bobh@pedsgd.UUCP (Bob Halloran) (09/16/85)
Did anyone see the 60 Minutes item on D & D this past Sunday(9/15)?
I thought the mother came off rather badly; in one segment she's
saying 'no, my son didn't have any psychological problems'; in
the next, her daughter's saying her brother threatened to kill
her if she told the folks he played, and she apparently took him
seriously. Uh-huh, Mrs. Whatever, he's perfectly normal.
I'm afraid I tend to agree with Gary Gygax's comments; the parents
are looking for something external to peg their child's death on,
and D & D seems to be a easy target. The dozen-odd suicides
with a 'connection' to the game over the last ?? years is a
VERY small percentage; has anyone checked on how many teen suicides
were due to say, heavy metal rock? (Save the flames, music fans;
I'm trying to find something commonly and LEGALLY available to
adolescents that also currently 'enjoys' bad press.)
If the 'role-playing' aspects are what bothers the parents,
what about the He-Man, GI Joe, and (G** help us) Rambo dolls
(okay, 'figures'), that swamp the shelves? It's okay to pretend
to be a bare-chested steroid-soaked commie-killer, but not to
engage in a fantasy game where the targets are generally more
imaginary? Sorry folks, I can't accept that one is allowable and
the other isn't.
The two boys in the story who engaged in '48-hour gaming sessions';
WHERE THE &^%$#&^%$# were the PARENTS?!?!? If there's no
parental involvement to keep the boys in bounds, is it surprising
they get in trouble? If the problem wasn't D & D, something
else would have no doubt taken its place.
About the 'sudden' disconnection of D & D from the case by the
local police, without any particular reason, since autopsy reports
are generally confidential, it is entirely possible that there
were 'other' influences involved. In the recent case here in
NJ where D & D was implicated, the victim's acquaintances generally
said that they thought it was more likely drugs than D & D.
Mrs. Whatshername really wouldn't have any rights to an autopsy
report, now would she? Would CBS News?
Anyone have the address for 60 Minutes? I think a few letters
are in order.
Bob Halloran
Sr MTS, Perkin-Elmer DSG
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Quote: "History is made at night. Character is what you are in the Dark."