cta-image

Donate

Donations from readers like you allow us to do what we do. Please help us continue our work with a monthly or one-time donation.

Donate Today
cta-image

Subscribe Today

Subscribe to receive daily or weekly MEMRI emails on the topics that most interest you.
Subscribe
cta-image

Request a Clip

Media, government, and academia can request a MEMRI clip or other MEMRI research, or ask to consult with or interview a MEMRI expert.
Request Clip
memri
Sep 09, 2018
Share Video:

UAE Sheikh Waseem Youssef: Our Generation Grew Up Playing 'Super Mario' And Produced ISIS - What Will the 'Fortnite' Generation Produce?

#6836 | 02:47
Source: Abu Dhabi TV

During a segment on Abu Dhabi TV, Emirati cleric Waseem Youssef said that today's generation is growing up playing "Fortnite," which is about "killing, destruction, stealing, and slaughtering," and that "[it is] producing a generation of murderers." He bemoaned that "Fortnite" teaches children how to commit crimes, kill, and use weapons. He said that his generation had grown up in a restricted environment playing "Super Mario" and "Snakes and Ladders," yet it had still produced ISIS, and he warned that the "Fortnite" generation might produce something even worse. The segment aired on September 9, 2018.

Waseem Youssef: "I was on vacation some time ago, and I saw a young man – a university student or younger – playing a game called 'Fortnite.' Did I say it correctly? Is it 'Fortnite' or 'Fornite'? Is it Fort, or For? Fornite. This game is about killing, destruction, stealing, and slaughtering.

[...]

"This game teaches them how to commit crimes, how to kill, and how to use different types of weapons. I was shocked by the young man who was sitting in front of me, and I told him that I wanted to hear what is going on so I could learn.

[...]

"When I listened, I realized that he was familiar with all kinds of weapons. I myself am not familiar with all those kinds of weapons. Maybe I am familiar with a few, which I have only heard about. But I am not familiar with all these M-16s and M-whatevers... The players talk to each other as if they are talking about their daily lives: 'Come here! Shoot him in the head! Quickly, shoot him in the head! Try this! Enter this house!'

[...]

"We are inadvertently producing a generation of murderers. It is all done through these games.

[...]

"Even though we grew up in a restricted and closed environment, our generation has produced ISIS. Right? ISIS was produced by our generation – a generation that was brought up in a restricted environment. If someone wanted to listen to a religious lecture, he had to go to the market, buy a cassette, and listen to it. If someone wanted to use the Internet, he had to unplug the telephone line and connect it to the modem in order to watch or listen to a lecture. We didn't have YouTube. If someone wanted to play, he had to go outside and meet people. Yet our generation has produced ISIS – criminal killers who killed people from their own generation.

[...]

"So what would you say about this generation, who are growing up playing Fortnite, meeting virtual people, and playing games of murder and slaughter?

[...]

"We grew up playing Super Mario. You know this game, right? We grew up playing Super Mario, Snakes and Ladders, and other interactive games that were simple, beautiful, and made us laugh. But our children play games of: 'Kill him! Shoot him! Take his weapon when he dies,' and so on..."

Share this Clip: