material. Just like someone shouldn't sue a car company because someone intentionally used a car as a weapon. You sue the person who committed the crime, not the manufacturer of the vehicle they used to commit the crime.
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  - Kyz, 28 May 2009 @ 2:24pm
    
    Re: Re: Knife
    To be fair, I suspect (and hope) that Mike's comment here was intended in jest, for exactly the reasons you've given. I will agree that the fault here should, barring extraordinary circumstances not given, lie with the parents, and certainly does not lie with the video games.
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batch, 28 May 2009 @ 10:40am

Why does anyone ask the police why anything happens? Why not ask, I don't know, the parents?! Or someone who actually knows the people involved? Police actually think traffic cameras are good and that people like them.
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aguywhoneedstenbucks, 28 May 2009 @ 10:44am

So instead of bitching here where we have (a few) reasonable people, why not go bitch at the police department with your well thought out ideas and make a big deal out of it. A huge deal. Get it all over the internet. SHAME THE BASTARDS so that they think before they do it next time....shame is a fantastic teacher.

And while you're at it, make it so that they are shamed in such a way that other PDs see it and realize that they'll be shamed if they try to pull some asinine asshattery like this as well.
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- aguywhoneedstenbucks, 28 May 2009 @ 10:49am
  
  Re:
  http://www.monroeohio.org/info/contact.cfm
  
  There, found a link to their contact information. Contacting the city right now to see if I can get an email address for the chief of police.
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  - aguywhoneedstenbucks, 28 May 2009 @ 11:40am
    
    Re: Re:
    Gregory C. Homer, Chief of Police: homerg@monroeohio.org
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JohnRaven,CHT,CSH (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 10:48am

Blame...
I guess aliens and bad water are out of vogue...
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Edgar Allen Poo, 28 May 2009 @ 10:49am

Video Games are EVIL!!!!!
My question is, how did the 2 year old get the knife in the first place? Why should the parents be responsible, when it's obvious that the video game left the knife where the child could reach it. It's so obvious.
Video Games are the cause of any violent behavior, and should be taken into the street and burned. Every last one of them.
Then and only then will our children be completely SAFE.
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- That Guy, 28 May 2009 @ 11:16am
  
  Re: Video Games are EVIL!!!!!
  I say Nuclear Apocolypse, then everyone will be safe. Safe and radiated.
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- jack, 28 May 2009 @ 7:38pm
  
  Re: Video Games are EVIL!!!!!
  For God's sake man - don't forget Marylin Manson.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 11:07am

You're all wrong.

The parents are good christians who love their children. They were all playing a family friendly board game together in the front room (it was "family togetherness night") when the 2 year old excused himself to go get a glass of water from the kitchen, where he obtained the knife.

Then, using advanced CQC techniques picked up from violent computer games, he fought his way through his parents as they desperately tried to stop him and mercilessly attacked his little brother.

So you can see, no blame can be assigned to the parents here. It is all the fault of violent video games. If only we had listened to Jack Thompson!
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- Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 11:11am
  
  Re:
  In that case we need to recruit that little sonofabitch into the special forces ASAP. Give his little ass a bowie knife and drop him into Afgahnistan.
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Yakko Warner, 28 May 2009 @ 11:21am

Of COURSE videogames are to blame!
They were in the house! Therefore, they were to blame! Their mere presence is enough to entice all occupants into fits of violent rage! The poor toddler was powerless to withstand the mind-controlling waves of violence emanating from the console! It's osmosis, it's a scientifically-proven principle. If you disagree with it, you disagree with SCIENCE!

Someone call FOX News. Get Jack Thompson as an expert witness.
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dr, 28 May 2009 @ 11:55am

Re:
If a child has the mental capacity to plot some sort of violent act of revenge, why then did he not go to the kitchen to get the knife like everyone else?

Conversely:

If it is common practice for knives to be kept in the kitchen, what kind of person keeps knives at a computer desk with unattended kids?

