Maryland county looking at rap music and GTA to blame for gang violence
Poor Wicomico County in Maryland has a gang problem. There are "500 known gang members" currently in the county and it has the highest violent crime rate per capita in the state behind the city of Baltimore. What are county leaders to do but blame violent rap lyrics and video games?
At a packed county meeting with several community leaders in attendance, Dan Dougherty, the director of the Wicomico County Gang Resistance, gave the money quote saying, "In Grand Theft Auto, you score points by killing cops, stealing cars and beating prostitutes ... In the '80s and '90s, you didn't have video games, you didn't have the violence in the media, you didn't have the Internet. It creates a lack of respect for life and makes violence acceptable."
According to The Daily Times, Dougherty's speech was a "crowd-pleaser." If Cooper Lawrence was in there she probably would have gotten a standing ovation. As sad as the Wicomico county crime problem is, saying that everything was hunky-dory before 1980 is just a little off. Hey, we've seen West Side Story! Sure, they may have danced to a murderous beat, but there were definitely gangs before those horrible '80s and '90s.
[Via GamePolitics]
