In a recent post at Penny Arcade, a legal guardian of Nathan Moore’s–the 15 year old murderer of one Rex Baum, a homeless man in Milwaukee, WI–has stepped up to the plate to defend herself, her husband, and the boy’s mother. After charges were made against Moore, he quickly conned the media into thinking that violent video games were the catalyst that motivated him into his criminal rage. Penny Arcade writer Gabe responded with a post earlier this week that placed the blame entirely on uniformed, ignorant parenting. The argument made is that Moore was a known alcohol and drug abuser at his young age. Knowing that, it’s absurd that video games were even a part of the debate.
It seems that Moore’s stepmother was listening. Wishing to remain anonymous, she sent an e-mail to the Penny Arcade duo that will undoubtedly help to squash any kind of argument that video games had anything to do with the crime. Below are excerpts of the e-mail:
"Your news post about the kids and the homeless man yesterday made me sick to my stomach, before I even read the CNN article. I knew what it was going to be about before even reading the article. It was not the article itself, or even your post that made me sick, it was the fact that I know this boy. Or, rather that I could be considered one of the ‘parents’ of this boy. The boy’s father and I have been together for almost seven years, and I had what I guess could be called a ‘stepmother’ relationship with the kid. To say that living with this kid was hell would be a complete understatement."
"As I write this, my teeth are clenched, my hands are shaking, and my whole body is seething with the hatred I feel for this kid and what he has done. Seeing the article brings back all the horrible memories from when he lived with us. He was constantly in trouble in school, with the cops, with us, with his mother, and with anyone else who was an authority figure. Not a week went by that the school or the cops wouldn’t call us for something."
There’s a whole lot more–so it’s recommended that you read the entire piece–but she ends with: "I can’t stand hearing about the so-called correlation between games and real-life violence. Video games DID NOT make this kid who he was, and it’s unfortunate that the correlation is there. The thing that really gets me with this whole thing is that the kid knows full well that by equating what he’s done to a video game, that he will generate controversy and media coverage. It makes me sick that the media is jumping all over this, because that is exactly the result that he wants."
Nathan Moore is currently carrying out his 15-year prison sentence.
