Mimi In A Minute #10 ~ Fouls, Paddles, and Hootchie Mamas
These things keep me up at night. They give me a headache.
I just need sixty seconds of your time to unclog my pencil brain so that I can get some sleep.
Do you mind? I have a few things to say.
This is Mimi unplugged.
Hide your children.
To NCAA Officials: Why is it the "final four"...Shouldn't it be the final TWO? I call a technical foul!
I think every parent, every American, every Congressman, every governm
ent official, every Tom, Dick and Hootchie-mama should have to spend 1 day with a teacher in a public school classroom. The face of education would change. And half the children in American wouldn't be able to sit down for a week.Government "control" of private industry is beginning to concern me. Just a tad.
To the North Koreans missile launchers: Please fly a peace globe. It is a weapon of massive possibilities.
To gun control lob
byists: You will never get the guns "off the street." That's not the way they came in.President Obama on your visit to Iraq. Why didn't you TELL ME you were going??
I am so out of the international loop. I'm a Queen ya know! A Queen I say!!
In Oakland, in Binghamton, in North Carolina, in Pennsylvania:
If you want to go on a killing spree, next time hire a convention hall, leave your bulletproof vests at home and shoot each OTHER.And finally.......I'm gonna say this one more time.OUTLAW violent video games for young people. PERIOD.
We don't need studies to validate the correlation. Use your common sense.
It is classic conditioning based on a reward system.
And I don't want to hear the First Amendment argument.
But here's the bigger question for all of us, regardless of age: Why is it entertaining to chop someone up with a machete or blow their brains out with an imaginary weapon?
Whew!
I feel better. Thanks for listening.
Sixty seconds flew by. I think my blogsomnia is cured.
Lights out.
P.S. Wasn't that a cheery post?
And no video games!!
Copyright © 2006-2009 Mimi Lenox. All Rights Reserved.
38 comments:
I like your weapon of massive possibilities.
Goodnight and sleep well...
Mimi, Amen sister Queen. Luv your blog site. Candace
There are four groups of schools who compete. Each one has a winner....Eventually it is the final one....
and...personally I think it is the parents of young children who should control the games in their homes...
Dawn - Would that be a WOMP?
Ha! Sweet dreams as well....
Candance - I must come visit you!
Katherine - You're rolling your eyes at me again, aren't ya....
Katherine - I agree that it should be the parents of said young children to control the games in their households. Trouble is, so mamy parents are children themselves!
Whatever happened to common sense?
I want it back. Our country has lost it.
We seem to be in agreement here today with everything (???)
Sometimes I guess we are all more similar than we know (wink)
The last point is VERY pivotal to me, Violent games are so VERY VERY wrong. Parents that allow their kids to play them are verging on abuse as far as I am concerned. It numbs a young mind to irrational acts and makes what should be extremely disturbing common to them.
On government control of business ... that is their whole intent, always was.
Many things I have talked about in the last five years that sounded crazy at the time - are now coming to life.
That's a brilliant and insightful list. I agree with most of your thought, but I don't find any other conducive to sleep!
"Please fly a peace globe. It is a weapon of massive possibilities."
~amen to that~
You know... I like the convention hall idea. But then, we'd have Dr. Phil and Oprah and Kermit the Frog trying to get them in touch with their inner psycho and the carnage would be avoided. For the moment. And we'd wind up with a lot of innocent blood spilled anyway after the feel-goodies left the room congratulating each other on "defusing" the situation.
And who needs a video game anyway?
The face of education would change. And half the children in American wouldn't be able to sit down for a week. That is absolutely no exaggeration!
There is a rating system on these games and parents have to be better at paying attention to them. I see parents buying kids games aimed for people 17 and over. Stick to games rated E for everyone and you're fine. The parents have to be responsible and not penalize the audience that the game was intended for by banning them.
As for who plays those crazy games? I do but wouldn't let a kid within 100 miles of one. I find blowing bad guys up in the video game world rather gratifying. Would never do it in real life but to stop some terrorists or gang bangers as a vigilante, yeah it's a fun escape.
A lot of these games are marketed to guys around my age rage. The Grand Theft Auto games have soundtracks full of music that guys my age grew up with. No coincidence that they did that. The game is also full pop culture references to things from my youth. The game is vulgar but entertaining.
I love video games. Been playing them since they days of the old Atari 2600. Even back then people said how awful and dangerous those games were. But most of us wound up felony free.
And I'm the biggest liberal weeny out there, but I need my video game fix and Sonic the Hedgehog won't cut it. I need to stop imaginary terrorists like Jack Bauer.
Eric - One of my biggest pet peeves are these games. The "alarm" started for me with the onset of violent and degrading rap music.
Why does anyone want to watch negative images over and over again?
It does condition the mind and the heart to be mindless and heartless.
After reading Ricardo's explanation above I have a little more understanding I suppose......but everyone is not as mature as our friend from Connecticut.
The bottom line is that many parents aren't responsible. And if I'm to be honest, I just think the games are fundamentally wrong.
This from me, Mimi Leaning Left On Most Things. There is a line that shouldn't be crossed.
I asked again: what is entertaining about hurting people, imaginary or not?
I do understand where Ricardo is coming from, as well, and he obviously understands his motives.
I appreciate the comments. All of them!
Nick - It was NOT conducive to sleep at all! In fact, I had trouble going to dreamland that didn't turn into nightmare-land.
The news, this week, was horrendous.
