I posted this in...other quarters...of the internet, but thought it fit here. Before I repost it though, I would just like to agree with the sentiment expressed by Owen in the post that clearly video games qua video games cannot be held responsible for Loughner's crime.

Time to come off as an iconoclast.

@CALkulon:

@Felipe058:

Truly a worthy polemic against something in dire need of myth-busting.

Is the pre-defense against being labeled a thief anything other than laughable? "Now before most of you attack me and call me a 'pirate' and 'thief' allow me to explain: I wanted to play video games without paying for them."

So when are we going to get that how-to guide on hacking Gawker? Oh, I guess you wouldn't like it if someone stole your property by breaking the agreed upon boundaries of its use, huh? Ah well, at least you can content yourselves with helping to steal others' property!

This is fine and all, but why is this specifically such a good thing? These people do good deeds everyday: it's called work. Why exactly is it some fantastic thing when they give away their money, and just hum-drum when they actually make the money? Oh, I know; it's because when they make the money its for themselves,…

The illusion serves as a lovely reminder that we can't always trust our vision. Just because it's right in front of our eyes doesn't mean we're seeing it.

@MazeltovCocktail:

I am going to give Kotaku the benefit of the doubt and assume they considered seriously the issue of whether they should actively promote, by posting the links, the pirating of software and the breaking of EULAs.

@SG-17:

The situation is impossible. Activision is a business that has its money improperly stolen by the government to fund socialist programs. Okay. Virtually all businesses confront this challenge. The government, however, then decides to steal a little less from some companies and industries, in effect deciding which…

@NoelVeiga:

This is what happens when the government's role in economics is subjective. What principled argument can anyone make against this practice? All you can say is, "but I want it to be different," at which point it is simply your desire against the company's, so why should the government listen to you?

I came into this really wanting to be able to laud a grammatically correct and assertive explanation for what is going on, but what I got was only the former, and a whole lot of problems with it. Do not take any offense at what follows, but I regard virtually your entire assessment as wrong, including fundamentally.

@whitesycamore is forced to run a celtic snake farm:

Swamped with too many games already, so I did not get any of those. What I did get were philosophy non-fiction and textbooks, though not the university-required ones, as I actually wanted a good set to study. Of course, reading is even more time consuming than playing games, so this did nothing to mitigate the…

@whitesycamore is forced to run a celtic snake farm:

Do you people ever even stop to think about whether your immediate, egalitarian reactions to these kinds of stories are legitimate? Let's look at this. This is a game about superheroes. Superheroes, as such, should be dramatized as superior human beings. Muscular men and well-endowed women are objectively healthier…