Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Nation of DERRRP

Inspired by a recent angry-ignorant fueled forum thread, I decided to blog about the levels of DERRP in this country (the U.S.of Eh?).

I really have no problem with ignorance because ignorance is just the lack of knowlege.  It is EASILY curable with a little reading and education. What I DO have a problem with is willful ignorance and right out stupidity.  It feels like people WANT to be stupid today; and that really isn't far from the truth.

A while back I read a great article about the glorification of youthfulness in this country.  The problem with honoring youth over wisdom is you create a situation where idiocy is praised.
Just look at what we produce in the entertainment industry if you want to get an understanding on this.  You don't have to watch TV to get your fix of comedy or drama, you can just visit a highschool.  Back in the day comedy was very word-oriented with some very witty puns and analogies (HAHA fishmonger...) and drama was real with serious consequences and life-changing situations.
Even our models get younger and younger!  If you've hit 25 you're in old-age for the modeling industry.  Many models you see on the runway, modeling adult clothing, are actually minors... 16, 15, sometimes even 14 and 13 years old.

So we raise up youthfulness on a pedestal, worship it as our god, and suddenly two things happen.  First adults are striving to meet beauty and attitude standards of minors which means spending thousands and even millions of dollars on creams and exercise equipment and surgeries and also trying to adapt to a incredibly dumbed down colloquial speech.  Really it sickens me when I hear adults saying things like "Uh wtf?".  The other more important thing is it gives minors a sense of entitlment and importance and intelligence when they really don't have any of that.
I know "children are our future" but believe me, adults are far more important.  We TEACH those children, we pass down our morals and desires, and we keep the country going by working and spending.  However, that doesn't mean that children know anything about the world.  Part of being young IS being dumb, that's just the facts.
You have not lived long enough to soak up all the information needed to make intelligent decisions.  Not saying all adults are smart nor am I saying all minors are just plain idiots but what I AM saying is the average adult will be smarter than the average kid.
So when you get children feeling entitled, important, and smart you actually prevent them from learning.  They suddenly feel like they know everything without even looking up information and defend their uneducated opinion to the death (verbally).  If children were humble and knew they had to earn importance than they would be more willing to listen and learn (as they did when they were VERY little).

What thread was it that inspired all this?  It was a videogame thread where I asked people to name off their favorite Adventure games.  Not only did NO ONE name an adventure game (they named RPGs mostly) but they fought to the teeth over the definition of "adventure" as a game genre.  Despite the fact I sourced page after page that laid out the official definition -people of all ages- kept maintaining that their opinion was essentially more accurate than the professionals and experts I quoted.

Welcome to the Nation of Derp where even if you cite your sources you're called an idiot and if you have NO sources what so ever and no experience in the industry you're perceived as an intelligent individual.

I think in my original world kids were still idiots but adults didn't glorify child-like-ignorance.


Some of my sources:
Ok I can't find that article.. might have been deleted by now but a book you can read is http://www.amazon.com/Idiot-America-Stupidity-Became-Virtue/dp/0767926145

Future rants:
What parents?
Good economy = saving money????

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The First of Many - Video Game Decision

The first blog is always the saddest to me because I know very few will ever read it.  However, I'm ok with that.  I have many thoughts burning a hole in my brain, trying desperately to get out but for this first round of word spilling I chose to discuss the soon-to-be-announced decision of the Supreme Court on video games.

Today the Supreme Court will rule on The Govenator vs EMA.  My first thought, when I realized this is Ahhhrnold we're talking about, was "WHAT ARE YOU DOING GOVENATOR?".  I used to hold a deep amount of respect for him until this incident!  Granted he was already making my throw-into-fire-for-fuel list with his working towards banning gay marriage but he certainly made the top of my list with this one.  Ok what is it exactly?
Basically they are making a decision on banning the sale of M rated video games to children.

Wait.
Wait a second.

WHAT THE FUCK.

See, this is when I realize I must have jumped into this alternate reality after 1994 when the ESRB was created to regulate the sale of M rated games to children.  I also might have jumped after certain laws being made that fined game store employees 3,000 dollars if a game were to be sold to a minor.
Either that or the MIB mind-erased most everyone but me because I remember these things vivedly (even able to FIND information on the internet about 'em) but no one else seems to remember the fact we've ALREADY MADE LAWS RESTRICTING THE SALE OF M RATED GAMES TO MINORS.
Why in game-hell are we spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a SUPREME COURT case to make laws that already exist?  What MORE can you do besides tell game sellers they can't sell games to children without parental consent?
Well I suppose we can make every "mature" game "AO" rated.  If this happens you can kiss your favorite games goodbye because AO games get banned and don't get put on most game shelves.
I suppose we can tell the game industry they can't even make them anymore but considering MOST game companies work out of Canada, Europe, and Japan I don't see what good that would do except to pratically eliminate the gaming inudstry in America.
We're not talking about some rinky-dinky porn store here; we're talking about a multi-BILLION dollar industry.

If this damn thing passes it'd be like taking adult candy from an adult.

The really hillarious thing is Govenator's main argument involves a 1968 Supreme Court decision restricting the sale of pornography to minors; claiming violence in video games similarly stunts a child's development like porn does.
First it seems to me children were developing into finer adults back when we weren't babying and coddling them so much.
Second, and I repeat, DIDN'T WE ALREADY DECIDE ON THIS?

So if you want your tax dollars being spent towards re-deciding on things we've already made laws over then good for you.  Go eat your hotpockets and be gay er I mean happy (because you know, gay is such a bad word now).
If you DON'T want your tax dollars being spent on extraneous court decisions then maybe you should send letters to representatives or I dunno... try and figure out a way to get back to the other reality with me.


(Note: the ESRB does a better job enforcing video game laws than the MPAA does enforcing movie laws and than the Recording Industry does enforcing music sales)

Upcomming thought explosions:
Fark tag: Nanny State
2010 Election Tears