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Columbine Student on VG Violence
Sophia wrote in to mention some discussion of Video Game Violence on 1up.com this week. Brooks Brown had the experience of attending Columbine High School around the time of the now infamous shooting incident. Via his blog, Brown goes into a detailed discussion of Why Violence in Gaming is a Good Thing. From the article: "GTA isn't about fucking hookers or killing cops. It's a story of a guy who got screwed trying to get back on top. It is, by nature, a story game. Postal 2 may let you kill anyone you want in bloody and disgusting ways - but that's not what it is about either. It is, by nature, a tech demo in the abilities of programmers and AI. it is WE - the gamers - who change what the game is about and determine what happens. It is the person playing who determines what the game contains." Jane Pinckard has a quick reaction to his post. More commentary on this subject is available via John Davison's Blog, who met Brown at a taping of a news program which was ostensibly to be about gaming in general. Instead he was ambushed about violence in games and ended up walking out.
Brooks Brown was the guy who was friends with Harris and Kleibold and warned the cops *a year before the shootings* that these guys were up to no good, that they were making bombs and planned to shoot up the school. If anyone has the right to make a comment about the connection (or lack thereof) between First Person Shooters and the Columbine Incident, it's Brown.
I don't know if I entirely agree with him...I noticed that I was getting a bit desensitized to real-world violence (on the news, in the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11") after a few years of avidly playing Unreal Tournament, and put down for a while. However, he has definitely the right to say what he has to say, and by dint of what he's experience he's earned the right to say it with some level of authoritativeness.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Please, very informative, though a little off. It was a fear of Chinese that lead to banning of smoked opium. The 'Drug crazed negroes' would lead to the banning of cocaine. Also:
1937 saw the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act. Harry J. Anslinger (Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner) testified in hearings on the subject that the hemp plant needed to be banned because it had a violent "effect on the degenerate races," notably Mexican immigrants.
Here's a nice section of a wikipedia article: War On Drugs, 20th Century
The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches. -- ee cummings
If you own an Audi, join the Audi Club North America and come to one of the driver education events (actually, the DE events are open to any make/model, except trucks, including SUVs). I'd claim it was a plug, except it's not- I'm a volunteer, the club is a non-profit organization, and the chapter that I volunteer with donates a fair amount of money at the end of the year to charity.
Most people come to club driving schools thinking they know how to drive- especially the hot-shots who like to drive "hard" and have done all sorts of "performance modifications". Most leave realizing they knew nothing- and that half their "performance modifications" just served to cover up bad driving. They also realize that driving "hard" isn't best (smooth is key!) and that you should at any time (well, most of the time) be doing ONE thing- changing your speed (braking or accelerating) OR turning.
As the owner of a much older Audi which has performance exceeding a stock S4 biturbo (same weight and about 20-30 more HP) and no traction control...one of the blessings of all wheel drive vehicle is that under power, they understeer (plow) very much like FWD vehicles. Not exactly the same, but very similar.
What does this mean? That your first gut reaction (letting up off the gas) is usually the correct one; it puts weight back on the front of the car, and takes it off the rear; as a result, it lessens or corrects the understeer; just be careful you don't overdo it, or you'll induce oversteer.
In many high performance RWD vehicles (especially the 911, which became infamous with the turbo version, because peole weren't used to the lag, which would kick in mid-corner), lifting in the beginnings of a slide will spin the car very nicely. Also- understeering into something generally means you hit whatever you were avoiding reasonably head on. Spinning means you have about a 1 in 10 chance or less of hitting something head-on, and side (and especially rear) impacts are extremely dangerous compared to hitting something head on. Virtually every passive and active safety device in your vehicle is designed to work in a frontal collision.
Now remember kids, this advice is worth what it cost you- nothing. So don't be a dick and jump in your car and play Speed Racer on the street. Don't even do it after going to a driving school. Knowledge of how to drive, and practicing it at a track, is best applied in keeping your vehicle within BOTH your limits and its limits, and making correct reactions instinctual in emergencies.
