Lilbro.net

Jonah ( w-o-n.org ) has posted about a sad event.

A young man named Connor, only 7 years of age, has been electrocuted unplugging a Gameboy. The family
was on vacation in Thailand. Jonah thought some w-o-n members would want to remember the family in prayer.
I would suggest the same here.

What a tragedy.

OH that's so sad. Of course I'll most definitely lift their family in prayer. How tragic. :(
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Every Day Is A Gift From God

Thank you JJ, I have been doing that all day.

I know that Connor is with the Lord, I do hope his family knows that.

Prayer can help.

Absolutely. Prayer can always help.
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Every Day Is A Gift From God

That's very sad. Prayer can definitely help the family right now.

I nearly died in a car wreck just over four years ago. You could tell people were praying because you could literally feel the soothing presence of the Lord. So yeah, prayer can help even(especially) during the most trying times.

Thank you for sharing that Oogy, I have never been in a situation like that, I have seen the power of prayer
but I feel privileged to hear of your experience. The Lord works miracles and people miss them so often.
To be in his presence, that is such a privilege, --- it has blessed me to read your your post.

Yeah, it really changes your outlook when something like that happens. Remind me to tell you the full story sometime. I would do it now, but I'm halfasleep and my brain doesn't feel like it's working all that well.

There was a similar experience about 2 1/2 years ago when my dad had to have one of his kidneys removed because of cancer. There's an interesting story behind that as well that I'll have to tell you sometime.


Do you know, are this boy's parrents christians? Obviously it would be a tough time either way, but I can't help but think that would make it easier.

I would be very interested in hearing about both experiences. I gain strength from such testimonies.
When the time is right I do hope you will share.

I thought the same as you, are his parents Christians ( I have no idea ) -- of course it is a terrible and painful thing but the comfort of knowing where he is and that they will see him again someday would be a monumental help. I was very very close to my mother and when she left this world I do not know how I would have managed if I had not known that she had gone home to be with her Lord. It was what she had worked for and been faithful to her whole life -- I was horribly sad, but for me, not her. Now as I get older I know she will be waiting -- I found great comfort in going to her house after her death and finding her Bible open beside her bed and her glasses laying on it. I knew she had read her Bible and prayed. I knew she had gone home.

Here is an article from a blog with a little more about the death of young Connor, no matter what -- it is a
tragic incident.

I know nothing about the writer of this blog.




"Child Killed By Game Boy" an unacceptable headline?
Late in the night, I checked Metafilter and found this: it's a post containing a link to the news article about a 7-year old who was electrocuted to death as he attempted to unplug his GBA from the wall socket. Okay. I should stress that the tragedy ultimately has less to do with the Game Boy and its adapter (although the DS charger recall threateningly springs to mind), and more to do with the wall outlet itself. The boy had been left unattended in a hotel room in Thailand, where wiring is notoriously sketchy, apparently. Plus, there's speculation that the victim himself may have been sopping wet.

And then, in the same Metafilter post, another link to an article at Spong.com, with headline, Mainstream Press Uses Tragedy for Cheap Game Headline, an opinion piece about how most news headlines have been focusing on this idea of Electrocution by Game Boy.

The Metafilter post is a little misleading and sensationalist itself, actually, indicating that "the gaming press are up in arms at the way [the electrocution news story has been] reported," when, to be blunt, I haven't seen any op/eds on this matter EXCEPT at Spong. (A trip to spong.com seems to suggest that Spong isn't directly part of the "gaming press" at all -- in their words, they "host and maintain the press and trade sites for giants like Eidos, THQ, Midway and Ubisoft.") That is to say, I don't think the gaming press is up in arms in the slightest. No, sir.

But should it be?

I read the opinion piece at Spong. I've thought about this for, well, I guess several hours now, and I think I agree with their ire, and then again, I don't. I think Spong is absolutely correct to point out that each news article (with a single exception) was quick to say in its headline, in one way or another, that a young child was essentially "killed by his Game Boy." I think I might agree with their assessment, albeit timidly, that most headlines for this story, subconsciously or not, do employ 'videogame scare tactics', you know, THIS TIME, THE BEAST HAS GONE TOO FAR! IT HAS KILLED ONE OF OUR OWN YOUNG!, suggesting that the Game Boy, the most innocuous of consoles, is every bit as evil as, I don't know, the 360 and the Playstation Porn-able.

Spong challenges its readers:

Just ask yourself this: Had Connor been unplugging a lamp, would The Sun have reported "Connor, 7, Killed by Lamp" and would The Guardian have published "Boy, 7, dies in lamp lighting accident"?



Still, when I sit down to think of what headline I would assign to this tragedy, were I to pen a news brief of my own, the first thing off the top of my head is probably, uh, "Child Killed By Game Boy" (with the first runner-up being the tasteless, more irresponsible headline, "Boy Gets Shock of His Life").

I guess the headline "Child Killed by Thai Hotel Room" holds the same amount of truth as a "killed by Game Boy" headline, but it sounds so surreal readers would probably pass it by out of pure confusion.

Anyway, what do you think? Are mainstream news outlets deliberately employing videogame "scaremongering," as Spong claims? Or is it just that it's simply difficult to come up with a different, but still snappy, headline for this particular news item?

Let me know; I don't have a wholly-formed opinion yet.

edit: As this story circulates today, here's the first instance I've seen (besides over at Spong) of the journalistic integrity of these headlines being questioned. Good on you, Kotaku.

"Child get shock of his life"? That IS distasteful. And just wrong. That'd be a horrible title for an article, especially since the shock killed the poor kid. Whoever thought if a title like that needs a good smack across the face. That's just horrible.

I feel so sorry for the kid's family.
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Every Day Is A Gift From God