Russian Politician Blames Games for Crime Rate
Are Russian politicians immune from the video game bashing which has become so popular with their American counterparts?
Definitely nyet.
By way of Kotaku comes word that Alexander Gurov (left), a member of the Russian Duma (parliament), has announced that Russia has the world's highest crime rate, especially when it comes to murders.
In the best political tradition, Gurov blames his country's horrendous crime rate on... (drum roll)... video games.
"The spread of violence into all the pores of social life is evident... The Internet is awash with violence and computer games have gangsters and killers, Nazis and Japanese militarists as main characters."
Gurov likewise fingers the rise of nationalist and extremist tendencies in Russian society on the spread of information technology. Despite being born just after the end of World War II, Gurov seems mired in a Stalingrad mindset:
"In Russia, only games where the Nazis always lose should be available, but so far the opposite is happening."
Unfortunately, Gurov isn't the only influential Luddite in Moscow these days. Earlier this year GamePolitics reported on a bloody rampage in a Moscow synagogue, describing how the media initially focused on the video game Postal even though the suspect was apparently a fan of anti-Semitic literature.
CM: Can't figure out why Gurov thinks the Nazis always win. I guess Gurov never played any of the Wolfenstein or other WWII-themed series...
-Reporting from an isolated Saskatchewan gulag, GP Comrade Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes