MSNBC 'expert' suggests DnD played a roll in the Pamela Vitale murder

[was]

I'll have to see if there's still any room left in my 200-page spiral notebook of reasons not to watch MSNBC to write this one down. The hardest part will be in deciding whether to file it under the heading of JOURNALIST INCOMPETENCE or COMPLETE LACK of ETHICS. They're both pretty full.

 

[Arnwyn]

You can imagine my confusion when christian/republicans get blamed for the anti-DnD sentiment.

Christian republican != "right wing religious fundamentalist".

In any case, there are always nutty comentators out there. Read newspaper editorials on a regular basis, and you begin to quickly learn the art of quickly identifying and ignoring loons.

 

[Thotas]

Court TV had a bit on Catherine Crier's show today. Some private detective was talking about this being a resurgence of the D&D cult murders we saw in the 80s. To the credit of the show, they followed it up with Ashley Banfield pointing out that all the actual evidence that's been released in regard to this case points to drugs and nothing to do with any kind of a cult. Lisa Bloom then added that she knew typical D&D players in the 80s who were nerds, not cultists, and have gone on to do things like become the head of an HMO. It still would've been nice to actually have one of the journalists of any network or newspaper do the 5 whole freaking minutes of research it would take to establish that D&D is a game, not a cult or religion of any kind.

 

[Ranger REG]

Blaming videogames is the new blaming D&D.

Hmph! Better to blame [console] videogames (praised by mainstream celebs like Shaq) than Dungeons & Dragons.

 

[Turanil]

Right and left wings? Which bird is this???

(I don't remeber having seen so many political comments on a thread on these boards. I must post before it is closed!!! )

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Somewhere I read it was a cros of Lorraine, or something. Just looked it up and it's a cross with two horizontal bars. Goth symbol?

OMG! She was killed by operatives from the American Lung Association! I didn't realize they were a satanic cult. No more donations to them!

And that kid had to be satanic cultist waiting to murder someone - I heard he wore black nail polish and wore a black trenchcoat. Of course he was ready to kill if he dressed like that.

And the last bit of proof that he was a satanist is in CNN.com:

A man at the house where the suspect lived declined to comment Thursday, as goats and chickens wandered around the property. A potbelly stove, a bathtub and dozens of baseballs littered the yard, AP reported.

Chickens and goats used for animal sacrifce. The stove and the tub to conduct his demonic rituals, and don't get me started about the satanic symbolism of baseball...

 

[Rel]

To the credit of the show, they followed it up with Ashley Banfield pointing out that all the actual evidence that's been released in regard to this case points to drugs and nothing to do with any kind of a cult.

One more reason for me to be so hot for Ashley Banfield.

 

[Altalazar]

I watch MSNBC every day! My TiVo has a season pass for Hardball (often lame, but the only daily show that covers politics) and Countdown with Keith Olbermann (by far the best daily news show on cable).

I can't vouch for any of the other shows on the channel, and Chris Matthews takes a lot of patience to watch, but if there are only four of us, I guess I'm saying that I represent at least 25% of the audience.

Don't watch the Abrams Report, though. I'm not that interested in murder victims or Missing White Women (tm).

--Erik

Oh, I love Dan Abrams - he tends to be a voice of reason. Sure, he covers stuff like that, but he isn't some empty headed mouthpiece, like much of what passes for "news" these days. Still, I saw the segment live (and started a thread on it that apparently was unnoticed by this poster) and yesterday, I saw an email read on the show written by a D&D player making exactly my complaint about how it is a load of bull, and how D&D players are equally horrified by this crime and that D&D had nothing to do with it.

 

[Altalazar]

Court TV had a bit on Catherine Crier's show today. Some private detective was talking about this being a resurgence of the D&D cult murders we saw in the 80s. To the credit of the show, they followed it up with Ashley Banfield pointing out that all the actual evidence that's been released in regard to this case points to drugs and nothing to do with any kind of a cult. Lisa Bloom then added that she knew typical D&D players in the 80s who were nerds, not cultists, and have gone on to do things like become the head of an HMO. It still would've been nice to actually have one of the journalists of any network or newspaper do the 5 whole freaking minutes of research it would take to establish that D&D is a game, not a cult or religion of any kind.

Good for Lisa Bloom. Now we just need some journalists to admit, on the air, that they play D&D.

 

[Altalazar]

I'll have to see if there's still any room left in my 200-page spiral notebook of reasons not to watch MSNBC to write this one down. The hardest part will be in deciding whether to file it under the heading of JOURNALIST INCOMPETENCE or COMPLETE LACK of ETHICS. They're both pretty full.

It wasn't an MSNBC regular, it was some talking head hack who was a guest, and it was a quick, offhand comment. They gave more attention to it the next day when they read, on air, an email from someone pointing out how ridiculous the comment about D&D was.