The highlight of my summer would definitely be having talked to my little brother for the first time in 6-7 years. I consider myself an only-child because he is my half brother and was raised by my biological father and his mother. Our relationship was strained because of familial problems that had transpired over the years. Severing relationships pervaded my family and my father's conscious choice to favor my brother over me because of the poor relationship he had with my mom discouraged me from creating a relationship with my brother. But that is all over now. I called my lil' bro for the first time about a week ago and it lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders. I felt guilty because for so long, I was consciously making a choice to not be in my brother's life which is exactly what my father did to me. But after having a few conversations with some close friends of mine, I gathered up the courage to call him. While the conversation was relatively brief, it meant a lot. It's unfortunate that he lives in Atlanta now which means I won't be able to see him as much as I would like. But I'm definitely excited for his future. He's going into high school in the fall and these are going to be the most important four years of his life and I'm excited and anxious to be apart of that process. We talked about a few things and one thing I got from him is that he's really into video games and sports, just like I am. I'm totally going to breed as him as a tar heel fan. That plan should definitely work since I'm his big brother and I go to UNC. Maybe he'll want to emulate my journey and Carolina will be his dream school in three years. Hopefully. At the conversation's end, he told me he loved me......and I returned the statement.
So as my man Mos Def would say, "without any further shaninigans", here is my first entry for the first time in a long time.
This entry is written in reference to an article that I read some time ago on yahoo.com about New York State preparing to enforce new regulations on video games, gaming companies, and consoles. Before you read my opinion, it would be beneficial to read the article first. If you don't click on that hyperlink because malaise has consumed you mentally so much so that you don't want to read a rather synthesized article, then that's sad. My laisse-faire attitude doesn't coincide with these new plans or stipulations at all. I'll retort the article's title by saying, yes, the law(s) is unconstitutional. The law definitely violates civil liberties, however,I do understand why the federal government wants to become austere about themes that are produced by the gaming industry.
"We have the obligation to be constantly vigilant about amending our laws to protect the residents of New York State. Many of these bills will do just that by closing loopholes or creating new laws to enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers," said Governor Paterson in a Tuesday press release.
The gaming industry is not the primary catalyst of violence and crime in New York State, or the world. The article also mentions that there will be, "an advisory council to conduct a study on the connection between interactive media and real-life violence in minors exposed to such media." I'll support the idea of the research, but I won't be a proponent of the study if the intention is to seek scientific, psychological, and empirical data that corroborates the belief that video games influence gamers to become bellicose, rapists, drug dealers, or death-craved vigilantes. It's not just games that instill self-destructive themes into the minds of people that lead them into becoming criminals or violent human beings. Aside from the study, I just don't think the government should have the right to regulate art.
There are plenty films, pieces of music, photographs, clothing, plays, and some other leisurely activities such as contact sports that entail violent themes. There should be a collective study on all art forms and interactive activities to see how they affect people and their thoughts. I think the government is isolating the gaming industry because its become a cash crop. Unfortunately, the gaming industry remains vulnerable to the government because of the nature of its distribution and thus government officials can arbitrate on whether to stipulate decrees that will ultimately subjugate the gaming industry. The government is just looking for a scapegoat and that idea is affirmed with the reasoning behind this concerted effort to regulate video games and how and who they are distributed to.
Violence and crime rates have been ascending for years and instead of attacking what we know are the verities of the problem, they attack the gaming industry. Conducting an exhaustive study on all the nuances of society with the objective being to understand what facets of our world evoke violent behavior out of people who potentially become assailants is great. But how about we just accept the notion that there are just bad people on this planet. I recall one of my College Summit constituents telling our students that human beings are "perfectly imperfect", which is incredibly true. We have to accept the intricacy of our nature and the fact is there are going to be people who want to kill, steal, rape, and abuse others. Trying to forge a coalition against the gaming industry and ultimately pummeling them into submission with laws is not going to remedy the societal domestic problems that law enforcement officials and political officials have to deal with everyday.
"New Yorkers do not need the state judging which video games are appropriate and which aren't," she sad. "Parents, not government committees, should be responsible for making those judgments. If the legislature wants to reduce youth violence, it should fund educational programs to teach students conflict resolution skills."
At least someone is using critical thought.
Parting Thoughts:
I want to hand out a few superlatives since the summer is coming to a close. This will be an exhaustive analytical verve list as I'll be stating my favorite artistic entities thus far in my life. While it may seem trivial and almost juvenile, it's pretty significant to me. I'm only using it as a measuring tool to examine what were my favorite art pieces up until a certain time. This is just going to serve as a marker so when I look back on this, maybe a year from now, I can compare my favorites artists and artistic products from this point and that point and see how my interests have developed or changed.
