Slashdot Mirror
Games and Music, the New Book Burning
It seems that a Newport News, VA pastor finally got around to reading Fahrenheit 451 and has decided that it was a good idea. Despite several studies claiming the contrary, Rev. Richard Patrick is blaming violent video games and music for crimes that he say has affected 90% of his congregation in one way or another.
It's worth clicking through to this interview which is linked in tfa. It's not as bad as they are making it out to be, in my opinion. He talks a lot about reasons for the problems and doesn't talk about video games that I could tell. The closest was this question and answer:
Q: How significant a problem do you believe violent video games and violent rap music is?
A: It has a tremendous influence on young people and violence. That's basically all they see. Most of them try to emulate what they see, when in reality, the people they see don't even live in those communities. Some of the rappers they see on TV portraying crime don't live in the urban areas - they live in the suburbs somewhere. It's all a facade.
It sounds to me like he is responding to the rap music part of the question and never deals directly with the video game part. But ultimately that doesn't even matter. If people want to voluntarily burn their own property - more power to them. Where I live we call that freedom of speach.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
See above
The Canadian church Native child abduction game?
Know what's really wrong with your church members? Religion.
Brain damaged caused by lead, mercury, fluoride and other chemicals do far more to increase crime rates than music and video games.
And unlike the theory behind music and video games causing crime, the theory that lead poisoning causes crime is hard science.
The evidence is clear, lead in the environment causes brain damage, and damaged brains are criminal brains.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR2007070701073.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-28-lead-crime_N.htm
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/ban-on-leaded-petrol-has-cut-crime-rates-around-the-world-398151.html
and has every right in the world to burn whatever he wants that is his in order to make a point.
I think we set the webserver at gamepolitics.com up in smoke as well...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
... think of what burning all that plastic will do to the environment!
As long as we always have SOMETHING or SOMEONE to blame, we never have to be responsible for our own actions.
Slashdot made me do it!
Yes, yes, it's all music and games fault, after all, before music and games there was no crime and no violence. "Witch" burning only happened after a Burn the Witch video-game and war and massacre only happened after we got a song telling us to do it.
alias possession='chmod 666 satan && ls
Can we tag this with troll, because it certainly is not news.
The original article is pretty tame. Nowhere does "Rev. Richard Patrick is blaming violent video games and music for crimes that he say has affected 90% of his congregation in one way or another". Rather he answers the question "Have you been affected personally by the violence", in which he responds, "Not only has it affected me, but, I would say, 90 percent of the congregation has been affected in some way by violence or crime."
The closest he comes to bringing games to violence is when he answeres the question "How significant a problem do you believe violent video games and violent rap music is" with "It has a tremendous influence on young people and violence. That's basically all they see. Most of them try to emulate what they see, when in reality, the people they see don't even live in those communities. Some of the rappers they see on TV portraying crime don't live in the urban areas -- they live in the suburbs somewhere. It's all a facade."
Where I think, to a point, he's straight on. Note, he never says "games cause violence". Rather he says the same thing most parents will tell you about kids, and most computer scientists will tell you about comptuers - garbage in, garbage out. What you surround yourself with is what you become familiar with. And the sad part is, like he says, it's all a facade.
Please, RTFA before blowing it out of proportions.
What about the damn pollution a burning of all that plastic is going to cause? Dumb ass. Why don't these jackasses stop burning people, books, records, and now video games, and start practicing what they preach, and go help someone in need.
I guess this Reverend needs to round up some cash to get his mistresses some new gifts.
agreed, but i think we can all agree that invoking the reputation and usual applications of 'book burning' is in terribly bad taste due to how horrible the connotations are.
furthermore i doubt he was thinking of this in terms of a clever free speech statement, rather he made a poorly thought out statement using unnecessarily loaded words.
... that more deaths have been caused for/because of The Bible/Koran/etc. than any song or video game.
He isn't burning The Bible/Koran/etc. right?
I support book burning. Let's start with the most published book of all time, aka the Bible. That book has also affected 90% of people I know of one way or the other.
