No Link? For Fucks Sake, Stephen, They're Right There To Be Seen By Anyone Not In Denial

While I love and respect Stephen Colbert, one of our greatest comedians, I have to take the strongest issue with something he said in last night's mostly excellent monologue.

"There is no link between video games and shootings"

Given that in all of the monologue, Colbert correctly points to the obvious connections of mass murderers, gun culture, right-wing politics and white supremacy (I don't think he made the obvious connection to male supremacy which might have more than a little to do with the fact that virtually all of these mass murders are done by men with masculinity issues), here's some linkage I found in less than ten minutes of online searching.

The night before the Saturday rally, many of the white nationalist forces — secretly communicating with an internet-based system originally designed for gamers — held a fiery torch demonstration, marching through the University of Virginia campus. The scene was eerily similar to KKK torch rallies.  SPLC

The defendants have submitted a motion to dismiss that argues their internet memes and rhetoric about gassing Jews and lynching black people should not, and were never meant to be, taken seriously. But in a series of leaked chat room logs from Discord, an online messaging service for gamers, Azzmador and other rally organizers write of their readiness to “crack skulls” and “shank … niggers.” The suit includes sections of the Discord logs in which Azzmador (“defendant Ray”) writes, “I come bare-fisted … But my guys will be ready with lots of nifty equipment.”  SPLC

Leading up to the Charlottesville rallies, alt-right organizers used a messaging service called Discord, originally created for video gamers. This is the latest in the history between the alt-right and the gaming community.  How Discourd Became The Alt-Right's Favorite Organizing Platform: NBC

And in much more depth:

The Deadly Incel Movement’s Absurd Pop Culture Roots by Sady Doyle

How the alt-right’s sexism lures men into white supremacy by Aja Romano

We’ve seen Carl Benjamin’s rank misogyny before – remember Gamergate? by Keza Macdonald

You can't have it both ways. You can't, as you're giving a monologue in the form of entertainment on TV about this epidemic of gun violence to influence peoples' behavior claim that other messages contained in other entertainment media have no effect of the kind you are trying to have through entertaining people.

Unless we FULLY understand how Trump, Republican-fascists, white supremacists and the gun industry and entertainment industry are all tied into the creation of this terror campaign, we won't do a damned thing to end it. One of the most important things this week is to understand that they might make a motion to throw one small part of their side off the sled (which won't actually happen) as a distraction. If we fall for that ruse and start denying the obvious fact that video gaming is an integral part in the terrorist campaign, we are no where near as smart as we like to think we are.

Update:  The goddamned HTML is screwed up in a new way and I can't figure out  how to fix it.  Sorry for that.