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A third attempt at this blogging business. |
30DBC PROMPT: "Do you think playing violent video games and watching violent movies makes people more violent in real life? Were you allowed to partake in these activities as a child? If you have children, did/do you let them have violent media?", courtesy of Charlie ~ ![]() ![]() Good afternoon folks...it's been a busy morning for me but I'm home for the rest of the day, hopefully to relax and kick a few words witchya, so let's see how this plays out. Honestly, the last quote-unquote violent video game I played with any regularity was NHL '96 for the Sega Genesis, and I think by then they'd already outlawed fighting and showing blood when an injured player fell was laid out by a hit and vibrated in a seizure-like position on the ice. I don't feel like doing the research right now about when these facets were taken out of the video game, but they're immortalized in Hollywood's legacy via Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Ron Livingston, and some pansy in a white L.A. Kings jersey ![]() I played that game with my buddies, who were, like me, in their mid-twenties by then, and also with my youngest brother, who came along 14 years after me. And ya know what? None of us went out later in street hockey or rec league games and wanted to hit someone so hard they were laying on the street at the corner of Gould and Kokomo, or waiting to be shipped out of the YMCA on an ambulance. Granted, Swingers ![]() But that's just me and my little group of people. A small percentage of a smaller percentage of demographics. For every putz playing video games instead of doing cool shit, like, I don't know, entertaining loose women, there is a subset of certain types of people who think that because you could control a maniac driver going on a Tony Montana-esque binge during Grand Theft Auto, it's ok to pay no mind when smackin' up a prostitute. And I have to admit, as the video game industry got more realistic and life-like, the possibilities do seem more influential. Back when I was of an impressionable age, the most hardcore game we had for Atari was Combat ![]() Video games are more like interactive movies now, in a way (if not really a way). And there's a lot more violence in them that has gradually become acceptable in society along with PC's and more complex gaming systems. Along with generational rebellion associated with kids growing up without easy access to violent movies or parents more willing to restrict their children's activities regarding TV, computer use, and gameplay, I think there are countless other diversions now for kids to get caught up in as an escape from reality...but I'm hesitant to lay blame solely on movies, video games, music, or any other form of entertainment that exists with an enhanced wide-scale presence. It boils down to values, and what you think is appropriate for your children. The basics of right from wrong, and the line between absurdism and reality. Unless you talk to your kids and know what they're getting into, or you're content with them plopping themselves down in front of Call Of Duty for four hours a night, you don't deserve the right to complain about how boo-hoo violent the world is and how a company could issue a movie/game/program and not expect kids to gain some kind of influence from that. Look, you can't police the world from putting out materials that might be considered objectionable. That's happened in society since the dawn of the written word; creative people tend to push boundaries, because they have a stake in their art being accepted and acceptable. Parents have a responsibility to raise their kids how they see fit, and that includes actually being a part of their kids' lives. Sometimes you have to make hard choices or take on the task of explaining things so they'll have a better understanding, instead of expecting the internet or television to babysit your kids while you unwind from a hard day at work. And that's where society dropped the ball...as families became more reliant on bigger and better things, there was a price tag attached. And as that price tag got bigger (once more parents got on board with the idea what they "had to provide more for our kids than we had"), you saw dads taking second jobs or moms being out of the house for longer periods of time, and the easy out was just to leave kids to their own devices because there just weren't enough hours in the day for successful or even competent parenting. And the easiest way to make kids happy is to give them what they want, as long as it gives the parent a little peace as well and a few minutes of rest. Basic supply/demand, really. Until someone shoots up a school or a mall or a movie theater, and the armchair activists come out with their own guns ablazin' with theories and want to blame everything on the entertainment industry but have no freaking clue about the actual in-house situation of the person at the helm of said disaster. And the parents who say "We did all we could!"? Naw man. No. I don't buy that if "doing all we could" is pacifying your kids with all the toys your parents were smart enough not to let you have and them some, just because your lives are more important than actually being a family unit and talking- not texting, but talking- to one another regularly. Kids don't necessarily need to be on the same page as the parents (as far as mommy and daddy's day-to-day realities), but parents need to be overseeing the life book their kids are starting to author. BCF PROMPT: "If March winds bring April showers and April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring in June?" Well, it ain't pilgrims anymore y'all. That's for damn sure. I know probably 84-87.6% of respondents to this prompt will likely say Junebugs, but that's not a scientific nor calculated guess...it's the first thing that comes to mind. The realist answer isn't June Lockhart, June Cleaver, or that girl from the movie Juno ![]() And I don't need to stand on my front stoop of the building I live in for you to know that you know, they're a damn problem. To my knowledge, ain't nothin' good or nice or lady-ish about them. They're just pissed that you're involved in their light during the evening time, say, when you're outside on the porch with the light on, havin' a smoke. They have no concern about what part of your face they'll fly into. They're nature's ultimate IDGAF, uhhh, thing (for not knowing how else to put it). They're cool with wanting to use your eyebrows as a dance floor complete with your mirrorball glasses, hanging out on the screen of the door for a few minutes wondering why you left them, and then dying on the porch in a totally selfish display of absolute defiance regarding how you rejected their initial come-ons. You've probably been there. I don't need to go there ever again, because I typically tend to try to fight them as soon as they're all up in my grill. No one creature on this planet needs to get within arms' reach of me (unless I'm actually allowing it). Plain and simple. I have boundaries. Strict boundaries. And if you're gonna Junebug in my face, I'mma drop the mic and walk away and not think twice about your clandom (or whatever it is groups of 'em are called...and please don't tell me if you know, 'cuz I'm not terribly interested) mourning your loss over our fallout in the morning, because I know they won't have the sac to. And I won't lie; I'mma do it again if your crew of june buggers keeps up at it. They'll know for a year or two to step off of me. And by then, I'll be gone in a clockwise direction. Jerks. That's what they are...straight up jerks. MUSICAL BREAK!! There are women who might find this romantic. They're sure to be the ones who'll press charges once you attempt to do this. Or bitch about the mutual teeth loss. THE DAILY BOX SCORE: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And with that, I'm cuttin' y'all short 'cuz I have food to get and there's mail to answer and reading to do and other things as well. Peace, don't hate, and GOODNIGHT NOW!! |