Blame is no more the fault of the movie industry than it is the fault of the Police for not stopping the stabbing. It is the parents duty to ensure the safety of their children. That being said, accidents do happen, in the video everyone seems on the up and up. I'm just glad everyone is OK. Praise God!
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Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 12:10pm

it was elvis' hips!
It was Elvis' hips!!!!!!!!!
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known coward, 28 May 2009 @ 12:21pm

Elvis is innocent
He was with me at the mall. I think it was professor plum with the knife in the laboratory.

or it was the video game. Either alternative is equally ridiculous
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Eponymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 12:24pm

Oy
I think that the police should look at the movies this family owns as well as any video games. Why, just the other day I was contemplating the purchase of a new DVD for my 3 year old, and had to decide against "Dora and Diego Slice Some Punks Up in 3-D"

You'd be amazed at what they're teaching these kids today.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 1:03pm

Quite honestly I have seen "Dora and Diego Slice Some Punks Up". In my opinion it is one of Tarintino's finest works. Plot line and character developement were top notch, though the 3-D effects did strike me as overkill and a bit cheesy perhaps.
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- Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 1:36pm
  
  Re:
  It wasn't bad. I was more impressed by the Wachowski Bros. "Mickey Mouse does Plato's World of Ideas With Combat", but two sequals sucked...
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Paul W, 28 May 2009 @ 1:12pm

don't blame the game
There stupid to blame video games. I'm a father of 4 boys, and a gamer since the days of Pong. If the 2 yr. old was playing violent video games then blame the parents for allowing it. We have restrictions in my house as to what my kids can play, and we watch over them when they are playing or online. Parents need to own up to there responsibilities.
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OldGeek, 28 May 2009 @ 2:30pm

Think About It
Some of ya'll really need to lay off the Starbucks. So here's my two cents worth. Parents go out for awhile leaving "older teen brother" to watch the two little ones, older bro gets wrapped up in whatever game he's playing and forgets about the little ones. Being an average teen he probably uses said knife for something and leaves it lay wherever he's finished with it, along comes the two year old, sees nice shiny thing and goes for it. The rest is in the story.
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- Tgeigs (profile), 28 May 2009 @ 2:39pm
  
  Re: Think About It
  ....okay, how does any of that put any culpability whatsoever on videogames?
  
  Further, if Parents A and B leave irresponsible teen kid C home with lil chitlins D and E, there should still be a value for F (F = which federal pen the parents are locked up in FOR BEING AND RAISING FUCKING MORONS GODDAMIT.....ahem, sorry)?
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Dan, 28 May 2009 @ 2:39pm

Are we talking unattended primates here or human children? Are the police to insecure to just admit that they just don't know why or don't want to blame the parents for neglecting the kids?
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Anonymous Coward, 28 May 2009 @ 6:25pm

Many years ago an acquaintance, who noticed my constant reading, gave me a cartoon he'd found that stated 'in the days before computer games, people read books to rot their brains'
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Bettawrekonize, 29 May 2009 @ 12:19am

What part of keep knives away from two year old's is so difficult to understand? This isn't rocket science folks, it's common sense.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 29 May 2009 @ 12:29am

what games do 2 year olds play?
Because Sesamestreet the videogame is such a violent game.

These police officers are deluded. How do they figure that video games are to blame for this? Do they think this 2 year old played Grand Theft Auto or something?

Or would they blame the Iphone (with their baby-shake app)?
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2009 @ 12:31am

seek the death penalty
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2009 @ 5:37am

Ban video games! Ban knives! Ban fire!

Oh won't somebody, anybody please THINK OF THE KIDS? *sniff*

- Committee for Restriction of Anti-national Practices
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Jake W., 2 Jun 2009 @ 3:22am

So I assume that at a time where there were no video games, cops blame it on books? Animals? Imagination?

Blaming it on a video game is going way too far.
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Rob, 8 Jun 2009 @ 7:37am

Blame bad guitar playing on guitar hero
How long before we start blaming bad music performances on guitar hero? LOL I guess before video games, it was cartoons that were blamed for violence.
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not need, 15 Jun 2009 @ 1:21pm

like a 2 year old can really remember what he saw on tv... or video game...and actually know what to use the knife for..... usually kids dont start having fully permenate memory until about the age of three
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suzanne, 23 Jun 2009 @ 6:16pm

poor kid hope hes all right
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Harry Setatestes, 29 Sep 2009 @ 7:24am

Scrotum socks. You're wlecome.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2009 @ 8:15am

way
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justmte, 15 Mar 2010 @ 1:28pm

why blame video games!!!!!!!!??????????????
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Nov 2010 @ 2:46pm

where was the parent thats who u need to be blaming
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