Music. Video Games. Television. Pornography.
What do they all have in common?
Middle-aged/old morons think they cause violence in the youth.
It's an odd paradox: In the previous generation, it was believed to be music that caused murder and suicide. Bands such as Judas Priest were accused of hiding subliminal messages in their music to encourage fans to commit suicide. Bullshit, of course, but the older generation at the time were quick to crap themselves and ramp up the scare.
The generation prior to them, it was television and pornography. Television was the tool of the devil, and touching your privates made Jesus kill a bag of puppies according to the older generation.
The generation prior to them, it was.....Well, they were too busy fighting the Nazi's to bother blaming the generation before them, mostly because they were too busy burying them.
For our generation, what causes violence? What is the moral shock seizing the throat of the world? What is turning our children into feral, untameable youth?
Bad parenting? Politicians teaching us that corruption and lying makes you rich? Bankers teaching us we can fail and still make it big while someone pays off our mistakes? Sex scandals from celebrities? Celebrity suicides?
Of course not, that would require the older generation to take the blame. Instead, the blame is falling on the internet and video games.
It's a relentless circle: An older generation blames something released in the newer generation for causing violence, sin and vice. Then it goes away. Then that newer generations blames something released in the next generation for causing violence, sin and vice, despite living through the last moral panic and realising its all absolute bullshit spewed by morons who look at a camera and think "WHEN THAT FLASH GOES OFF, IT TAKES MY SOUL!". Then that newer generation blames something released in the even newer generation for causing......You get the picture.
I wonder what our generation will blame as causing a moral panic amongst the next generation? "Virtual Reality causes violence, sexual tension and loitering!"? We'll see.
Anyway, I digress, back onto my point: The sheer imbecility of blaming everything new for our problems. In this case: The internet and video games.
What do they all have in common?
Middle-aged/old morons think they cause violence in the youth.
It's an odd paradox: In the previous generation, it was believed to be music that caused murder and suicide. Bands such as Judas Priest were accused of hiding subliminal messages in their music to encourage fans to commit suicide. Bullshit, of course, but the older generation at the time were quick to crap themselves and ramp up the scare.
The generation prior to them, it was television and pornography. Television was the tool of the devil, and touching your privates made Jesus kill a bag of puppies according to the older generation.
The generation prior to them, it was.....Well, they were too busy fighting the Nazi's to bother blaming the generation before them, mostly because they were too busy burying them.
For our generation, what causes violence? What is the moral shock seizing the throat of the world? What is turning our children into feral, untameable youth?
Bad parenting? Politicians teaching us that corruption and lying makes you rich? Bankers teaching us we can fail and still make it big while someone pays off our mistakes? Sex scandals from celebrities? Celebrity suicides?
Of course not, that would require the older generation to take the blame. Instead, the blame is falling on the internet and video games.
It's a relentless circle: An older generation blames something released in the newer generation for causing violence, sin and vice. Then it goes away. Then that newer generations blames something released in the next generation for causing violence, sin and vice, despite living through the last moral panic and realising its all absolute bullshit spewed by morons who look at a camera and think "WHEN THAT FLASH GOES OFF, IT TAKES MY SOUL!". Then that newer generation blames something released in the even newer generation for causing......You get the picture.
I wonder what our generation will blame as causing a moral panic amongst the next generation? "Virtual Reality causes violence, sexual tension and loitering!"? We'll see.
Anyway, I digress, back onto my point: The sheer imbecility of blaming everything new for our problems. In this case: The internet and video games.
In the world of logical fallacies, there is a major logical fallacy stating that Correlation does not imply causation. It is as it says: Just because two events are remotely linked (Man shoots other man, Shooter plays video games, therefore video games causes violence) does not mean that they have caused the effect. Likewise, I could say that eating chocolate causes violence: Man shoots other man, Shooter ate a lot of chocolate, therefore chocolate causes violence. But that's bullshit, isn't it? "CHOCOLATE DOESN'T CAUSE MOOD CHANGES OR EXPOSES US TO VIOLENCE"
I don't know: We're all taught to fight to the death for the last Rolo.
