Australian Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione thinks that violent video games are responsible for the rise in violent crimes in youth. He said so in an interview with Australian newspaper The Telegraph. There’s gotta be a club or something out there that he can join by this point…

There’s been a rise in the number of knife crimes amongst Australian youth, and the Commissioner says that violent video games (and movies) are responsible for the increase. Never mind that Australia has some of the most stringent policies against violence and “mature content” in gaming, Scipione claims that youth live in an era where they are “rewarded for killing people, raping women, stealing money from prostitutes, driving cars crashing and killing people.” Right. After all, according to Scipione:

“That’s not going to affect the vast majority but it’s only got to affect one or two and what have you got? You’ve got some potentially really disturbed young person out there who’s got access to weapons like knives or is good with the fist, can go out there and almost live that life now in the streets of modern Australia. That’s concerning.”

Sure, it’s the fault of the media itself. It just magically finds its way into the hands of children, as if whisked there on pixie dust and wishes. Or maybe it’s got a little more to do with the parents who don’t give enough damns to watch their kids. After all, Scipione also brought that up when he said, “”We ring parents and say ‘little Johnny’s down here, you better come in and get him’. And parents don’t even care. They say ‘he got there and can get his way back’.”

Those violent video games are irresponsible parents, likely not watching the material that their children are getting their hands on. Maybe we should increase the availability of progressive sex education and birth control to violent video games, teach those games about social responsibility and economics at an earlier age so they’re more likely to make smart choices. Or maybe we should stop glorifying those violent video games that get pregnant at a young age and put them on reality TV shows, making them international stars.

Damn violent video games.