Utter Perversion (II) - Pseudo Realities

Utter Perversion (II) - Pseudo Realities - Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog site! - By now, pretty much every other month or so we hear about another shooting, either at a school, a shopping mall, a movie theater or elsewhere publicly. Sure, the number of domestic shootings has meanwhile also gone up as has the amount of apprehension attempts with consequential shoot- outs directed towards this country's law enforcement. Anyway, let me focus on public armed assaults for now. Our computerized age has rather naturally opened the floodgates to all kinds of virtual realities, especially on game level, of which some are becoming dangerously similar if not almost identical to what we commonly recognize as our every- day reality. Whoever is still denying the fact that war and battle videos leave no harmful impact on immature and therefore most vulnerable gamers when they are supposed to take the role as active aggressors, snipers, alien- shooters, marks- and hit men is either delusional or quite likely some sort of representative of that giant video gaming industry. In the latter the case, the primary incentive or rather intention is not hard to guess as it's all about money. Just like with meds, guns, drugs, tobacco, etc, increasing the profit gains is the goal number one. I find it truly shocking how realistic some video animated battlefield scenarios are already including the portrayal of soldiers as well as other fighters. I am sure once the missing senses (taste, smell and tactile) have been included for the sake of completeness, it will become even harder to separate that kind of reality from our individually ones. Particularly with the two latest generations there can be witnessed a remarkable decline in functioning on a daily base both properly and appropriately. All over the North American continent (yes, Canada, too), thousands of kids and teenagers are fully hooked onto their games which are sometimes played most excessively throughout the largest part of the day. Staying up late into the night, skipping school, missing out on family dinners and gathering in general, all while remaining locked up in their rooms and gambling until their fingers bleed and their brains are fried. Doesn't this read like the perfect profile of a full- blown addicted personality with all too real withdrawal symptoms? Trying to get those confused and highly impressionable beings off that modern form of drug not seldom results in an absolute nightmare for parents, families, friends, and, yes, sometimes even spouses. What's more, the way of recovery is often a most painful and moody one and does not always bring the wanted progress or healing. Last but not least, releasing those victims back into their lives and expecting them to ultimately pick up where they left off may easily backfire and eventually pull them right back into gaming. The threshold in terms of aggression is usually crushed fast and furiously, and once crossed with high levels of every- day frustrations (often over petty and completely insignificant issues), many a troubled and lost soul ultimately chooses to go on a rampage which may potentially turn into a horrifically surreal carnage. Those seemingly walking zombies may now easily transform into perfect killing machines and at times not even spare their own parents, teachers or friends. Let me tell you something: Hypocrites we are, each and every one of us! We as parents and allegedly mature grown- ups should know better that introducing our offspring to violent games of any kind is just wrong, no matter our initial idea or intention such as substituting for our very own presence. We, the supposedly wiser and more experienced ones finally need to take a closer look at ourselves for a change as far as bullying is concerned and put a stop to it for good. We, the older and fitter ones are expected to provide our children with a toolbox as  complete and versatile as possible, so they stand tall well- equipped to all those challenges life will eventually throw at them. - More about social perversion next time.