I know there are a huge number of young people on slashdot, so bear this in mind- most of you crash because you don't understand your limits or your vehicle's limits. Compound that with the typical teenager car (many of you drive hand-me-downs or very used vehicles, which have -very- low limits), and you have a recipe for disaster.
Please help metamoderate.
From Andrew in Alaska: "To be honest, I sympathized much more with the shooters than the shootees. I am them. They are me. This is not to say I will end the lives of my classmates in a hail of bullets, but that their former situation bears a striking resemblance to my own. For the most part, the media are clueless. They're never experienced social rejection, or chosen non-conformity'Also, I would like to postulate that the kind of measures taken by school administration have a direct effect on school violence. School is generally an oppressive place; the parallels to fascist society are tantalizing. Following a school shooting, a week or two-week crackdown ensues, where students? constitutional rights are violated with impunity, at a greater rate than previous."
Amazingly, we (yes, I am including myself) are the kind people that get ignored. People don't realize that in some schools, it's like Lord of the Flies. There are the "normal" people, and then the geeks, nerds, goths, dorks, weirdos, metalheads, skaters, and punks who get tramped on. And when we say stop, nobody listens - so some of us break. It's not that hard to see, but nobody's looking.
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LEEROY JENKINS!!!
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Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
Europe and Japan are mostly homogenious in race and culture.
The vast majority of violent crime in the US takes place within very small geographic areas, amongst minority groups with high incidences of out-of-wedlock births to single women, and a gutter-culture that encourages violence.
Try reading the last sentence of that paragraph.
"I am at my best friend's house, and am pretty bummed, because things are boring now. I hope I'll get it back."
Now, I don't know about you, but I would assume that meant the kid was at his/her friend's house while typing the message.
Actually, sociopathy (an outdated term, psychopath is currently preferred) is a pretty valid phenomenon, but much too widely used and misunderstood. A psychopath is a person without a conscience. Thats it, really. They know the difference between right and wrong, but are emotionally divorced from those concepts. I believe approximately 1% of the population are psychopathic. Very few actually become violent criminals, and very few violent criminals are actually psychopathic. The public and the media falsely overuse psychopathy to explain acts of violence they do not understand. In the case of columbine, there is some evidence that one of the boys may have been psychopathic (I don't remember which), and manipulated the other into going through with their plans. It's very difficult to know after the fact, with the subjects being deceased. I don't believe it, personally. I highly doubt the GP is actually socio/psychopathic. A true psychopath would not have thought twice about exacting revenge. True psychopaths are also incredibly skilled at social camoflage and manipulation, and would (if they chose to) be able to fit right into the High School social structure. Anyway, the point is psychopathy is most probably a real condition, but is generally misunderstood and misused. It is not an attempt by psychologists to label these people as mentally ill, as psychopaty is considered untreatable. It is not a catch-all label for people who kill inexplicably. That it is used as such is a shame.
No sig now
I'll preface by explaining who I am. I am thrity years old. Happily married five years. I am the CEO of a successful IT company. I have power, respect, and friends.
/. crowd are what I have used to make myself a success.
But this comment stripped away fifteen years from me. Again I feel like the undersized freshman entering into a very different world.
I get it. I was it. I am it.
At my school I was met with a combination of revile and contempt. This emanated from both the population of the school and some of the teachers.
Why? Because I had commited the cardinal sins.
I wore black
I listened to Bauhaus
I played DnD
Hell I even joined the drama club at one point.
All of these were the equilvalent of my scarlet letter.
Freak-Geek-Loser I've been them all.
And now I am doubly damned because I play Video Games.
(I even played EQ)
To many people I am sure that I must be an abberation. Someone who was able to expose himself to all these negative influences yet somehow dresses himself. Goes to work. Pay way too much taxes (no seriously, damn my bill was crazy this year). Provide for my family and do all the other things I shouldn't be able to. Yet I do. I even thrive at it.
In fact I would go so far to say that it has been my 'freakish' elements that have allowed to be a success. My passion for computers, video games, and all things good and holy to the
So why am I saying this?