The rise of exceptionally violent and explicit media, starting in the early to mid 90's, is actually inversely related to the violent crime rates. That's right - as media has gotten more violent, actual violent crime has provably gone down.
Anybody trying to claim that violent media is responsible for any objective worsening of American society doesn't have a single iota of evidence in their favor.
A priest putting aside logic, studies, science and statistics for pontificating whatever he feels like spouting to control the masses?
I'M SHOCKED! Shocked I say! How could a man of the cloth do such a thing! I ASK YOU!
Hasn't violent crime been steadily decreasing despite the increase in violent video games?
Burning the games may not make crime go back up (as I don't think the games are soley responsible for the decrease), but I like video games. Just give them to me instead of burning them.
Read my Very Short "Stories"
Millions work on Sunday. Nobody believes in stoning adulterous women to death (and those who do are obvious nut cases).
If they want a preacher's opinion, why don't they just get any generic sermon of theirs and replace the words "Elvis' hip gyrations..." or "(such and such) destructive cultural phenomenon" with whatever the current 'evil' is?
Like gay marriage. Take most preacher's rants on that, pick one, and use it as a template to get their opinion on new developments without even asking them.
Its time we jettisoned faith as a guiding force in this country, and everywhere.
Brain damage caused by lead, mercury and such causes increase in misconceptions about video games ;)
Read my Very Short "Stories"
"Brain damaged caused by lead, mercury, fluoride and other chemicals do far more to increase crime rates than music and video games."
Fluoride? As in, "Precious bodily fluids" fluoride?
"the theory that lead poisoning causes crime is hard science."
I think you need to look up what "hard science" really means - physics, chemistry, and the like. The "soft sciences" are biology, sociology, medicine, economics (oops - that's the dismal science). Basically, anything where results are largely expressed statistically. There may be a strong correlation, but "cause" is a reach. From the articles you linked to, lead levels are associated with aggressive behavior - not crimes in and of themselves. It is how the individual, families, and institutions deal with those tendencies that make criminals.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
1. Find a Right wing activist that is protesting mainstream media
2. puff up the article to something it isnt
3. ?????
4. PROFIT!!
RTFA
This is nothing new. Church leaders have been building bonfires of whatever was deemed ungodly for centuries. Girolamo Savonarola was spectacularly successful with his Bonfires of the Vanities in 1490's Florence. It all came to a bad end, at least from the viewpoint of Savonarola and the conservatives.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Then why doesn't he blame the devil instead? After all, isn't it he who caused them to do all those terrible things?
We have too many people, and most of them are stupid, criminal, parasitic or simply unexceptional in every way. The herd needs thinning! But that's unpopular to say, so let's ban video games instead. WTF
Anti-Globalism, Traditionalism, and FreeBSD.
Now rap music is radical - compared to society - but society has lost those controls that it had. Extreme now != extreme then.
In the 50s very, very few kids would have taken "Kill the fucking cop" songs to heart.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
> Rev. Richard Patrick is blaming violent video games and music for crimes that he say
> has affected 90% of his congregation in one way or another.
What about fraudulent theories of cosmology that have affected 100% of your congregetion in one way or another, almost certainly detrimentally, and even more certainly far worse than video games' effects?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The deference of blame onto the media is an ongoing problem, as leaders of different communities (in this case, yet another angry church leader) cite the media as responsible for violence apparent in children and teenagers. The book Ill Effects: The Media/Violence Debate by Martin Barker, which can be found in ebook form on BooksOnBoard.com , actually explores the effects of the media on modern culture. Can film, television, and video really be blamed for society's problems? Ill Effects is a radical re-examination of the whole media effects debate, questioning not only whether the media is capable of directly influencing people's views and actions, but also if the idea of "effects" is the most useful way of conceptualizing the relationship between the media and audiences. Ill Effects looks at why the media are routinely blamed for horrific events such as the teenage suicide allegedly caused by the influence of rock music as well as for perceived trends such as the alleged "death of the family". The authors discuss the development and current state of play of research into media effects, the remarkable power of "common-sense" notions of media effects and the way in which the effects issue has become embroiled in debates about freedom of expression and censorship.
