I found this article posted today. It is refreshing to see some Acedemicians standing against rampant stupidity and prejudice based on nothing more than whimsy.

The article is short but it should be expanded upon and printed in every major paper in the country.

http://www.vnunet.com/News/1135410

Now we have all heard of some nutcase killing himself or others and violent games being blamed. But this is just the latest. I remember when Bugs Bunny was bad because some kid hit his sister with a hammer. Then Dungeons and Dragons was bad because of a couple of incidents, main one being a kid who committed suicide when his character was killed.

These types of analysis have no basis in scientific study. Millions watched bugs, one kid acted stupidly, hundreds of thousands played D&D and one commited suicide. Now there are millions of gamers around the world and anytime one does something even remotely bad it is linked to the game.

Well excuse me but what about the fact that out of a million people the chance that one is going to be depressed, have violent tendencies, or be just plain stupid is pretty high. Comparatively the gamers seem to have proven to be statistically abnormal in a good way. If you take avid gamers and run the numbers against suicide, violent crime, murder, or rape vs. groups based upon wealth level, sports affiliation, school grades, etc. I would bet you will find that gamers are statistically no different or better than any random demographic you wish to use.

However, that doesn't sell papers and it doesn't explain why some kid hits his sister with a hammer, damn that bugs bunny.