The prophecy rings true once more

Today brought the release of Grand Theft Auto IV and, as expected, has managed to generate horrendous amounts of controversy and people practically screaming for it to be banned. They are predominantly the worried parents of today, desperate to keep their little kiddies out of harm's way and generally irritating normal people. Their case for censoring video games is certainly a riveting one; it has been 'proven' that they promote violence, drug abuse and the apparently common profession of pimping. It amuses me that there's really very little evidence to show a link between violent games causing real violence. Of course, you'll always get the psychos locked away in their basement simulating their future crimes, but that's more using the games as a medium rather than them causing the behaviour.
Allow me to delve deeper into the mind of our resident cellar-dweller. His name is Neil. At 23 years old, he's dropped out of university and resides at his mother's. Greasy, sweaty and twitching he clutches his gamepad like a child. Supplied with tortilla chips and Red Bull he relishes his kills and can rattle off the name of every gun ever. Killing's easy for Neil. Banished from society he aims to take revenge on those who think they're better than him.
As many people as possible. See you in the news Neil, rusty claw-hammer and all.

The root of this problem really lies with the people who fuss about it. Violent games are given an age rating so they hopefully fall into the hands of those who are capable of distinguishing between fantasy and reality (of course, excluding our reclusive minority), rather than impressionable children. Real parenting seems to have been substituted for blame culture; parents blaming the gaming industry for all society's problems instead of actually being responsible with their children and keeping them away from inappropriate material. Out of laziness, people seem to be using games (especially the GTA series) as scapegoats for their little tykes ending up on the streets. It's the responsibility of the parents to keep their children away from what they don't want them to see, not the industry that provides them.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play my favourite scapegoat.