Screenshot from NBC News
By Situation Theatre 8/8/2019
Censors thought the central plotline of Grand Theft Democracy, in which a malignant outgrowth of a morally bankrupt political system incited citizens to commit mass violence against ethnic minorities, may be a contributing factor.
For decades there’s been no evidence connecting video games with gun violence. All that may be about the change with the release of Grand Theft Democracy, a game in which players adopt the main character of a narcissistic reality TV star who is enabled by the corporate media to become President, threaten minorities, and foment white supremacist terror.
There are grave concerns from media experts that repeated exposure to such a narrative in conjunction with a hypermasculine gun culture would be dangerous at any age, let alone for young people whose brains are still developing.
While the main story arc is disturbing enough, gamers can also explore several background plots, with the option to play a range of characters from money-hungry NRA lobbyists, to corrupt Republican and Democratic politicians, to shoddy CNN journalists who fail to do their jobs on a daily basis.