People Who Complain About Stuff Because They Can
What is with concerned parent groups and their constant vendetta against video games? If they aren't complaining about the violence in games then they're complaining about the lack of valuable content, the amount of time wasted, or the how the gorgeous characters in some games make them feel bad about the way they look. I think each one of these topics could be addressed with well backed arguments but unfortunately these video games have subliminally told me to take an Uzi and slay these so called “concerned parents”. Actually, that last part was untrue, but it is just one example of the irony that you might find here if you look hard enough and read with your eyes closed.
First off, I would like to say that most of this next paragraph is based on real facts, found on legitimate internet sources. In 2001 the surgeon general stated that that the correlation between violence in video games and youth aggression was minimal to non-existent. In fact, youth violence has decreased dramatically since the 1990s as video games have made their way to becoming more and more popular. Do you know why this is? Mankind's violent tendencies are being channeled through these games. I firmly believe that we could end war and violence if world leaders would all sit down for a massive online match of “Halo 2”. Also, video games have made many people lazy. I know that I certainly don't have the energy to pick up a gun and go shoot people, especially since the controllers on an Xbox are so much lighter. So it has become painfully clear that carrying a picket sign in the sweltering heat or the dead of winter would make a person a whole lot more irate and violent than spending a day shooting people in a fictional game.
And yet despite the facts that can easily be accessed on the internet, people continue to avidly oppose video games. People like Jack Thompson. Jack Thompson is an attorney who decided that he was needed at the front on the war against video game violence. He is a powerful motivator who bases his arguments on nonsense and facts he makes up. In this lays his genius. It becomes very difficult to argue with someone when they have an encyclopedia of fictional facts lodged inside their brain cavity. In his most recent campaign against video games he used the argument that video games are used as murder simulations where deranged teenagers can plot our their sadistic violent school massacres. He claims that “In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers.” He carefully leaves out the fact that all of these kids live in hovels with parents who sell their child's belongings for crack money, are bullied and pushed into lockers at school, and have very few friends. I might be violent too if my life was the same way. He also says, and this is a direct quote, “the Playstation 2 Dual Shock controller gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill.” The sexual jokes here are endless, so I will refrain from making them. In a nutshell, I have one thing to say to Jack Thompson: you need to face the facts, Surgeon General outranks vindictive dilhole.
I think parents overlook the social aspect of video games. Yes, there is in fact, a social aspect to video games. I can think of nothing more heartwarming than a group of friends who get together to blast the hell out of each other with shotguns and automatic rifles in such hit titles as “Halo 2”, “Battlefield 1942”, and “Elmo's Journey to Alphabet Land”. I may have stretched the truth a little on the last one, “Elmo's Journey to Alphabet Land” is only one player. But the point is: I have had more deep conversations with my buddies playing video games than anywhere else. You think I'm kidding, but you probably also think that you can tell the difference between “I can't believe it's not butter” and real butter. This is of course, silly, no one can.
People complain about things because they can. Many heated topics come from a fear of change. I say suck it up. We change all sorts of things: diapers, the constitution, teachers, schools, the president, and socks. I do not see why the sudden change in childhood pastimes should be any different. I maintain the belief that there is a video game out there for everyone, and most of them are violent because, let's face it, we're a bloodthirsty race of animals.