To give hope to those who stuck on year two of a five year tenure in hell.
People joke about how those who were beaten up in HS go on to be the bullies boss in Post Grad. There's a lot of truth to that. It's not a god given right, but as soon as you leave HS it becomes rapidly apparent how pointless and trivial it was. How small that world is. The game is reset and the rules change.
And general sticking peoples heads in a toilet is a less valuable skill than knowing computers.
Your 5-10-15 year reunions can rapidly become a testament of how far ahead you have pulled against those were the kings of HS. Not all, but some.
All of the cliches are true to a point:
Success is the greatest revenge. Trust me.
Don't let the bastards get you down.
Don't drink the water they put something in it
(well maybe not the last one)
To my fellow brethen of geekdom I say this:
Do what you love and tell those that would defy you to fuck off. They'll never understand until your company goes public.
And there were many. I was in a Colorado Public School system during the then rampant and still ongoing Columbine McCarthyism. I can still remember the day it happened. I remember chatting with the school resource officer trying to find out what exactly was happening. The greatest horror of the day was not the event itself, but the complete lack of intel as far as what was happening. Rumours of the school being leveled by a bomb, dozens of bullet-ridden bodies lying in the parking lot. Theories of organized efforts to shoot-up several schools at the same time, with Columbine being used to trigger lock-down and make for cornered targets.
I was even a proponent of instituting calm. Made specific efforts to hush the fear of the same happening at our school, making sure that everyone knew that the situation is isolated; no helicopters would be flying into our school after taking off from Columbine. Asking the teachers and counselors if I should aid in the ensuing lock-down.
I didn't go to school the next day. Coincidentally, the most changed that day. April 21st carried more repercussions for the alternatively clothed students of the US than any other. All across the country, Principals came on the PA system urging students to report any students who exert qualities they may think to be "violent or psychotic." Without investigation or inquiry, the reports of hundreds of thousands of students were acted upon. In one day, the Colorado School systems saw more suspensions and expulsions than the decade previous in total. This fact was not realized for QUITE some time due to lack of referrals or reports, it was by hall passes and hourly absence roles that suspensions and expulsions were tallied in the federal investigation made in late May. I dodged the first wave of cleansings by merely missing a day of school.
The months that ensued didn't heal any wounds. The years past since the event aren't letting them heal either. In naught but a week, the media had managed to engineer quite an affective scape-goat out of the "Trench Coat Mafia." They actually managed to make a scapegoat out of practically every counter-culture icon at the time. "Insane Clown Posse," "Doom," "Marilyn Manson," "Anarchist's Cookbook," "Internet Chatrooms (which at the time were counterculture). The political "Hot wording" of the event to gain votes had managed to do the same to every new counterculture icon for quite some time. "Grand Theft Auto," "Mortal Kombat," "Dungeons and Dragons," "Pagans," "Wiccans." In one fell swoop all the kids congress critters thought were little freaks in highschool are now conveniently oppressed to the convenience of their children's "Safety."
And unbeknownst to anyone was the legal rampage that was the bills coming to vote. Measures that betray almost every fiber of meaning in the words "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" were being passed by the dozen. Public Schools were given almost complete and total control over the children that were enrolled there. You see, it used to be that the parents were brought in for a meeting when children were suspended. It used to be that the parents were urged to get counseling for their children, and that counselors names were given. Today, children are assigned counseling and expelled or suspended if they don't agree to it. It used to be there was a group decision between both vice principal, counselor and usually the principle himself when suspension was involved. Now suspensions are handed out by a single person.
Through middle school, specifically 7th grade after Columbine all the way through 8th grade; I had managed to get suspended 11 times. Were it not for the hard work of one very passionate counselor I would have been expelled after the first occasion. There are many good teachers and counselors that kept me afloat for quite some time, but to no avail. They had all the heart they needed to make a difference, they just couldn't put a dent in the negative influence that was society in general. Here you are, not able to af
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last