Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 9:07 PM
Sun Nov 8
18 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us: tips@kotaku.com
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
Email | AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
Email | AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
Email | AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
10/14/09
Is it really necessary? The article mentions videogames, but unlike most which are posted here, it is not in any way slanted. Nobody in that article was trying to blame what happened on video games.
Can we not turn this poor child getting SET ON FIRE into something about videogames?
10/14/09
10/15/09
I realize, but neither was the original article. It had very little to do with video games. It was a story about a VERY unfortunate event involving a boy being set on fire.
It does not belong on a video game blog. #crime
10/15/09
10/15/09
The word "telling" conveys that I am trying to command you as to what you should and should not post.
That's not what I'm doing. I'm simply stating that I think it is inappropriate to post this story on a gaming blog.
It would be much different if the story actually involved somebody blaming the crime (as they often do) on video games... but that is not the case.
By posting it on a gaming blog, you are, in a sense, spinning the story in a way which suggests that videogames were the focus of the original article, or the event itself, and that is disingenuous. #crime
10/15/09
The post title reads: "15 Yr-Old Set On Fire, Started Over Video Game Debt"
This is correct. It's a fact. So is everything else in the story. I am spinning nothing here -- you are. #crime
10/16/09
Stop trying to rephrase everything I say. All I'm saying is that I don't think it is appropriate to post this article on a gaming blog. That is all.
I agree that the text in your article is perfectly fair. There is no spin within your writing. Good job.
However, "by posting it on a gaming blog, you are, in a sense, spinning the story in a way which suggests that videogames were the focus of the original article, or the event itself, and that is disingenuous."
I just feel that posting THIS article on THIS website conveys the wrong message. #crime
10/14/09
10/14/09
[www.umm.edu]
Having that over 80% of your body, to the point where you can't even lie down or go to the bathroom without massive pain, would.... oh, I don't know... probably require someone to stay in the hospital for a while.
Is it really that hard to do a little research on things you don't know about? People are getting lazier every year.
10/14/09
That thing you see back right in that pic? Those are the boils that would be all over his body.
10/14/09
10/15/09
10/15/09
Is it against the fucking law to say something like "Hey, I didn't know that. That surprises me." Because that's basically what I said. I am dumbfounded right now by your two incompetent responses to a completely innocent comment.
10/19/09
10/14/09
Great world we live in.
10/14/09
10/14/09
But really, that sucks; hope the kid comes out OK.
10/14/09
10/14/09
I believe it's a lot to do with them being moulded by their immediate enviornment, but most of all their family and home life. These things above all play a part in how children develop, and if a child is exposed to violent behaviour - even extremes of it like setting someone on fire - and this is reinforced by parents as being acceptable then that child will grow up with a very warped moral compass.
Now I don't mean exposure in the form of TV, games or films because children are smart, they can distinguish between reality and fantasy at a very early age - this is proven. But real acts of violence commited against them by abusive parents or even a sibling; or a father abusing a mother - anything real that is accepted as normal becomes integrated into their psyche in a very real way.
Think about it, have you ever seen a child copy what their parents do? If you always brush a chair off before you sit on it, your child will too. If you swear around your children, they'll swear too, and if you abuse others violently then your children will too.
For a well adjusted adult, their morals and sense of right and wrong; acceptability and unacceptability are all in place, and so are less likely to commit violent crimes.
It really isn't an excuse and simply evidence of this fact when you see that most adult violent offenders have experienced violence themselves as a child. Right and wrong is not an innate sense we are born with, it's taught and if a child is taught that violence is okay then things like this happen. I would find it hard to believe that the child who did this didn't have some kind of emotional or mental health issue.
It's awful, but I don't think the child(ren) responsible for this are evil exactly. I would imagine that somewhere, something in their life has bypassed the "normal" moral choice we experience when confonted with a violent impulse... I find in my line of work it tends to be a defence mechanism to avoid the psychological harm that would occur if a person had to deal with how horrific violent acts are on a day to day basis... if the brain skips over the moral compass, then violence becomes as routine as taking out the trash. The human mind is a tenuouos thing, and scarily fragile.
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
Pussies kids are these days!
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
It's sick, they're sick, they should go to jail forever.
10/14/09
These kids need to be committed to a psychiatric facility then if need be remain there indefinately.
10/14/09
Giving a 15-year-old life in prison because he got in a fight with another 15-year-old and pulled a knife seems excessive. Giving them life in prison because *5* 15-year-olds ganged up on another, and *set him on fire* may still be excessive, but it's certainly a closer call.
10/14/09
Instead, I believe they can be given life without parole. However, that's being challenged (I haven't heard anything about it lately if it passed) because if you think about... life without parole for younger people is essentially the death penalty. I would rather be put to death instantly, as opposed to living my entire life in a cell.
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
[www.cnn.com]
10/14/09
[www.chicagotribune.com]
10/14/09
10/18/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
Maybe they need a lot of therapy because they're obviously disturbed.
10/14/09
10/15/09
This whole European idea of treatment of psyche just falls further in line with the way socialists want this country run. Pretty soon we'll be handing out synthetic drugs as 'treatment' for convicted drug addicts who never served a day in prison. #crime
10/17/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
There's a Special place in hell reserved for those kids.