While you support your argument about lead poisoning, you offer nothing about the other two elements.
I'm guessing you're one of those that didn't vaccinate your children and avoid fluorinated water, even though all the peer reviewed research shows you're just putting your children at greater risk of disease and tooth decay, rather than decreasing any risk of autism. But while it's a guess, I'm basing it on your trying to link lead research to mercury and fluoride without proof.
I also suspect that you'll next say "but mercury is toxic!" and show a bunch of links about mercury toxicity as a red herring. Fine. But you can't come up with one reputable peer-reviewed link against fluoride in drinking water. And don't you dare try to say MMR vaccinations caused autism, because the long-term results are in.
ADHA on Fluoride
ADA on Fluoride
23 studies refuting MMR and autism link
CDC's website on MMR and autism
If I've gotten you all wrong (which I doubt, based on your anti-fluoride stance), then you have my apologies. Next time, support your argument.
I really like that the Bible quote that the Abyssinia Baptist Church (at which he is a pastor) has chosen as their tag line is "...my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge" http://www.virginiapreachers.com/richard_patrick.html
You can't take the sky from me...
We are considering having something similar to a rally where parents and children can bring CDs and video games that they consider are destructive to the mind set of our youth and have a burning...
... television and videos are telling young people a vision but something that's not reality...
Young people are being influenced by what they see and what they hear. They are being influenced by television
How sad is that? Kids have all kinds of games that bask in sex and violence, and if you ask most of them, they'll tell you it's just a game and that's what they're like. Then you have people like him, inciting grown adults to go out and do this empty, ignorant, exercise in hating a common enemy so they can feel like they've made a difference. The adults are behaving more foolishly and suggestibly than the children!
If these crimes have effected 90% of his congregation, maybe the common factor to the crimes is not gaming but... his congregation?
If you are listening to violent, misogynistic garbage like most gangsta rap while you are going about your day, you are just feeding yourself a steady stream of crap. It's not entirely unlike propaganda in that respect, since it is ambient information that just keeps hitting you, hitting you, hitting you. Since it is passive, not active, your brain is probably not actively engaging and analyzing the input the way it would with a book or video game.
I'm about as libertarian as they come. Some of my positions are damn near scary to others because I believe that people have a right to screw up their own lives. However, I'm also not blind to the fact that things like pornography and violent, depraved music are psychologically harmful when regularly consumed. I've known friends who are hopelessly addicted to porn, for example. IMO, the reverend is probably not far off when he blames violent and sexual media for some of his congregation's recurring problems.
Granted, as a Christian, and a liberal calvinist, I would remind the good reverend what the "T" in TULIP stands for: Total Depravity. As my pastor has said before, if you want to slow down and maybe mostly stop sin in your life, don't fight the sin. Come to Jesus instead; when your focus is on Jesus, your focus won't be on sin.
His omnipotent and omniscient god who could stop all hardship on the planet...but doesn't. Because he's testing you. What a great guy, eh?
Besides, wasn't 'the devil' once an angel that the christian god tossed out of heaven? Wow, so many opportunities for that god to make life better for his people, but he passed them up.
Silly religionists! You worship out of fear, because your god is clearly not ethical.
Blar.
The summary blows this WAY out of proportion, as has been pointed out by many commenters already.
Of course, as someone who doesn't automatically respond to religion with "You people and your ^$%@ing brainwashing", I'll no doubt get modded troll.
I'm waiting for a "-1 somepeoplejustshouldn'tgetmodprivileges" meta-moderation.
*shrugs* Although that might be IP infrigment, fire may be a DMCA'ble circumvention tool.
So 90% of his congregation is out killing zombies? Where's the bad in that?
I've seen something similar to this. I had a guy give me a handout that listed all of the toxins found in cigarettes. I don't smoke but I looked at it anyway. One that jumped out at me of the 60 or so on his list was potassium. I have never eaten a banana since.
In all seriousness, I'm pretty sure it was listed only to make the list longer and thus look even worse at first glance.
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!