What about television? Barely anyone points the finger at television anymore. Hell, we could improve Britain and remove talent shows for good: Man shoots other man, Shooter watched Britains Got Talent and X Factor religiously, therefore TV talent shows cause violence. See how facetious the reasoning is? Hell, let's turn the facetiousness up to eleven: Man shoots other man, Shooter breathes air, therefore breathing causes violence.
See? Utter imbecility, and yet because we jab the finger at video games and technology, it suddenly turns from laughable reasoning into the stark truth.
See? Utter imbecility, and yet because we jab the finger at video games and technology, it suddenly turns from laughable reasoning into the stark truth.
Nick Clegg stated that video games have a detrimental effect on personality, with players living in a "Hermetically sealed world" and that, essentially, they don't go out and they don't socialise.
Basically, a man who hasn't heard of online multiplayer games.
I agree that children shouldn't stay cooped in playing video games: After all, they're missing out on valuable time getting stabbed in the streets of London, getting eachother pregnant and getting pissed on Lambrini and tormenting bystanders.
The problem isn't video games. But the older generations refuse to accept that. After all, by blaming video games, you can blame something that's essentially faceless, an institution. But if you blame the poor parenting, then you'd be causing trouble and be pinning the blame on actual people. Can't have that.
Why don't we blame bad parents? It's bloody simple: A recent story was a man who got mugged (Stabbed and beaten with a brick) by two teenagers after buying GTA V at the midnight release. In the early hours of the morning, he was mugged and stabbed.
Yeah, fuck Grand Theft Auto. But what about the parents? Heaven fucking forbid the parents should take the blame for allowing their little bastards to be out in the early hours of the morning!
But hell, yeah, just blame the video games. If a child goes out and stabs a man to mug him, it's Call of Duty's fault. It's not the fault of the parent for failing to teach their child rights and wrongs, It's not the fault of the parent for failing to take proper care of their child and making sure they are not up to unsavoury behaviour, and it's certainly not the fault of the parent for checking their child and their stuff to make sure they're not stashing lethal weaponry.
If a childs out drinking on the street corner, why are the parents not concerned as to where their child is? Why the hell do parents allow their tiny little shits to go out to pubs and nightclubs? Why don't parents just not give a shit anymore? They don't care, they just let them loose like feral animals.
Of course, it's easy to blame the animals themselves, rather than the handlers, right?
And Clegg says we shouldn't be cooped up inside all day playing video games since it gives us no experience of the real world. Clegg is partially right, but attaching these wee bastards to video games is probably the only way the streets will be safe. After all, Nicky-boy, which is better: Having a child grow up around video games, picking up knowledge of technology, and possibly making friends with a wide array of cultures and creeds due to the wider accesibility of the internet, or having a child let loose on the streets by parents who don't give a shit?
Answers on a postcard.
I was brought up right: I was always taught that there were consequences for my actions. I was always taught to be polite and have manners. When I was young, I played outside a lot (NOTE: Of course, as time went on, technology unravelled and I found it more interesting to play video games than play outside (Mostly because my neighbours are arseholes and, after a certain point, the large groups of kids and teens playing outside dwindled to nothingness.) Of course, i've been accused of living in a hermetically-sealed world and being unsociable. Never mind the fact that I made plenty of friends in Secondary School and in Sixth Form. And I socialised in University with the few people I could stand. And the fact that despite playing video games, my wanderlust hasn't been satisfied an inch..) Because, mostly, parents cared. If you carried a knife, they'd probably clip you around the lughole and take it away from you. And you'd take the clip like a man.
Nowadays, you can barely jab a finger at a child without being accused of being abusive. Since when the fuck did a slap on the bottom count as abuse? If you're beating a child black and blue, that's abusive, but a sharp slap on the rear? How is that abuse? It's discipline.
