Daily Mirror prints ‘GTA Massacre’ front page
Mark Ankucic September 20, 2011 - 10:48 amThe Daily Mirror has printed a front page which links a recent shooting with Grand Theft Auto, after the defendant allegedly referred to the game while in court.
Ryan Donovan was recently sent to gaol for 25 years after gunning down fellow sailors in Southampton. After being refused a transfer to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship Cardigan Bay due to his disobeying an order to clean the submarine, Donovan told his crewmate Andrew Love that he was planning a “Grand Theft Auto-style massacre”.
The prosecutor, Nigel Lickley QC told Winchester Crown Court that:
“The defendant just giggled and said he was thinking how to start a massacre…He started talking about Grand Theft Auto where you start a massacre and rack up points by killing.”
Let’s not focus on the fact that the submarine in question was a nuclear submarine, and let’s ignore the fact that a nuclear submarine can fire nukes which can kill millions, and further, let’s completely disregard the fact that this man somehow made it into the Navy, which is a job at sea where you are expected to kill people when there is need or political gain.
Our problem is the tide of news publications that use morons like Noel Gallagher and Supernanny Jo Frost (whose qualifications are bewilderingly absent from her website and her wiki) to support an argument which has no bearings on reliable facts.
Hopefully the entrance of CoD into the lives of boguns (that’s chavs for all of you across the pond), and thus the voting majority, will see the gradual decrease of gaming being used in fear campaigns.
Thanks to CVG.
Comments (4)
Let us not forget the fact that joining the military severely increases your chances of developing a mental illness.
I’m sure I’m not the only person here seeing some serious breaches in conduct. So, a man goes on a drinking bender, confesses that he’s planning a shooting spree, and not only does nobody take this man out of service and put him under psychiatric observation, but they put him on guard with a loaded weapon.
Of all places, I was under the impression that submarine crews had to undergo stricter profiling, considering how cramped submarines can be and the impact that can have on an individual’s mind.
No, they’re right: I totally remember that mission in GTA 3 where you take control of an unhinged loser who slipped through the recruitment safety nets, loses his marbles and attacks shipmates over not wanting to do his duties so that a shoddy tabloid can save a slow news day. Ban this sick filth, etc.
Just remember guys, the days of game fear campaigns are numbered. Humans learn and evolve, and in the next twenty years this will be a thing of the past.