Last night we received a tip from Neil Christie sharing with us what he called "more bullsh*t in the UK press." Indeed, it was a column by an elderly man called Giles Whittell, whose out-of-touch and frightened scrawling shan't be directly linked to. This is because I'd rather benefit from his mad warblings while offering him no traffic in return. I will link to this great CBlog about it, though.
Here's a sample of his senile rambling:
I hate video games, on or offline. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time. I hate being made to feel hateful for saying so, and I hate being told to immerse myself in them before passing judgment, because it feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them.
This hate piece was published online by The Times, an outlet that has already lied about the Byron Report, so it's hardly shocking to see them wheel out this strange old man to tell us how much he hates them there new-fangled videogames. You might note that I am being very calm, not my usual outraged, exasperated, distressed self. This is because mad old men amuse me, and I could never be angry at one simply for sharing his confused, curmudgeonly nonsense with real people who have more than ten years of life left in them.
In his article, the eccentric, obsolete gentleman espouses how excellent he is for denying his children videogames, and making them go camping instead. This is because games, in his decaying mind, are a "waste of time." A bigger waste of time, apparently, than sitting in a tent in a rainstorm, occasionally going outside to take a sh*t in the woods. That might be a crazy pensioner's idea of a worthwhile pursuit, but I'd rather take the PlayStation, personally. Oh yeah, he also compared games to teen pregnancy and heroin abuse ... because that's what people in nursing homes kind of do.
When I read this stupid article last night I actually posted my own reply on the Web site directly. However, it seems that Destructoid is too much for The Times to handle and they didn't publish what I had to say about the article. So I'll publish it instead. Once again the indie blogs have to do the mainstream press' job for it.
"What a ridiculous and naive assessment, but then, this is the "news" outlet that made stuff up about the Byron report so I shouldn't be surprised.
I wonder what your hobbies include. Tennis, perhaps? Television? Driving to Church? I bet I could find things you do for enjoyment and deride them as a "complete waste of time," but I'm not in the business of trashing an entire industry to hop on the "me too" bandwagon of hating things for hatred's sake
I'm glad you are made to feel hateful for being a judgmental hypocrite who values one set of hobbies over another. Have fun making your kids go camping, I'm sure they'd prefer videogames and will grow to resent you for it.
Videogames are today's entertainment of choice. They cannot be stopped, no matter how many threatened dinosaurs try and stop them. Games will win. Learn to live with it or you'll be a bitter old man. I mean, more so than you are now."
I can only assume they didn't print this because I am so young and virile, while Giles is so old and worthless.
Contest:
10:09 AM on 04.02.2008
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I hate things too, but that doesn't make me hateful. No sir. I just loathe certain concepts and everything they stand for, categorically, with no research into the subject, because I don't need that to pass judgement. That's not hateful, that's just sanity.
Fuck ignorant, old people.
Ya damn kids.
Ah ha, ha ha, BWAHAHAHAHAAHAHA.
You said all there is to say.
Also, it seems that my country is trying to get on the old wagon too, more and more shit being baked up every month. Hasn't reached critical mass yet.
Then again, maybe this is just the temperment of a sinking ship that's losing to das internetin'.
Just a thought.
- Douglas Adams
"One could easily argue by the same measure that sex for recreation is a colossal waste of time too.
I can only assume that Giles Whittel stopped getting any a long time ago."
And yes, my definition of worthwhile is extremely subjective. I consider camping important because it encourages people to appreciate and learn more about the outdoors. I wouldn't expect people to spend all their time doing it, though. Sometimes we all need a break from activities that are supposed to make us better people, and that's where the aforementioned mindless entertainment comes in.
I loled so hard right there. Good stuff.
I do agree with him on the point of feeling it unfair of being practically required to study an item in-depth to possibly speak of it. But on the contrary, for most people it's a simple fact of being misinformed. This man only proved this by simply mentioning only negative claimed "facts" of the side effects of Video Games. There are benefits. But people like him are too ignorant to see them. Too ignorant to care.
He is so passively hateful and so quick to toss the word around that he is making it seem more that it isn't that he is angry about Video Games and their levels of immersion. That is not the true complaint. To me, it seems that his complaint is the need to write about something relatively new, rather than coasting by on writing the same things over and over.
I say, if one is a journalist. I say if one is a big time news anchor. I say if you are anyone going to give an interview to a big time exec, or even a big PR person, do your homework. You have the job, it's your job to do it. So do it. No one forced these people to be journalists. No one forced these people to be news anchors. They did it out of choice, and if the best they can do their job is to remain completely oblivious to hot topics except for the papers handed to them that fucking morning then I say they aren't doing their jobs. Pick up the slack, quit being such a whiny crybaby and man up Nancy. It's time for you to understand that misinformation is not "The News".
It's time to understand that the old way of lies is what is constantly combated. And that is why so many gamers practically require him to immerse himself in the topic before speaking about it. Because when speaking about heroin addiction, that is something painfully obvious. When speaking about teenage pregnancy, that is painfully obvious. But when calling video games murder simulators, and turning children into mindless murdering jackals... That is misinformation. That is sensationalism just trying to make a quick buck by getting people to pick up that magazine or newspaper. To tune in at 9 to hear that news broadcast brought to you by Levitra.
I guess this guy also hates books. and movies. and tv. and art. and anything creative. oh and lets toss religion in there too. that's gotta be the worst offender of "suck[ing] real people into fake worlds and hold[ing] on to them for decades at a time"
TV soap operas have LITERALLY been sucking people into their worlds for decades. Maybe if we cancel those the miserable old bastard will go out camping or something where he won't be able to publish his worthless rhetoric online. And gets eaten by a bear. Hopefully.
Like ^this^ but not as funny or cool. As the late great Walter Matthau would say "What a putz!"
"I will never buy my children a Nintendo"
I can't express my current feeling with words. WHAT THE FUCK may come close.
This article in The Times is particularly heinous, did anyone ever see the one that said 'videogames are evil su doku', written by a dummy mummy columnist?
Keep fighting the good fight Jim, I don't always agree with your methods, but I supposewhen all's said and done, the ends justifies the means . . .
Wow. Well, I suppose it is the job of these dinosaurs to anchor the ships of progress, slowing them, keeping them from moving so fast that...
Yeah, they serve no purpose. Honestly, the world would be better if they didn't exist.
Sometimes I wonder if I picked the right field to go into.
Old people! Haha what a joke!
haha fuck that shit
The paper itself told lies about the Byron report. That says enough.
Video Games can be a huge waist of time just like phone calls to friends and internet surfing and commenting on blogs.
If you have kids its good to show them how to have fun without them so they can tell cool stories about doing stupid crap that almost killed them.
Get off his lawn, you kids!
Camping, to me, is a big waste of time. But I've camped before, so I know. I was "made" to do it in the sense that someone said it'd be fun and I would really enjoy it. I tried it, and it didn't click.
Hence the point: I would think one of the goals of raising children is so that their interests are well-rounded and varied. Exposing them to different activities is paramount. But forbidding what is clearly a popular mainstream medium -- especially if they *do* have interest in it -- is limiting them, not helping them.