So 90% of his congregation is involved in violent crimes (as perp or victim). Why doesn't he blame himself? He's the one responsible for protecting their souls. 90% is a high correlation. Maybe Rev. Patrick is the common factor that's responsible for these crimes.
At the very least, he's insulting god by saying that rappers and videogame devs are stronger than god. But maybe god just doesn't have nearly as good an agent in Rev. Patrick as does the devil.
--
make install -not war
emotional content, and is subject to summary distruction.
Wait. A Cleric stating that emotional content is bad?
AH SHIT SHOOT HIM SHOOT HIM!
For those people who have never seen Equilibrium...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lcTft47wsDg
Fun starts at 1:45.
Also if you have not seen this movie, it is a must, a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes a movie can be worth a million (though as of late, not often.)
---- Liquid was a patriot ----
If you are listening to violent, misogynistic garbage like most gangsta rap while you are going about your day, you are just feeding yourself a steady stream of crap.
Whereas the violent, misogynist garbage in the bible has vitamin C in it.
Since it is passive, not active, your brain is probably not actively engaging and analyzing the input the way it would with a book or video game.
I note with some interest you say "passive" entertainment is more corruptive than "active" entertainment, for precisely the reason the opposite is generally held true.
I'm about as libertarian as they come... However, I'm also not blind to the fact that things like pornography and violent, depraved music are psychologically harmful when regularly consumed.
No, you aren't about as libertarian as they come. I clicked through to your homepage; you identify as a "Christian libertarian" and we know what that means.
I consume both and am quite unharmed, thanks. I wonder how you identify "pornographic" and "violent, depraved" in a way that excludes any entertainment. For example, I know of precisely one story wherein daughters rape their father. I bet your pastor reads it a Lot.
you can have my violent video games when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Prime UID Club
Video games are the new opium for the masses.
It's been going on than I've been alive. Ever since the days of Spaee Invaders and Pong, in fact.
Always a handy scapegoat, am I right?
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
i object to ScuttleMonkey using F451 as a "book burning" template. Bradbury said it was all about Television. Ray was the Rev's side.
You sir, shall stand corrected: http://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/reviews/pythonholygrail.htm
Game play: The activities require a little mouse work on various situations. Drop dead is like Tetris, with mostly dead and twisted bodies for the pieces. Some pieces are not dead yet and you have to kill them or force them to go on their way into the puzzle. Burn the witch tests your ability to remember and repeat the multicolored flames and accompanying screams of witch burnings in order in a game which only partially resembles Simon.
The result? I have four college degrees, and a network of computers of my own. I have never committed a crime in my life.
However, I'm also not blind to the fact that things like pornography and violent, depraved music are psychologically harmful when regularly consumed.
{{citation needed}}
As for the difference between actively reading a book versus passively listening to violent material, I can see that, yes. So whilst reading the violent material in the Bible is okay, where does having religion preached at you stand?
Come to Jesus instead
Porn, like many things, can be an addiction to some. All addictions are serious issues - so I'm not sure replacing one addiction with another is helpful?
> Fluoride? As in, "Precious bodily fluids" fluoride?
... not pleasant). However, the summary that lumps it in with other environmental toxins suggests to me that yeah, it's the usual anti-flouridation conspiracy garbage.
Flouride definitely has a toxicity level, and it is neurotoxic (it binds calcium, which your nervous system needs) among other things (formation of hydroflouric acid in the stomach is
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
You're making completely unfair comparisons. Gangster rap isn't a damn thing like the Bible - that's like comparing rap to Schindler's List because they both have vulgarity. The Bible, whether it brings you spirituality or not, is an important historical document. If you don't know the Bible you're ignorant, just like if you don't know your Greek (and some Roman) mythology then you're ignorant. You can't understand Shakespeare without knowing the Bible and mythology and if you don't understand Shakespeare you're illiterate. Shakespeare, who also liberally applied vulgarity, is the greatest writer of stories in all of history and we're fortunate enough to be fluent in his language. Violence and misogyny don't change that.
Anyway, point being: It's important for children to read the Bible whereas they have no reason whatsoever to listen to Eminem.