It's what todays youth lack. And you can see the results: Youth today think of themselves as untouchable, and they've turned violent. Do we pin the blame on a severe lack of discipline? As a society, do we blame ourselves because our attitudes have become marshmallow soft and we let little Jeremy return, caked in blood and carrying a knife, without batting an eyelid?
No, because....because.....BECAUSE GRAND THEFT AUTO!
Fucking video games, eh?
And likewise, in the recent Washington Navy Yard shooting, a man with a history of mental health issues, that went largely ignored, shot up the Navy Yard. Of course, did the media pick up on the fact that he had these mental health issues that, combined with service in the military and the fact he owns a rifle, may just combine into a lethal cocktail?
Oh, of course not. He played Call of Duty. Blame that shit. Heaven forbid we should blame the the police forces of the United States for not noticing he had a history of mental health issues and violent crime, and not committing him to a mental institution or psychiatric help, or the systems that helped him pass firearms checks and security background checks with the same health issues.
No, it's all Call of Duty's fault.
--
Right now, I want to stand back and pick a fight with something else too. My generation and the blames we shoulder.
Our generation has delusions of grandeur, insanely high hopes for the future, and are frequently lambasted for believing everything should be given to us for nothing. And we get blamed for believing ourselves to be entitled and with an unwarranted sense of self-importance.
Why don't we blame bad parents? It's bloody simple: A recent story was a man who got mugged (Stabbed and beaten with a brick) by two teenagers after buying GTA V at the midnight release. In the early hours of the morning, he was mugged and stabbed.
Yeah, fuck Grand Theft Auto. But what about the parents? Heaven fucking forbid the parents should take the blame for allowing their little bastards to be out in the early hours of the morning!
But hell, yeah, just blame the video games. If a child goes out and stabs a man to mug him, it's Call of Duty's fault. It's not the fault of the parent for failing to teach their child rights and wrongs, It's not the fault of the parent for failing to take proper care of their child and making sure they are not up to unsavoury behaviour, and it's certainly not the fault of the parent for checking their child and their stuff to make sure they're not stashing lethal weaponry.
If a childs out drinking on the street corner, why are the parents not concerned as to where their child is? Why the hell do parents allow their tiny little shits to go out to pubs and nightclubs? Why don't parents just not give a shit anymore? They don't care, they just let them loose like feral animals.
Of course, it's easy to blame the animals themselves, rather than the handlers, right?
And Clegg says we shouldn't be cooped up inside all day playing video games since it gives us no experience of the real world. Clegg is partially right, but attaching these wee bastards to video games is probably the only way the streets will be safe. After all, Nicky-boy, which is better: Having a child grow up around video games, picking up knowledge of technology, and possibly making friends with a wide array of cultures and creeds due to the wider accesibility of the internet, or having a child let loose on the streets by parents who don't give a shit?
Answers on a postcard.
I was brought up right: I was always taught that there were consequences for my actions. I was always taught to be polite and have manners. When I was young, I played outside a lot (NOTE: Of course, as time went on, technology unravelled and I found it more interesting to play video games than play outside (Mostly because my neighbours are arseholes and, after a certain point, the large groups of kids and teens playing outside dwindled to nothingness.) Of course, i've been accused of living in a hermetically-sealed world and being unsociable. Never mind the fact that I made plenty of friends in Secondary School and in Sixth Form. And I socialised in University with the few people I could stand. And the fact that despite playing video games, my wanderlust hasn't been satisfied an inch..) Because, mostly, parents cared. If you carried a knife, they'd probably clip you around the lughole and take it away from you. And you'd take the clip like a man.
Nowadays, you can barely jab a finger at a child without being accused of being abusive. Since when the fuck did a slap on the bottom count as abuse? If you're beating a child black and blue, that's abusive, but a sharp slap on the rear? How is that abuse? It's discipline.
It's what todays youth lack. And you can see the results: Youth today think of themselves as untouchable, and they've turned violent. Do we pin the blame on a severe lack of discipline? As a society, do we blame ourselves because our attitudes have become marshmallow soft and we let little Jeremy return, caked in blood and carrying a knife, without batting an eyelid?
