Satan's Sudoku: Another mainstream journalist reveals their ignorance

7:54 PM on 01.21.2008   |   Qais Fulton

43 comments

You'd think that in the wake of Kevin McCullough's tyrannical screed the mainstream media would've laid off the game chatter, leaving those of us actually tasked with covering the industry to do our jobs while the fervor died down.  Not so in the case of Janice Turner, a woman who has held herself up as the optimal parent, against whom all future child rearing should be compared.  Interesting considering her article makes her out to be incredibly ignorant and uninformed on the topic she's covering.  

According to Miss Turner video games are like crack, worthless TV shows are superior to games because they provide storytelling that games don't, and that game developers are evil monsters hatching fiendish plots to ensnare the minds of your children.  She somehow managed to make all these statements at the very end of what actually seemed to be a fairly well though out piece; as if nearing the final paragraph, her children rushed in, inadvertently striking her on the head during their supposedly superior playtime.

Miss Turner further posits that active play, regardless of how seemingly obnoxious and full of high pitched shrieking it may be, is superior to parking your kids in front of a console.  Granted, a mixture of active play and sedentary play is important, but I'm sure most parents will agree that a child quietly playing Brain Age is better than a child screaming in a pitch normally reserved for dog whistles and echolocation after splitting their heads open imitating the aforementioned garbage TV Miss Turner seems so fond of. Or comic books.  Or books about anything dangerous.  Or the news.  Or their really stupid friends.

With the world so full of dangers how will our children ever be safe?! 

I could go on shredding this woman's arguments for hours.  Sparing you my own tyrannical screed I'll simply point out her most egregious error, the one that all mainstream media seems to make when reporting on the topic of gaming and the problems that arise from kids spending too much time in front of the tube, that of once again misplacing blame.

Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators' brains. And they play them - beepety-beep - on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused.

Last I checked, parents were still parents, video games were still video games, and the phrase "I brought you into this world, I can take you out" holds true for the former and not the latter.  Kids being obnoxious tw*ts and ignoring you in favor of a game?  Take it from them, you're probably bigger than they are so it should be really easy.  Blaming a game for your child's abhorrent behavior is a great way to shirk your responsibilities as a proven functionally reproductive member of society but an awful way to actually raise your children, especially if you're giving advice on how children should be raised.

[Thanks, Justin]