Furthermore, despite the violence in the Bible, it specifically condemns violent and hateful behavior. Most people are Christians because they follow the teachings of Jesus (salvation comes with love for one another), not the Jewish religion Jesus was born into (fear God lest he smite you).
And yes, brain damage due to lead poisoning SHOULD be a legitimate insanity defense. The idea that brain damaged people are equally culpable for crimes is foolish, archaic and cruel.
I agree with your comment, but it got me thinking.
Water has a toxicity level too and can cause death by brain swelling. I'm also assuming it would be very uncomfortable to get to the point where one's ingested too much water as with fluoride.
And I believe that if one died from fluoride toxicity before dying of water toxicity, there's something else wrong.
Your comment about hydrofluoric acid in the stomach was interesting, so I looked it up. Since the stomach naturally uses hydrochloric acid in digestion, I looked up what swallowing it would do. Apparently, the same thing as hydrofluoric acid.
Large doses of things tend to harm us. Smaller doses may actually help us, directly or indirectly. Yet the alarmists aren't trying to ban water or food or electricity. Could it be that they're even willing to admit that some things have nuanced applications?
Because the studies are done by morons who have a predetermined outcome in mind. This happens all too often in the behavioural science, unfortunately.
The one that sticks out the best in my mind was one that found just that: People got more hyped up and "aggressive" (thought that wasn't well defined) after playing a violent game. Ok... Except the test was garbage. For the violent game they chose the original Unreal Tournament (keep in mind this study was done just a few years ago) and for the non-violent game they chose... Myst. Yes, that's right, Myst.
Man, I could probably find two games with less in common, but it would take effort. They really weren't testing violent vs non-violent in that case, they were testing competitive vs non-competitive, and fast paced vs slow paced. Gee, no surprise that people might get hyped up by UT and nearly put to sleep by Myst.
A proper test would be to take a more modern game, say UT3 at this point, and set it up so that one group plays a violent style of game and another group plays a non-violent style. For example have both groups play CTF, but one plays normal CTF with guns that blow people up, the other plays a freeze tag version where guns just freeze you in place (and your team can thaw you and such). That would control for most other variables other than violence and non-violence.
However there's two problems with that:
1) Most behavioural science researchers understand little about technology and less about games. I can go on and on with examples from my undergraduate studies.
2) A large number of researchers have an outcome in mind and, on purpose or subconsciously, they design the experiment to give that outcome.
So, the data at this point is basically worthless. I have yet to see a study where there was any sort of good control and measurement done.
Of course I agree that the Bible is important as an historical document (I am not the one who is pro-censorship), but you are doing the classic pro-censorship trick: declaring that all "old" documents are exempt because they are of "historical" value, but saying there is "no reason" for any modern artwork to exist at all. This leads to the bizarre situation where any new work can be banned, even though similar levels of violence exist in historical works that are not banned.
Some of today's works will one day be historical documents - or they won't, if they are censored and burned by those who apply different standards.
Furthermore, despite the violence in the Bible, it specifically condemns violent and hateful behavior.
It is inconsistent, yes, but there are places where it encourages and glorifies violence. The Bible is not seen by Christians as merely an historical document: it is how we should live our life. Whilst modern violent films that people seek to ban are merely films about a story, the Bible urges people to behave in this way, and millions of people take this seriously.
I don't think the Bible should be banned at all, but the hypocrisy of religious people who seek to censor is worth noting.
TFA says, "Young people are being influenced by what they see and what they hear."
Okay, for the purpose of argument, let's allow as how that's true. Given that, what sort of influence is thereby exerted when children watch adults burn video games, books, or any other "bad" stuff??
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Shades of Dr. Everett Righteous from Styx's "Kilroy Was Here" album.
On average, YES, it leads to crime, via a multi step process in which there are other factors. The same can be said of poverty, abuse, alcoholism, overbearing mothers, absentee fathers, and being spoiled as a child. It is easily proven that groups with lower income levels, single parent households, and darker skin color commit street crime more frequently; are you willing to say that being black leads to increased criminal behavior? In the final analysis, ALL crime has environmental and social factors involved. Is there no personal responsibility involved at all here?
