The accusation that the video game, “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” taught two teenagers how to kill people is ridiculous. Similarly, holding the makers of the game financially culpable for “giving them the idea” is also ridiculous.

If someone recently arrested for car theft and bank robbery had confessed to learning the trade from watching the movie “Bonnie and Clyde,” you wouldn’t drag Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to prison — you’d laugh at the idiot who expected you to believe that. If I tried to walk on to Iowa State’s football team because I’m great at “Madden 2004,” I would quickly learn that pressing controller buttons doesn’t translate into real-world ability.

If someone can’t keep the worlds of fiction and reality apart, you cannot fault the creator of fiction — you can only fault the person who tries to dodge the blame for their own actions. If someone says they learned or got the idea to do something illegal from a work of fiction, what are we going to do next? Outlaw fiction? I’d be a lot more comfortable if we actually held people responsible for what they’ve done instead.

Michael Falk

Graduate Student

Geological and Atmospheric Sciences