Slightly Sarcastic

Generation INSANE!

Posted on24 Jan 2009

Our kids are insane, crazy, nuts. They sit on their butts texting their friends while chatting on myspace and watching pay-per-view and listening to their ipods. They haven’t seen the sun in days. Imagination? What’s that? A neighborhood kickball game? Not! Obnoxious little brats turning into lazy anti-social adults. Insane.

I never thought I would be one of those annoying, obnoxious parents – bitching about video games and violence on TV. I have 3 kids, ages 9, 11 and 4. A couple weeks ago one of my boys got mad at his little sister, put his arm around her neck and made a gun with his finger and yelled that he was going to ”blow her brains out” - Without missing a beat my husband got up from his computer went into the boys room and started pulling game systems out. When he was finished there were 2 xbox 360s, 1 xbox, 1 playstation and a gamecube taking up space in the dumspster behind our condo. This was the culmination of a few months of empty threats by me (I’m such a wussy). So now we wait and hope that the violence of the games can be purged from their systems.

The world is saturated with violence. Real and simulated. Everytime you turn the TV on you see someone being killed and it isn’t just movies but also all of the reality shows that we love to watch. Kids are besieged with images of brutality to the point of mental numbness. They role play gangsters, thiefs and murderers until it becomes their reality. Todays media (movies, tv shows , video games, social networks and role playing sites ) is turning our kids into violent anti-social members of society. (Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts,
and Unanswered Questions)

I can’t believe that I worry about sending my kids to school. While they are gone and I’m sitting at home every time I here a siren I think “I hope they aren’t going to the school”. The scope of this is terrifying. Just stop for a minute and think about the millions or even billions of kids sitting in front of their video games killing someone, right now. Then they go to school get mad at someone and what do you think that they think about? How about this:

Va Tech Student Decapitated

or this

community-grieves-loss-slain-maury-high-athlete

Should I go on? I don’t think I need to. We obviously can’t get rid of computers, tv and video games. There are way to many positives about them to go that far. And I also realize that not all kids who play violent video games or watch violence on tv are going to jump up and go kill someone. I think it is more insidious than that. It creeps up slowly and we don’t even realize that our kids are becoming immune to what they are seeing. Are your kids thinking about murder? Do you even know?

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I have to disagree. Yes, violence is all around us – an unfortunate side affect of humanity’s early days struggling for survival – but saying that TV, Video Games and music is wholly responsible isn’t dealing with the issue.

While I applaud your husband’s decision (no offense intended but your son was way out of line. I would have done the same thing), it does not remove the threat of violence from your children’s lives. I, myself am an avid gamer. I’ve probably been playing violent games for longer than your child has been able to talk and yet I’ve never harmed anyone. Heck, I’ve been in one fight in six years, with my own brother. Some people do take to what they see on TV or play in games or hear in their music than others. It doesn’t mean they’re going to become killers or even violent. Take a look at my music tastes for example (use google if you really want to): Suicide Commando, Tactical Sekt, Psyclon Nine… By the reckoning of a lot of parents out there I should be a serial killer by now. If a person cannot differentiate between what is real and what is merely entertainment has almost certainly got something wrong with them. The only time this is explainable is when hey’re very young, and there are laws protecting young children from violence. But (and it pains me to say this) it’s up to you to ensure those laws are upheld in your own household.

The fact is that I find these games therapeutic. They give me a place to blow off some steam without physically or even emotionally harming someone. And I am anything but desensitised to violence. The act of torture repulses me, agonised screams still terrify me and make me want to help and I still can’t say the word “rape” out loud without shuddering. The sad fact is that the media takes only the bad sides of video games’ and TV’s influence, because it sells better. A climate of fear leads to more sale, our world is no more dangerous now than ten years ago…the advancement of communications just ensures we hear more of what goes on. What about the boy who saved his sister: http://games.on.net/article/2330/World_of_Warcraft_Skills_Save_Boy_From_Moose

Or the girl who pulled her family from their car before it exploded: http://kotaku.com/5044866/grand-theft-auto-helps-preteen-rescue-family-from-crashed-car

Good things can come from Video Games (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/good_things_videogames.cfm, http://darianworden.com/blog/?p=182, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-good-things-about-video-games.html). I know they’ve stimulated my imagination (something you mention in your article), helped me calm down and get past rough issues. But it’s up to you to make sure your kids are responsible. Don’t let them buy games they aren’t old enough for. No GTA for 8 year olds for example.

All the same, I am glad to see you’re taking an active role in protecting your child, even if I disagree with some of your views. You took a stand, something a lot of parents wouldn’t do.
http://revelation0.netne.net/2009/05/15/virtual-warfare/ Virtual Warfare | Revelations: Zero

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