Also, you need to look up the legal definition of the insanity defense. Mental illness is NOT the same as legally insane, although one could argue that one cannot be legally insane without being mentally ill. But the converse is not true - one can have mental problems and still be legally responsible for one's actions.
Or you could be like my mom: "You'd have to be insane to kill someone". I don't take her seriously, either.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
They're like a maze keeping God hidden from people.
Then why was there almost the same amount of crime before video games and "violent" types of music. People dueled to the death to solve stupid arguements like 200 years ago and they didn't have to see it in video games or hear it in a song first. Today most people wouldn't even consider doing something like that.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
And I believe that if one died from fluoride toxicity before dying of water toxicity, there's something else wrong.
Of course flouride in the water (which at least half the time is naturally occurring) isn't going to kill you, but there are flouride rinses and good old toothpaste that have it in much higher concentrations. No one's banning it, but concentrations of fluoride above a certain level do require a prescription, at least in the USA.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
Children these days are bombarded with violence. It is presented in many forms some of which are glorified.
The majority of these forms are presented on simple broadcast television.
I certainly don't want the government to start regulating. I also don't want some "reverend" to start preaching about it.
I've read enough studies to know that a steady diet of violence does breed aggressive behavior. It certainly doesn't promote peaceful problem solving skills.
That being said, I want my fucking games. I am 32 years old and I enjoy playing violent video games. I am a father and there's no way in hell my kid is going to play these games.
What we really need, though draconian it may seem, is full enforcement of game ratings. Make it a crime to sell violent media to children or to parents for consumption by their children. 90% of this is just bad parenting.
When Holly Homemaker gets locked up for letting little Johnny play GTA IV, some heads will turn. I certainly don't believe this is the sort of thing we really should have, but if it protects my rights to play violent video games, I'm all for it. Especially since I'm not the one getting locked up.
I wish parents would wake up and realize that most games these days aren't for kids.
There's always the "don't tell me how to raise my kids" people, but their kids are usually spoiled rotten and get away with murder.
They're using their grammar skills there.
As always the truth of the matter is somewhere in between.
No I haven't read the article, nor the interview, so what do I know about anything? Well, we've been over this theme before, and as always what is being made the main point of the story is the conflict, not what this or that guy has actually said; so I choose to skip all that and go straight to the point: people's anxiety concerning games, music and youth culture in general.
It is not true of course, that violent games or rap music create violence where none existed before. Kids are not robots that automatically turn into drug crazed killing machines as soon as they see or hear about violence. Those things have always been the subject of art and at one point it was actively promoted by the Christian church under the name of the Crusades.
On the other hand, neither is it true that violent video games and music praising violence has no effect. Young people are in a vulnerable phase, they are in the middle of trying to find their own direction in life, and it is quite easy to be led astray, if you are not well rooted in society. When I think back to that time, I can remember vandalising things for fun, trying out drugs and doing other stupid things. Who knows, if the time had not been so much about anti-violence and anti-war, perhaps I would have gone out and committed my own violent acts; God knows I had enough anger inside.
And that is what this is all about: violent games and other things that praise violence can tell you that it may be an acceptable way to vent your frustration, if you don't have friends or family that can give you some ballast. I am not saying that we should ban violent games or rap music - that would be silly. But we can't all sit around saying "It's not my fault, it's not my fault" - we can only solve the problems with violence if we cooperate about it and take responsibility for solving it.
The flouride in the water is a US thing. Over here in northen europe, we don't want toxics like that in our drinking water - and our teeth are generally in great shape.
It's a sham, and you've fallen for it. Flouride is the toxic waste from aluminum plants, and has been linked to things like weak bones in other people - it attacks calcium - which your teeth also happen to be made of.
As for lead and mercury... Everybody acknowledges that those are toxic.
Now, think about it. In the US, where everything is about money, including health care... Why are you still paying shit-loads of money to a dentist, if flouride prevents cavities? Why do dentists recommend dumping flouride in drinking water, if it means they would earn less? If flouride was good for your teeth, dentists would be doing everything to have it banned.
