Posted on 05/08/2008 11:45:55 AM PDT by AreaMan
first how the hell did you read my post so fast, and second I really didn’t see a point.
Western civilization is not going anywhere and if it is Video Games aren’t going to bring down the house. Rather than mourning the loss of traditional values and morals and all that jazz why not go out and fight for them?
No, I guess you wouldn't. But wait 20 or 30 years.
Western civilization is not going anywhere...
Really? There might be one or two conservatives who disagree with that. Here's one. And if you don't like conservatives, and your reference to "traditional values and morals and all that jazz" would imply you don't, perhaps this is someone more to to your liking saying essentially the same thing.
Put simply (for adults):
It’s not _whether_ certain content is present, it’s _why_.
It’s not the medium, it’s the content. Video games are not the evil, they are simply a medium - just like music, books, etc. Jazz was once derided as “vile and must be eradicated”, and I’m reminded of the opening scenes of _Anne_of_Green_Gables_ where she’s constatnly berated for reading so much.
Oh well, apparently you're still going to hell. Sorry about that.
These are works of fiction. Yes they do desensitize people, but that's not a bad thing. Too many people today are wimps and do not deal with adversity. That is one reason why Iraq is such a struggle. The American people as a whole, and especially the politicians, are not tough enough to handle long wars.
I've never murdered anybody. I've never run over a person. I've never slept with a prostitute. I've never stolen a car. These things happen in GTA games. I've played those games, but did not do the things afterward.
He's not telling me what to do. I'm not telling him what to do.
I absolutely agree. Nowhere did I say video games are evil, nor would I. Video games are notable only in the fact that are far more interactive than other mediums.
My driving reflexes are twice what they were before playing GTA: Vice City. I haven’t played any versions since, but it helped me avoid two accidents.
Honestly, “why” doesn’t matter much to me either. To an adult, it really is just a game. When I was in high school/college I played hours of Goldeneye — a game where you run around a maze and shoot/detonate your friends with various landmines, rocket launchers and automatic weapon.
I harbored no more desire to actually shoot my friends than I would to actually shoot a policeman, carjack someone, or rape a hooker from playing GTA. Its a game — really nothing more than escapist entertainment.
H
Not sure about "reflexes"...but maybe your awareness may have improved.
This I know absolutely......drive a motorcycle for any length of time...and you darn well will have better observation skills...and your eyes will be looking for threats all the time.
In both Vice City and San Andreas - many bad guys die. San Andreas does one great thing about the hood. Almost of the Grove Street families got caught up in drugs. They died too. Look at the two main survivors. They aren't druggies.
NOW YOU HAVE LOTS of COPS after you, and look they aren’t arresting you they are shooting to kill. That’s the way it works kids. Crime pays, it pays in more trouble than you want to deal with.
I've gotten "Busted" and "wasted" so many times in that game. And when it's a cop killing in real live - it's at least stars on the wanted meter - that never go away. What's that chopper? Not even Ken Rosenberg gets you out of that one.....
Burnout Paradise is a far better game. And the soundtrack rocks.
I always liked Carmageddon, myself.
3,000 words! By the time this guy decides whether or not he should have a beer, it’s warm.
I’ve read it, years ago.
Judge Bork was wrong. The response to speech that we don’t like is never censorship.
If you go back and read my initial post, I said "I can't in good faith call for the censorship of games like GTA". That is not why I linked to Judge Bork's book.
The thesis of your initial reply to me, other than belittling my "little understanding of Western culture", was that western culture is not declining, citing of bear baiting and John Ford as proof.
Many conservatives (likely most) would disagree with your thesis. The two books I linked to were to illustrate that your thesis was wrong. Here are a Conservative Christian American arguing for the decay of western Culture, and a more Libertarian non-Christian Brit arguing the same.
My point is that violent entertainment has been around as long as there has been enough human beings to produce it. Old as the hills.
It didn't destroy Elizabethan England, and it's not destroying us now. Arguments to the contrary are based on feelings, not evidence. I can respect those who make the arguments, but that doesn't make the arguments themselves terribly persuasive.
Really. No evidence at all that western culture is being damaged and degraded? None? Well, you certainly know what you're talking about.
I think you are Way UNDER analyzing this.
Also,
"...but your RESPONSE to it is profound and spot-on!
Statements like this remind me of the saying
"You can send'em to school but you can't make'em think"
I'll let Robert Bork address your "analysis"
“If it offends you, don’t buy it (or listen to it)’ — is both lulling and destructive. Whether you buy it or not, you will be greatly affected by those who do. The aesthetic and moral environment in which you and your family live will be coarsened and degraded.”
[Taken from "Slouching Towards Gomorrah", by Robert H. Bork, Regan Books]
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