Recently, presidential hopeful Barack Obama has made a few speeches that apparently stuck in the meaty, burbling craw of the gaming community, resulting in a flurry of tyrannical screeds, predictably reactionary to the point of being sad and pathetic. The kind of sad where the only reasonable reaction is to simply shake your head slowly, or pinch the bridge of your nose and sigh deeply, shutting your eyes tightly to block out the ceaseless parade of imbeciles.
What was it Obama said? What could possibly have generated so much vitriol? Were we suddenly being faced with two democratic presidential candidates that advocated the censorship of games? Nope, Obama made the radical suggestion that it would be a good thing for parents to turn off their children's game systems "once in a while" in order to peel their sedentary asses from the carpet and introduce them to the myriad wonders of the world that exist outside of a console.
The unrelenting horror of a generation of gamers able to balance an interest in philanthropy, art, academics, and nature against an interest in games is enough to fill any right-thinking citizen with bowel-quaking fear. I personally went through several pairs of Quailman underoos at the first reports of the fascistic espousing of a world of well-balanced, temperate gamers; actually reading the speech has left me a broken man, a mere shadow of the once great avian raconteur I once was.
Obama didn't go so far as to imply gamers were underachievers as so many shrill hypemongers have claimed, nor did he assert that games were responsible for the apathy and lack of motivation present in far too many of today's youth. Yet the minute the games media mob heard the words "games" and "turn off" in concert in a speech by a presidential hopeful they had a responsibility to let slip the dogs of irrational war with a haste that didn't afford them the opportunity for critical thought.
It's worth noting, even if only briefly, that I am no Obama shill; my own personal politics don't factor into this one iota. This is simply disappointment in an industry I've come to know and love, doing the same thing they've always done: react before thinking.
Sadly, the effects of the collective vituperative "news" making the rounds may have more far-reaching consequences than even the self-appointed oracles of gaming could predict. Blatant idiocy is easily ignored if it's mostly harmless, but by dint of railing against Obama, the kneejerkers -- and I will admit to my own possible reactionary hype here -- have influenced a fair number of their readership in regard to for whom they will vote.
Admittedly, anyone that allows their political ideology to be swayed by a single post on a game blog isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box, and those same easily-swayed folk are likely also to follow the popular trend of Bush-bashing -- which again, for the purposes of this article I have no opinion on one way or the other -- thus precluding them from a Republican vote. This cornucopia of my own paranoia and rampant speculation all blends down into a fine slurry of no choice at all, resulting in a creche of youngsters even less inspired to actually go vote.
Well played, my friends, well played indeed.
[Thanks, Char!]
Contest:
4:26 PM on 04.11.2008
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But you've given me an excuse, by mentioning him, to say: Obama FTL
This is the very thing we as gamers are trying to accomplish; give the responsibility to the parents about how their children play video games instead of just blaming the video games themselves. Yet people still complain.
This is where I lose hope in gamers, where they take a passion too far and open their mouths before giving it even a fraction of thought.
I don't see what's so bad about that, and I agree with you. People take things out of context way too often.
Workman 08
Oh well....Obama is made of meh anyway.
Baltar/Our Savior Jesus H. Christ 08
There's an off button. Hit it. The button also turns the system back on. Don't fear!
Nice write up Fulton.
All the problems in the world could be solved if the parents raised their kids right. That's where today's society fails; everybody is so goddam quick to point fingers and blame at everything but the parents.
But I guess it's just human nature to want to take as little responsibility as possible.
And for the purposes of this comment, Obama FTW!
Unfortunately, much as we'd like to disbelieve it, the stereotype of video gamers as immature, aggressive, socially-repugnant geeks isn't very far from the truth.
=(
It was a statement I personally support.
....isn't he just stating what most of us state now? stop playing games all the time and realize you CAN do other things?
I personally don't care for the whole presidential race and "voting to make your voice heard" nonsense. You can't fucking hear my vote or see my fingers poke the computer for who I vote so my voice isn't specfically heard.
Oh wait I'm Norwegian nevermind.
That's me jumping to do something before I think about it. By the way, I love you.
...most of the time.
But I find his speech pretty... pointless?
Its not going to change anything or anyone. Maybe he will get more votes but its just political rambling in the end.
Colonel Tai/Eye Patch '08!
Games cannot be accounted for anything bad, and it does not affect the social capabilities of children. Children should not be allowed to interact with anything in the outside world, it is just damn too dangerous, with all the pervs and terrorism, and shit.
@ Pacopaco So very, very true.
Also, I love Obama.
Isn't this what we have been asking for, more parenting and less government regulation in terms of the gaming industry? As much as I love this statement in general I'm a realist and I don't see this really happening, but I think it would be great if it did.
There is no reason why a kid should sit in front of a television watching TV or playing video games all the time. I've been gaming since I was little, but it was always in moderation, played the Atari 2600 as my first memory of gaming. I remember having more fun playing sports outdoors, pickup games of street hockey with Poison and Metallica playing on the boom box, playing catch with my dad, going to a friends house and playing in his pool, splashing his mom through the windows, shooting a BB gun with my uncle. Those memories will stay with me longer than any video game ever did or will.