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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
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.