Best Rap Albums
Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) –Digable Planets
Jazzmatazz -Guru
Late Registration –Kanye West
The Tipping Point –The Roots
Finding Forever -Common
Ishmael ‘Butterfly’ Butler a.k.a Cherrywine
Black Thought (The Roots)
Common
Guru
Boots (The Coup)
Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (Digable Planets)
A Copland Celebration, Vol. 1 (Aaron Copland and Orchestra)
Visions of A New World (Lonnie Liston Smith)
The Five Heartbeats Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (The Five Heartbeats)
Taio Cruz
Hugh Masakela
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Loreena McKennitt
Machito
Branford Marsalis
Lonnie Liston Smith
Terrence Blanchard
Donald Byrd
Dizzy Gillespie
Ain’t No Sunshine (Soul For Real)
In The Still of the Night (Boyz II Men)
Mbube (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
It’s So Hard [Acapella Version] (Boyz II Men)
In Time of Need (From Terence Blanchard’s Tale of God’s Will: A Requiem For Katrina)
Yes and No (From Branford Marsalis’ Random Abstract)
Hey Pachucho (From Royal Crown Revue’s Mugzy’s Move)
Cool Yule (From Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World Christmas)
Desert Nights (From Lonnie Liston Smith’s Expansions)
Pop Top 40 (From Branford Marsalis Quartet and Terence Blanchard’s Mo’ Better Blues Soundtrack)
Basketball Jones (Chris Rock & Barry White)
Because I Got High (Afroman)
No Sex (Chris Rock)
No Pigeons (Sporty Thieves)
It's The Hard Knock Life [remix] (Dr. Evil)
Wrote This Song A Long Time Ago (Dave Chapelle)
Corey Holcomb
Deon Cole
Deray Davis
Rodman
Lavell Crawford
Jamie Foxx’s Straight from the Foxx Hole
Bernie Mac’s Performance on The Original Kings of Comedy
Eddie Griffith’s Dysfunctional Family
Sarah Silverman’s Jesus is Magic
Baby (The Roots' Game Theory)
Addiction (Kanye West's Late Registration)
Summer Madness (Kool & The Gang's Light Of The Worlds)
Quiet Storm (Smokey Robinson's A Quiet Storm)
They Reminisce Over You (Pete Rock & CL Smooth's Mecca and The Soul Brother)
In Time of Need (Terence Blanchard's A Tale of God's Will [A Reqium For Katrina])
I’ll Make Love To You (Boyz II Men)
You [DarkChild Remix] (Jesse Powell)
I Care About You (Milestone)
Made To Love Ya (Gerald Levert)
This Woman’s Work (Maxwell)
Clear (Cybotron)
Tapped (Skream)
Into The Sun (Diplo)
Hip Hop Bee Bop (Man Parrish)
Al-Naafiysh (Hashim)
Storm (Jamie Foxx)
Anywhere (112)
Freak Me (Silk)
All The Things (Joe)
Turn Off The Lights (Teddy Pendergrass)
I Wanna Rock (Luke)
Da Butt (E.U.)
Cha Cha Slide (Some DJ)
Now Drop (Timbaland and Magoo)
Def Jam 200 (Fat Man Scoop)
Arrested Development
Boogie Down Productions
Eric B. & Rakim
LL Cool J
The Sugar Hill Gang
Spike Lee
Quentin Tarantino
The Hughes Brothers
Keenan Ivory Wayans
Hype Williams
Denzel Washington
Will Smith
Angelina Jolie
Wesley Snipes
Ossie Davis
Malcolm X
The Five Heartbeats
Titanic
Network
The Last Supper
Plantanos & Collard Greens
Auction Block on Hip Hop
Julius Caesar
No Child
Rent
Seth McFarland
Spike Lee
Aaron McGruder
Keenan Ivory Wayans
Robert Townsend
The Cosby Show (Nick at Nite/TBS/USA/Fox)
Boston Public (TV One)
The Boondocks (Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim)
Charlie Rose (PBS)
Pardon The Interruption (ESPN)
The O Tapes
Hurricane Katrina: A Requiem in Four Acts
Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card
Joe Louis: America’s Hero…..Betrayed.
The Boys of Baraka
Bad Santa
Slither
Don’t Be A Menace In South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood
Harlem Nights
I’m Gonna Get You Sucka
Flava of Love (Season 2)
B.E.T.’s Hip Hop vs. _______
I Love New York (Season 1)
Degrassi
The Democratic Nomination Race
Mind Hunters
The Saw Trilogy
Paycheck
Clue
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (ABC)
Family Feud (Fox)
Double Dare (Nickelodeon)
Wheel of Fortune (ABC)
Jeopardy (ABC)
Rugrats
Rocko’s Modern Life
Hey Arnold
Doug
Little Bear
Look out for Miracle at St. Anna. And continue to, as my man Doodlebug would say, "Brew funk inside your soul kitchen".
First of all, let me say I'm thrilled that you're back blogging!
ReplyDeleteLet's see, yhis is going to be interesting as I don't feel well but we can talk more about specifics later. I agree, the gaming industry shouldn't be targeted solely. It is media violence as a whole; studies have shown that media violence (including that from video games) leads to increased aggression. From a social psych standpoint the issue isn't whether the video games will without a doubt, inevitably lead to criminal outbursts, but that the likelihood of aggression is increased.
As far as your comment about the study. For the study to have any validity - among the public or in the scientific community... and be a try "study" with relevant findings, the study can't "look for something." It creates to many biases..."experimenter biases" and "self-fulfilling prophecy as well."
Yeah, the government controlling it is...interesting. There probably should be more focus on other ways to decrease aggression and violence, but there is an issue of kids getting their hands on inappropriate material. Some parents don't know, don't care, or are too naive, or too busy to look at what their children are playing. So, do we put restrictions on media? Have parenting classes? That's just me...we'll talk later though.
[Sorry, I know I just went on a social psych rant...did I tell you I'm about make psych my 2nd major?]
ok so 1 congrats on your bro HUGE HUGE step 4 u and i am proud you took that.... we can talk about that later.... and 2 if you havent heard Nas's untitled cd it is really good if u havent u shud take a listen
ReplyDelete