The best way for Johnny and Suzie parent to ensure that little Jimmy doesn't grow up to stab or shoot or garrote any number of people is a very simple one…and yet one that so many parents fail to do. It’s simply to be involved and teach your children what the media is. Some might call it ‘parenting’ and it’s a crazy concept. To parent, one has to converse with a child or spawn or little brother and pass on knowledge of how the world works, or in this specific case, how the media works. The news exists to propagate fear and conformity through that fear, yet people continue to go to whatever outlet aligns most accurately with their political outlook because they are comforted by people and opinions that coincide with their own. Movies tend to mirror whatever is going on in society; when G. W. Bush was president, we were overrun by horror films, when Clinton was running things, we were all swept away in a bunch of romantic comedy/finding love after someone cheated on you drivel. Currently, with President Obama, we’re beset by terrorist plots and Washington falling in a vast array of explosions that might put Michael Bay movies to shame. As for television, we have to deal with the idea that some jackass from bumfuck Idaho can be the next great American singer; and 85 knock offs featuring slightly less overtly talented jackasses being coached by ‘pop icons’. As for music, there is nothing overly new happening here; indie trash and hipsters are still running things thanks to Apple (RIP Steve Jobs). Finally we come to video games; the current scapegoat for all of society’s ills, when Democrats aren’t blaming Republicans…and vise versa. With technology continuing to advance at a blinding pace, video games have to keep up to remain a viable entertainment outlet and industry. With this comes the ability for video games to mimic real life even closer, through the Playstation Move, the Xbox Kinect, and Nintendo Wii & Wii U: Wii college edition. Video games are now being used to help rehab patients all across the United States and bring families together in the home, if the media is to be believed. In colleges across America, video games and virtual reality (which some believe is the next step in video games) are being used to examine what happens to a person’s brain while they play and immediately after playing. Video games are even being used as potential tour and college guides.
How is such a ‘destructive’ medium used in such incredible ways? Do any of the lawmakers and ‘media experts’ consider this when calling for video games to be banned in California? What kinds of art will never be made if they succeed? All of these questions (and plenty more) deserve answers. One way to learn these answers is to take an interest in what you buy your children and what they buy themselves. I’m a grown ass man and still make it a point to include my parents in what I buy, because they made sure to know what I spent my (and their) money on growing up. Did they always agree with me playing video games? Of course not! No parent approves of what their kids buy all of the time; it would be absurd to think otherwise. Did they make sure I knew the difference between real life and what happens within a screen? You bet your ass they did. They were not experts in media, but they were damn good parents who took the time to be parents in addition to having careers and hobbies and lives. They took the time to explain that what happens on television is not real life. They took the time to have conversations with their son about what happens as a result of any action.
I’m issuing a challenge to parents everywhere. Stop letting a box do your goddamn job. Be responsible adults and pass on knowledge to those you love and trust to be adults after your time. Don’t think that giving tiny people who can’t vote food and shelter is enough; give them something worth having, give them the tools to survive and thrive now and into the future. There was always time to parent when we didn't have such easy ways of communicating at our fingertips, there is sure as shit time now. Stop looking for the easy way out, so you can escape blame scot-free. Grow the f up and be parents to your children. We all need you to be, because well informed people are becoming few and far between and this, people, is unacceptable. If you don’t, who will?
I was iffy about publishing this one, as one of my parents passed away recently. He was and continues to be such an important force in my life, and it would be doing him a disservice not to. I love you dad.
