In the movie “Scarface,” Al Pacino’s Cuban refugee-turned mobster Tony Montana pays a violent price for his bloody life of crime. By the end of the 1983 movie, Tony lies dead, riddled with bullets.
In the more recent game “Scarface,” players can portray Tony Montana. In the game, however, if the player is deft, he can win. The consequence for the video game violence can be racking up more points, without ever facing consequences.
This is by no means an explanation for the murders, slayings and assaults that have bloodied Valdosta this year. Yet, young men have apparently adopted these violent impulses as if playing a game.
Yet, this deadly game has real-life consequences. Real people bleed. Real people die. And the prize has been arrests with the likelihood of life behind bars.
So, what has caused this spate of violence? Why, after years of relatively low numbers of murders and homicides, are numbers now nearing a dozen in six months? Why a shoot-out that leaves nearly a dozen people shot at a housing project? Why have so many picked up guns or raised their fists to kill girlfriends and wives? Why attacks that seem to fit into any person’s description of gang violence?
Today, The Valdosta Daily Times presents stories that look at some possibilities. We haven’t found definitive answers but this community needs to start a discussion to find answers.
We don’t believe the answer is anything as pat as a video game causing this level of violence.
But the community needs to address a growing attitude that violence is an easy answer to solving problems. The only numbers rising aren’t points but rather the number of people dead, the number of people in jail, the number of people scarred.
There are no winners, only losers and loved ones lost.
