Grand Theft Auto

This photo from giantbomb.com perfectly emulates the mentality of GTA:
"See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil."

 This kick-starts a new section of my blog, American Morality FAIL. This are just things I've observed that I can't believe ever got started! My goal is not to complain, but to challenge America to a higher order of entertainment, fashion, whatever! The first FAIL: the video game, Grand Theft Auto. 

  When one of my friends first saw this game in college, she was embarrassed to be present as a woman. At that particular moment, some big-wig of the city was inviting a prostitute into his car (in order to increase his health), after that car had just run down numerous citizens and cops for points. You watch them do their thing for a long, awkward moment and the game continues with its other objectives: assassinations, street racing, drug-dealing, and drunk-driving. Before continuing, however, you can kill the prostitute to get your money back. The game was created so the player might take on the role of a hopeful, up-and-coming criminal who takes his orders from the the mobsters in any such major city as San Fran, NYC, Miami and others. I ask you-- what we have been pondering--is this really what we want for our kids? 

  Courts have tried to raise the age to 17 for these games, with no success. 17? We challenge that these games are not right for ANYONE. Games were created to entertain and to promote creativity in the problem-solving process. Must we create games to solve the problem of getting around the law? Of murdering those who work to protect us? Somehow, these games went from being the detective to catch criminals and still teach about the world and history (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?) to being Carmen Sandiego and working to evade those who, in real life, are the good guys! This is truly and American Morality FAIL.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things We Fear Before Having a Baby

Image
money.aol.co.uk When you are dating seriously, people ask when you will get engaged.  When you get engaged, people ask “when’s the date?” When you get married, people ask when you’re planning on having children. Hopefully they are family and not some nosey busy-body from work. But when my sister asked me this question, I said, “Hopefully not for a long time.” She was surprised. But I honestly never thought I would get to get married. Never saw that one on the horizon. Not that I think I’m ugly or am against marriage--I just never thought that something as wonderful as falling in love could ever happy to me. Anyway...babies. Babies??? Whoa, whoa, whoa, people. I’m just getting used to sharing a toothbrush with ONE other person, metaphorically speaking. I mean, my whole life just turned upside down. I don’t want to get all wishy-washy on you as to all the things I would miss in our marriage if a baby came, but honestly, I rarely see a baby I wish was my own. To
Read more

Finding a Marriage Partner that Fills in Your Gaps

Image
If anyone’s ever seen the comic from Hyperbole & a Half, the comic entitled “Depression” does a fantastic job at describing my own awkwardness. In it, there is a woman talking and another looking at her with a strange face (this would be me). The woman stops talking and asks, “What are you doing?” The other (me) responds, “I’m...connecting with you.” This is how I feel when I talk with others. I’m constantly wondering if I’m making the right face.  I always thought I would marry some awkward computer geek that relied on me and my social graces (I thought they were awesome at the time) to maneuver through a party or some other social engagement. I thought it would be cute--he would be nervous, but I would take his hand confidently and, like talk him and his Doctorate in The Sciences up to others to include him in the conversation. Sort of like that scene in A Beautiful Mind where Russel Crowe and Jennifer Connolly go on their first date and she cutely nudges him to be attent
Read more

Blue Milk Glass Hen on Nest

Image
It’s hard to know where to begin with this blue, milk-glass hen I love so much. There are SO MANY available in most every antique store you walk into. But I was looking for something specific. Carolyne Rhoem, New York Socialite decor artist (like Martha Stewart only classy and without the jail thing) and a see-through dark blue glass hen and she’s what got me on the hunt for my own. In case you didn’t know, the glass hen on the nest has a HUGE following. I’m determined not to own more than one, but I have seen a few that surprised me and I wanted to add to this little beauty. Just to show you what a big deal she is, there is a book available on amazon.com called “Glass Hen on Next Covered Dishes: Identification & Value Guide.”  Then there’s the National Milk Glass Collector’s Society which has an extensive article about identification and classification of glass hens on nest ( http://nmgcs.org/articles/42-hen-on-a-nest-studying-a-glass-collection.html ) .
Read more