Is it 1999 again? I feel like it is. I thought we were past the days of Columbine, and Jack Thompson blaming video games for social ills. Apparently not. Now we have members of Congress, and even the president, using video games as a scapegoat for the heinous acts of two individuals. Once again, video games are the go-to punching bag when someone does something awful.

Yes, it’s all Epic’s and Activision’s fault for making Fortnite and Call of Duty. If it wasn’t for Fortnite and Call of Duty, the shootings in El Paso and Dayton would never have happened.

Fortnite isn’t even that violent of a game – but it’s popular, and has shooting in it. Therefore, if either of the shooters played it, Fortnite must be the cause.

Wow, so simple. How did we not see it before?

These are elected politicians saying this, not some twits on social media. Hard to tell the difference. Maybe we can throw some blame on Judas Priest and Marilyn Manson while we’re at it.

Also:

Politicians like Hillary Clinton aren’t interested in solving problems. When you say something like this, you’re either unbelievably naive and ignorant about what’s going on in the country, or are unserious about actually addressing the real cause of the problem.

Americans are taking antidepressants in record numbers, are addicted to opiods in record numbers, and are killing themselves in record numbers – but yes, I’m sure mental illness has no connection at all to people being a harm to themselves or other people. I’m sure someone who commits mass murder, with a gun or other means, is completely sane and in their right mind, and somehow more gun laws will miraculously solve the problem.

Clinton at least got the video game part of it right. She deserves credit for that.

It was nice, and somewhat surprising, to see President Trump at least mention mental illness as a cause of the shootings. It’s common sense, since millions of gamers have been playing Fortnite and Call of Duty every day for years, and haven’t committed mass murder, and never will. You would think the 20 years of studies, with zero evidence linking video game violence with real-world violence, would deter politicians from using it as a political pinata – but addressing mental illness is messy, and blaming guns or video games is a nice tidy solution you can put a bow on and present to the public. If we only would just do this, all this would go away!

They treat us and talk to us like we’re children.

Also, if you’re going to blame video games for an act of real-world violence, maybe pick a better game than Fortnite. Despite its M-rating, Fortnite isn’t that violent. Fortnite and Call of Duty were targeted because they’re popular and have guns, and therefore convenient. Not because there’s any merit in using them, or any other games, as a scapegoat.

‘Fortnite’

We have a mental health crisis in the U.S., and I don’t know how many need to be murdered for us to collectively acknowledge it. The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem, and we’ve been extraordinarily stubborn about mental health in general, placing any importance on it, or recognizing its role in people killing themselves and each other.

More gun laws, or scapegoating video games, won’t fix our murder problem. There isn’t a clear-cut solution to the problem of gun violence and mental health, but until we start treating mass murder, black and white, as a mental health issue, El Paso and Dayton will keep happening.

Take care of yourself, play video games, and don’t listen to the politicians.