Emmanuel Macron has a new scapegoat for the riots engulfing France.
Other experts fear the issue is attracting too much attention.
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Undoubtedly, there have been numerous occasions on which video games have made politically-expedient excuses for social ills.
Here are five of them.
Mass shootings
Macron is not the first world leader to blame violence on gaming.
After two mass shootings across a weekend in 2019, then-US PresidentDonald Trumpmade a similar claim.
We must stop the glorification of violence in our society, he said.
This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace.
Trump was echoing a theory that has become prevalent since the horrifying shooting at Columbine High School in 1999.
Unsurprisingly, theNational Rifle Association has becomea prominent supporterof the hypothesis.
After Columbine, the honesty stopped, Fergusontoldthe Atlantic.
The teenagers got the protesting idea from video games?
Satanism
Some of the worlds most popular video games have been connected to Devil worship.
Divorce
World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Fortnite have all beenheld accountablefor marital breakdowns.
Depression
Gaming isregularlylinkedto depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.
However,researchsuggests that the impactstypically only affect people with existing mental health problems.
On a more positive note,several studies have shown that games can actually helpfight depressionandanxiety.
Bad dancing
Theres one detrimental effect of gaming thats simply undeniable: Fortnites influence on terrible dancing.
The global hit offers an array of immensely popular emotes, fromthe Dabtothe Floss.
If Macron is genuinely concerned about video games, he should investigate this matter immediately.
But that may involve a disturbing look in the mirror:
Just Macron dabbing on Pogbas post-match Insta.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
