I think this is a conversation worth having!

So, assuming there’s any value to Mr. Beck’s paranoid ravings, then there’s something about video games that turns a very small percentage of its audience into killers, and ignores the rest of us. Brainwashing is out, because that’s stupid. What video games do is sell a power fantasy. In Grand Theft Auto, you can run around stealing cars and shooting up prostitutes. In Halo, you can grab bigger and better guns, plan strategies with your team, and earn points for killing people. In Dishonored, you can freeze time, possess a guard, walk in front of the bullet he just fired, unfreeze time, and then laugh as the guard is killed by his own bullet. Also, summon plague rats.

But, video games don’t sell power fantasies about the real world. While it would be nice if I could teleport anywhere I please, and own a laser cannon, that fantasy ends when I turn off the XBox. The whole point of video games is to indulge in the sort of crap that you can’t do in the real world.

Meanwhile, Glenn Beck and the NRA are also selling power fantasies. They rant and rave about Muslim conspirators, and thugs who happen to be black (don’t call them racist!), and how the black Muslim socialist thug in office is plotting to ruin your life by giving your stuff to the undeserving. And then, they tell you that you’re on your own, that only you can protect your freedom by being a badass and owning a gun.

And then, they act all shocked when their target audience believes the power fantasy and acts on it.