The ghost in the machine

[zhai]

I am back from Montreal and about as flattened as I've been in awhile. A very uniquely terrific conference, though, and one I would make a repeat visit if I thought I'd still be in the northeast next year. But I suppose if Tom Buscaglia can fly out from Seattle for it I have little excuse. We shall see. Considering the short amount of time I spent

Comments

[mama_gryphon]

I just don't understand why parents can't monitor the games their kids are playing. Why force censorship instead of being responsible and parenting your kid? It just baffles me.

[zhai]

The thing about that is that most parents think the same way you do, and a lot of them take it a step further and are actually pissed off that someone else wants to be doing "their job" for them -- they want to be in control of what their child accesses. I was actually surprised at the intensity of this reaction when I talked to a group of parents for my October column on kids and games. It pisses me off that this is primarily a media fixation and not representative of what parents actually think outside of the disinformation they've been fed by politicians and people with a motive to create fear and drama.

[mama_gryphon]

Well, the media is not the neutral party it is supposed to be. They hardly ever report a neutral point or both sides of a story. It seems they all have an agenda and this really small group of people keep convincing (or paying enough money to convince) politicians to pass laws that govern how we get to raise our kids. I'm glad people have finally noticed.

[zhai]

The more I do my own small research and get people talking to each other about these issues, the more the current media just seems like a colossal disaster to me. H. L. Menken would be burning barns. And I think it's a case where, somewhat ironically considering their attitude toward video games, rather similarly, media grew out of control and started to have non-truth-related motivations supercede the original intent. Though certainly disingenuous journalism is as old as the printing press. But media + corporation has taken it to an entirely new fatal level. The problem is I don't think enough people have noticed what's going on -- or at least, if they notice, they aren't left with any alternatives.

Man, that was a depressing comment. Sorry!

[cyberconte]

I almost cried at that comic.

I'm scared of losing my Dad.