Well if these people are happy to swallow the crap preached by the Reverend every Sunday then should people be surprised that they swallow the crap they see on TV and games?
Ummm, the body of work contained in rap music is also "an important historical document". And if you actually listened to it, you'd find that much of it is rich in Christian imagery.
... and then they built the supercollider.
He seems reasonable and actually quite sane, he has hit the nail on the head, it's all a facade, all pretend, but kids are just born into it and if no one stands up and tells them it's not real and to simply enjoy it for what it is. They convince themselves it's real. Lost count of the number of times my parents would nag me to realise it's all fake and pretend, be it the rock'n'roll life or the video-games. Kids need strong direction, to ensure they grow up individuals and be able to sort the BS from the truth.
On a point of fake R'n'R BS, quote Steve WIlson from Porcupine Tree:
"Music of Rebellion makes you want to rage.
But it's made by millionaires who're nearly twice your age."
... seems the good reverend is the highest common factor.
Let us get past the hate and think about this: Do ads work, or don't they? If they do, then we cannot rule out that people are affected by such things. If they don't, then Slashdot is going to have to find a different revenue stream. Numerous studies show that violence in video games, particularly fps, DO affect people in harmful ways. Whether the government is the best way to deal with this is another question.
Government is an embodiment of force, and ill suited to dealing with most social problems.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
After reading some of the articles associated with this guy he isn't saying that NO ONE should play video games really, he is suggesting that the kids in his area are acting strangely for kids who live in mostly rural VA, and the only influence he can find for this behavior is found in music and video games. It doesn't help that I know many people around here in VA who DO often do things then tell everyone they got the idea from a movie, video game or rap star, so I can sympathize. These people are uneducated and need some sort of help. Sure, he is going a bit overboard by burning them, but what he sees is a social crisis in his area which requires immediate action.
I wonder if more people will miss the point and go out and start following this example.
Speaking from a historical standpoint,this "man of God" is making wild claims as if to "create the problem" and interject himself as the one who will lead the flock to the solution.
My point;People are much less likely to solve their interrelational problems with violence as 500 or even 100 years ago.Anything outside of a church pew that stirs the emotions of people is a potential target for "rock star"preachers.Just turn on your T.V. some Sunday morning and see if this isn't true.
Before you slam Christianity in general for morons like this,understand that even Christ knew idiots like this would be around misleading those who seek him and his kingdom.Power of leadership can corrupt anyone not focused on the original intent in any aspect of life.
I guess I could comparatively describe this power monger as a lesser example of a Jim Jones or Fred Phelps.Even the rich T.V. preachers are an example of misfocused,bait and switch leadership.
He's probably so caught up in his own filthy self-righteousness he doesn't even realize he is a bigger problem than a "Cradle of Filth" or G.G.Allen C.D. to the moral safety of the young.
As Fred Phelps and his band of morons has proven,there are worse things that can become of young people than to spend hours playing "Urban Terror"
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
... are you willing to say that being black leads to increased criminal behavior? In the US, yes. Obviously. While racism plays a large part, the fact is that per capita black Americans DO commit more crimes than other poor Americans (white, latino, asian, etc.). I'm not going to speculate as to the reasons. Also, you need to look up the legal definition of the insanity defense. Which I believe is too narrow and not properly applied. The threshold for the insanity defense is that the defendant must not be capable of understanding that SOMEONE ELSE thinks he committed a crime. So if the defendant thinks he's Jesus and attacked someone because he thought they were the Antichrist, if the defendant can understand that SOMEONE ELSE disagrees with that, he's considered "sane" even though HE thinks he's Jesus and his victim was the Antichrist. If he refuses to answer, he's also considered "sane". The only way to get an insanity defense is to literally be incapable of understanding the speech of others, i.e. extremely severe schizophrenia in which you say one thing to the schizophrenic and he "hears" something completely different. ALL THE TIME.I merely said fluoride is a neurotoxin, and it is.
The proof is here:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1852689
Now, the study was done in China and we can debate whether or not it can be trusted, but considering how corrupt our government is with giving FDA approval and authorizing tainted beef and who knows what else, the information I provide is fair and balanced and up for the analysis and interpretation of the reader.
