Don't want to rumble . . . A fledgling samurai does not fight the master. Besides, I am leaving in a bit and don't have the time.


Well, now, nothing I guess.

 

And it's comments like that which demonstrate who is unable to understand beyond the superficial.

It's more about exposure, the intensity of that exposure, and the fact that the mind is turned off/numbed, and the brain is just taking it all in on a subconscious level.

It not whether people have always been cruel (and stupid) . . . they always have been and always will be. However, its intensity, its regularity, and the fact that it is so completely accepted (and even thought of as "fun") is what is changing. And it has only become worse with the passage of time.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't feel the world is any more "aggressive" than any other time in human history. Yeah, sure, there might have been "calm periods" or cycles where you could make that assertion. Overall though it's a falacy to think that we today are generally densensitized. The large number of sickos existed in just about every time period in history. At some points these people were actually accepted. The only real difference is with the mass media it's shoved in our face every day, and with the larger number of people living in large urban areas these people have more of a chance to do their evil.

Blaming all the world's ills on video games and the like is, to a point, irresponsible.

 

All the world's ills ?????

Did I blame all the world's ills on video games, TV, and the like?

I don't think I did, but let's go back and check . . .

I think the operative word here is "helped", as in it has HELPED to desensitize us to violence, and HELPED to increase violence, and that a large part of the "increase" has to do with our "acceptance" of violence as a way of life, which is so aptly demonstrated in the commercial. Of course it's intended to be humor, and not to be taken seriously. But that is also part of its problem.

As to whether the world is any more aggressive or not could be open to debate, and certainly an argument could be made that, in terms of sheer numbers, the increase correlates to the simple fact that the population has increased. Undoubtedly you could do a study that could produce numbers that support either side, but what I'm referring to goes beyond numbers. It has to deal with a sense about the value of life, which as much as it sadens me to say it, has seemed to decrease greatly these past few decades.

And hey, this could be a local thing, although I doubt it based on how the news I get here in Lost Angeles is the same as the rest of the country gets, even in Florida.

I don't know how old you are, but if you have any memory of the last 25 or 30 years, can you honestly tell me that you haven't seen a decline in basic common decency, self-respect, respect for others, and just generally valuing anything . . . especially life? And like I said, maybe it's an LA thing, but all I have seen is a decline.

And is media totally to blame? Of course not, but it plays a very big part. I worked in media for almost a quarter of a century. And after all this time I have firmly come to believe that MARKETING is probably one of the greatest evils of all time. You might be shocked if you were to learn just how much influence and control it has over people and what they think and do (granted, a large part of the responsibility for that lies in that people don't want to think for themselves and love to be led). And one of the places marketing has led a good number of us is to believing is that everything is disposable and worthless . . . including life.

Blah, blah, blah . . . I'm rambeling. Regardless . . . whether it's been this way forever or whether life as we know it has been on the decline, the fact remains that the commercial, and what it represents on deeper levels, is troubling.

 

My gosh...

The REAL problem with America (and no doubt the rest of the world to an extent, and I'm sure it will worsen in time) is that people have to be so damn negative all the time and find a problem with EVERYTHING.

the frickin' commercial was intended to poke fun about how some people live for video games (albeit it may not be the best use of time in YOUR opinion, it is FUN for the non-tight assed people in this world who aren't technilogically inept) and take things way too seriously. IT WAS CLEARLY A JOKE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

If it really bothers you so much don't watch it and ****. I can't believe there are people that have nothing better to do than bitch and moan about a JOKE and/or video games. The world is going to hell in a hand basket and I'm pretty sure the video games are low on the list of causes.