No, because....because.....BECAUSE GRAND THEFT AUTO!
Fucking video games, eh?
And likewise, in the recent Washington Navy Yard shooting, a man with a history of mental health issues, that went largely ignored, shot up the Navy Yard. Of course, did the media pick up on the fact that he had these mental health issues that, combined with service in the military and the fact he owns a rifle, may just combine into a lethal cocktail?
Oh, of course not. He played Call of Duty. Blame that shit. Heaven forbid we should blame the the police forces of the United States for not noticing he had a history of mental health issues and violent crime, and not committing him to a mental institution or psychiatric help, or the systems that helped him pass firearms checks and security background checks with the same health issues.
No, it's all Call of Duty's fault.
--
Right now, I want to stand back and pick a fight with something else too. My generation and the blames we shoulder.
Our generation has delusions of grandeur, insanely high hopes for the future, and are frequently lambasted for believing everything should be given to us for nothing. And we get blamed for believing ourselves to be entitled and with an unwarranted sense of self-importance.
And the older generation will gladly scuttle through the dirt and point fingers at us for this attitude.
But maybe we picked it up from higher forms of power?
See, I don't know if anyone else has a similar train of thought, but the accusations of grandeur against my generation seemed to come in thick and fast around the time of the global economic crisis. Y'know, the same crisis where gigantic banks such as the Lehman Brothers failed, and the taxpayer was called upon to bail them out. And what happened to the Lehman Brothers? A slap on the wrist fine, despite accusations of short-selling and being involved in the subprime mortgage crisis (Which was a great indicator of a Yanks intelligence: Take out a mortgage you can't afford to pay back, watch as the rates spiral high thanks to the decline in U.S house prices, default, and watch the banks just snatch them up) And, of course, what about Richard Fuld Jr., the CEO of Lehman Brothers?
Oh, y'know, still rich and no legal action taken against him.
Goldman Sachs was accused of short-selling subprime mortgage securities, and have been accused of helping hide the extent of Greece's true debt, hiding its own earnings (or rather, losses) from 2008-2009. What did they get? Slap on the wirst. And what about Lloyd Blankfein?
Still rich and no legal action taken against him.
Of course, I could run through a list of banks that were noted to be "too big to fail" until my fingers fall off, but you get the picture: Barely any of the major bankers who contributed to the ongoing global economic crisis have been prosecuted. CEO's and Bankers still walk off with millions in profit and bonuses, even if they fail or are short of their goals.
Then you have politicians, who claim expenses for trivial items such as doghouses and the like, and the public is expected to foot the bill.
Then you have companies who can dodge tax (Such as Starbucks and Amazon), and what happens? A fat load of nothing.
But yeah, fuck my generation. Bunch of lazy bastards expecting something for nothing. After all, they totally could not have got the idea from the attitudes and actions of the real world that has unfolded around them.
No wonder we hold such delusions when we turn on the news and are taught one thing: Someone else will just foot the bill for our failures.
And fuck the youth of today. Bunch of violent little criminals who are untouchable. After all, that could totally not be subverted or avoided by having parents actually care, or by re-introducing actual discipline against them for serious crimes.
It's video games.
And that is the root of all problems: They refuse to pin the blame on the actual causes of the problems. They pin the blame on either those who end up suffering because of the problems, or the causes which aren't actually the causes, because they can't stand blaming themselves or an actual high power.
Society is screwed. Civilisation is becoming uncivilised.
And it's all the fault of video games and us.
Albert Einstein once said: I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
And when, in a thousand to two thousand years time, our future kin are sitting in bunkers, reading tales of the war that ended the world, hiding from feral gangs of irradiated psychopaths wielding clubs and boulders, they will come across World War III, and what will it say? Will it say that the governments were to blame? Will it say that society's habit of refusing discipline caused a rise in violent crime, and a blameless attitude allowed such exchanges to escalate into war? Will it say that our habit of paying for other people's failures had us just sit back and watch the bombs rain down rather than fighting?
No, it will probably blame Pac Man.
History and its insane moral shocks march on.
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