In following up last week's announcement of moves towards a national R18+ game rating in Australia people are getting excited at reports that "Norwegian police found violent games at the suspected gunman's house". Quite.
The ABC headlines one item as "Violent video game link to Norway attacks". Another ends with the stirring news that -
that the suspect, widely named as Anders Behring Breivik, was interested in hunting and computer games like World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2.I'm not a gamer - irrespective of having four thumbs and the regrettable absence of a prehensile tail (useful, one friend quips, for ordering pizza and extra Red Bull) - but the 'he was into Wow' meme leaves me cold.
Breivik was apparently also 'into' one of the nastier flavours of Christianity. Few people would draw the conclusion that we should therefore put an R rating on (or seek to ban) the Bible, that marvellous collection of texts that features the immolation of innocents, child marriage, infanticide, rape and other nastiness alongside some superb poetry and insights about the meaning of life. (Exhortations about not mixing animal and vegetable fibres or avoiding the flesh of the pig - with apple sauce or otherwise - have of course been disregarded).
Presumably he also watched television. There, good people, you have it. Overindulgence in televised weather forecasts has led him to become a mass murderer. If only life was that simple, and so readily fixed.
He's reported to have quoted John Stuart Mill (although Carl Schmitt seems more apposite) and on his Facebook page - at least we were spared Lee Harvey Oswald's profile - to have described himself as a Christian and conservative interested in hunting, body building and freemasonry. His profile also listed him as single.
Using the 'WoW = predisposition to slaughter' model the answer's simple - retrospective contraception for all single male Christian narcissists who like killing things and doing the funny Freemason handshake. Oh yes, he studied at the Oslo School of Management. Haven't you noticed how MBA students have beady red eyes with the telltale hint of madness?