Debbie - I believe it. Yes.
Thanks for believing it too.
Mojo - "inner psycho"...ha!
Summer - Actually, it was an understatement. You have no idea...or maybe you do!
Ricardo - They are not for me but I understand your points. I used to think that only kids shouldn't be allowed to play them but now....I read so many stories of young adults STILL playing them into adulthood and acting out the game in real life that I just think they're plain wrong. It's the repetitive nature of it that bothers me. The desensitizing aspect.
Thanks for expressing your opinion so eloquently!
I wouldn't ask the North Koreans to launch a peace globe...it would probably crash on your roof.
You got it Mimi.
Yes the people who grew up with them like me still play them. Strange but true. I've heard the horror stories of some acting out the games and there's a bigger problem at work and they need psychoanalysis, pronto. Before video games took over there were people killing themselves over Dungeons and Dragons. That was another fiasco.
my kids are 18, 21 and 27...the youngest is a boy....not that it matters...
We've had video games in "our" home since I was a kid and my dad was the first on the block to own pong.
When they were all living at home...and now in their own places we have had everything... Nintendo and PlayStation and Wii...and the other one I can't remember.
I use to make the kids play Jeopardy and Sherlock Homes with me. I allowed no "evil" themed or kill the good guys type of games...when they were little.
I should also point out that until they were teenagers NONE of my kids were allowed to have toy guns. Even their water pistols were dolphin or ducky shape. We had real guns...and I never wanted there to be confusion or for anyone to think you could point a gun out of fun or at someone you know.
But at some point the kids get their own televisions...and the games end up in their rooms...or their dorm rooms...or in their own homes. Not to mention the playing that goes on in others; homes...or the games they play online via their own laptops.
I'm happy to report that while the more violent games are played the currents faves seem to be guitar hero and Tiger Woods golfing.
But as I read Ricardos comment I was remembering as a kid...we all played "Cowboys and Indians" "Cops and Robbers" and my personal favorite "War and Combat". I do remember "shooting and killing" my best friends and other neighborhood kids...face to face...
And then there was our own fathers homemade laser tag....circa 1974...that was pretty fun too.
I don't think restricting the use of violent video games is any more a violation of the 1st Amendment than denying access to R and X rated movies is. And I should know. I have watched so many episodes of Law & Order that I now qualify as a lawyer.
(I got your email. Thank you. I'll respond to it soon.)
I regularly spend time in classrooms and I have so much respect for teachers. I also think some parents should be shot or at the very least spanked or denied their lattes! (was that too harsh?)
1st of a group is one thing... but it's first overall that really counts.
I grew up on Wile E Coyote, the Roadrunner and anvils from Acme... good times, good times.
I must have goofed the verification. Here's my comment again in a nutshell:
Thanks for some reminders for why I feel the need to find a cave to hide in. This world is too much to think about. No wonder it keeps you up!
Jean-luc - That was funny and not funny.....
Ricardo - There will always be psychos....
Katherine - It's a compliated issue. I remember my younger brothers playing "Fort" and cowboys and Indians when we were little with plastic cap guns. Nobody thought anything of it.
Likewise, when my son was little my ex and I had many a "discussion" over the toy gun issue. I was adamantly opposed and never allowed him to play the evil ones either. And then, as you pointed out, friends come into the picture and you can't control what happens in other homes.
A dilemma that is out of control.
Gal - Good point. I feel strongly about this issue.
Anndi - Many parents are "children raising children".....and they are the leaders of tomorrow.
God help us.
Autumn - It has been a horrible couple of weeks, news-wise.
I'll try to be funny soon!
I think the vast number of people who play violent video games or D&D style games which also have a lot of violence in them do remain felony free and do have sense of right and wrong. Why do we like playing them? Rush hour traffic. I had a blast blowing the guts out of critters in EQ.
So I'd would have to respectfully disagree. It's not the games. It's the parents. It's not the lyrics to an Ozzy song. Or a Manson song. Or a Beatles song. It's the parents.
Starr - I agree that it is the parents and I also walk a precarious line with Freedom of Speech issues here...I am a musician. I believe in free expression. I believe there should not be a ban on books or music. But this bothers me because it is interactive and freely accessible to young people because we all know the parents (as you have pointed out here) are the ones who need to be in control. I think, for me, it is a reflection of society as a whole that seems to be pervasively getting more and more violence-oriented.
Thanks for your thoughts. It's a tricky issue and a serious one.
You make a lot of sense ... that in itself is kinda scary.
Mark - Isn't it? lol...
When I was in 3rd grade, I wasn't paying attention in class one day. I was daydreaming and staring out the window. And then the teacher ahemmed in my direction to snap me out of my reverie, turned around, and WROTE MY NAME ON THE CHALKBOARD!
There was my name in the upper right hand corner! Where the bad kids' names were written.
I was mortified.
I'm still mortified.
There have always been kids who did not respect authority. But there used to be more kids who toed the line because the alternative was that everyone who entered that classroom would see your name on the chalkboard and know that you were bad.
And then there was that note the teacher would send home with you, that you had to give to your parents and have them sign.
**shudder**
There is a LOT of parent volunteerism at my kids' school. In fact, we've been recognized for the amount of volunteer hours that our parents donate. The teachers at our school are pretty on the ball when it comes to discipline, and it doesn't take much for a kid to be sent to the Assistant Principal when there's an infraction. We (as an entire community) believe in running a tight ship.
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