Some missing links

By: Dylan Brennan, Columnist 

With each passing day, I’m more tempted to change this Republican red elephant logo to a Libertarian gold porcupine because the GOP is getting too small-minded for me to fit in. While we turned our clocks forward Saturday, the GOP turned its back 20 years by making the 1990s argument that video games cause school shootings. This tired platitude is hardly worth discussing so I’ll make a few brief jabs to knock this lightweight argument over.

I would assume many, if not most Americans, below the age of 35 play video games. I would also assume many, if not most Americans, aren’t school shooters or psychopaths. I know for a fact that video games are played all across the world, especially in Europe and Asia. I know for a fact that school shootings hardly, if ever, occur in those continents. Everyone can see kids and young adults play as post-apocalyptic road warriors and dragon-fighting vikings, yet know they’ll never become those in real life.

So why are people, like our president and several other Republicans, tooting this rusted old horn? Could they possibly be this ignorant, or are they just going straight to the bottom of the barrel to search for reasons for school shootings, digging past gun legislation and mental illness? I can’t find a single article that confirms the GOP’s theories on the ties between video games and gun violence, although I can find copious amounts to the contrary. Doesn’t that sound familiar, like a needle stabbing at the back of your mind; a vaccination needle perhaps?

The red elephant is not dying gracefully. In its old age it is becoming forgetful, clumsy and just isn’t thinking straight. But make no mistake, it is dying. I can’t possibly advocate for a vote for the Democrats as they have numerous problems I’ve espoused in the past. But just remember, there are newer parties sprouting up that aren’t as tired and old as the two we have now.