Now, if you want to debate whether thesource is reputable, go ahead. Based on my knowledge of fluoride, and based on my experiences in other countries where they don't have fluoride in their childrens toothpaste and somehow the IQ scores in Europe just happen to be higher than the IQ scores in the USA, I'm willing to consider the possibility or even the likelyhood that long term consumption fluoride is bad for brain health.
Even the toothpaste says do not swallow.
In the US, yes. Obviously. While racism plays a large part, the fact is that per capita black Americans DO commit more crimes than other poor Americans (white, latino, asian, etc.). I'm not going to speculate as to the reasons.
I agreed with most of what you said until you said blacks commit more crimes. It's technically and scientifically impossible for blacks to commit more crime when they make up a smaller percentage of the population than both Hispanics and White Americans.
Perhaps you meant per capita or some other measurement based on arrest records. The truth is, black individuals are arrested for more crimes and these arrests are kept on record.
Illegal immigrants might be arrested but they aren't citizens so we may or may not have them on record. White individuals, the individuals who commit the most crimes, often are above being arrested and so they can get away with murder, or robbery by simply calling their lawyers, bribing law enforcement, or by changing the laws in such a way so that their form of stealing and murder is legal but the black drug dealer who cannot afford a lawyer at all but who does not steal or murder can be locked away for drug dealing.
To make it simple, if America is racist, it's justice system is probably racist as well. This would mean cops, judges, and lawmakers who create and define what is legal or illegal.
This is not the same as saying blacks are more aggressive. History shows that blacks are probably among the least aggressive towards other races. Of course black on black crime is something different but what it means is nobody had or has to worry about blacks organizing an army and raiding the suburbs, or rioting across the USA, it's not going to happen.
Which I believe is too narrow and not properly applied. The threshold for the insanity defense is that the defendant must not be capable of understanding that SOMEONE ELSE thinks he committed a crime. So if the defendant thinks he's Jesus and attacked someone because he thought they were the Antichrist, if the defendant can understand that SOMEONE ELSE disagrees with that, he's considered "sane" even though HE thinks he's Jesus and his victim was the Antichrist. If he refuses to answer, he's also considered "sane". The only way to get an insanity defense is to literally be incapable of understanding the speech of others, i.e. extremely severe schizophrenia in which you say one thing to the schizophrenic and he "hears" something completely different. ALL THE TIME.
This is fine, we should accept that brains and thoughts create actions and behavior. We should know that the lack of self control means the reduction and exclusion of free will. However if you have self control then you are capable of reason, and if you have reason you have at least some kind of free will.
Whether or not you have that free will after suffering brain damage is another question. In my opinion if someone commits a crime they should receive the option to have their brain scanned for damage to see whether or not their brain functions normally or not. If we find their brain does not function normally, we shouldn't just release them into the free world, but at least we will know what we are dealing with and can see that this problem is a problem that needs to be cured and not punished.
You cannot punish or beat a mental disorder out of a person. You can only punish the behavior. So they should still go to prison as a disincentive against the behavior, and we should probably reorganize our society to provide incentives for good behavior instead of just expecting everyone to be Christian, or just assuming everyone has a fully functioning brain and will make reasonable choices.
The main reason capitalism doesn't work is we assume everyone is a rational/reasonable human. The truth is, capitalism is a tool which we should use to modify human behavior so as to make it rational and reasonable.
If you are a reasonable person you'll understand exactly what I'
Hello neighbor, gosh I hope that was some kinda sarcasm. Are you saying poor people are criminals? What are you? Racist?
Sounds a little strange to me. Let's see. If we listen to others, it's the rich people who are evil. I think if we listed out the external "causes" which are "the problem" we would find every person equally tempted.
I think the simplest answer is that people are evil and it has little to do with their environment.
PS. Yes, I used 'racist' incorrectly.
...and all that silicone and plastic is slowly being turned into gas, take a few deep breaths and taste the difference you're making to the world. Go ahead, we'll wait.