I've been doing a lot of thinking about where I am, who I am, and where the hell I'm going from here. My family encourages my writing, and I receive my regular fix of encouragement and praise for my written disgorgement... crack for the author...ahh, right there in the brachial artery!
umm..a little light headed here...
Where was I? Oh yes, now I recall what I was seemingly oblivious to until that last shot in the arm...
I have always loved to write, be it sappy poems (to show the chicks), short stories (to make myself appear to be intellectual), essays (to show my teachers I really do know more than they do), and other such trivial bullshit prose that the majority of the populace couldn't understand, or wouldn't bother to read because I am neither mainstream pap or "edgy" enough to be thought of as anything more than a potential chalk outline to the Cohenites (if you have no idea what a Cohenite is, bravo, you're not someone who reads poetry for a name... but I do recommend some of his self-indulgent prose if you want to go undercover as a Creative Writing student).
I am not the walrus, nor am I a leper messiah... I'm rather poor at following rules regarding punctuation, but I love words...mmmm wordswordswordswords...int
Ironic that I like swords as well.
well, enough of that momentary digression, I was relating to you, oh reader of my rants. I was saying how much I love words, the poetry that can become by the mere combination of of the properly placed nouns, verbs, adjectives ad nauseum...
...And how the wrong word placed in prose can destroy a well thought out paragraph like a zit on the prom queen's face.
I make a concerted effort to infuse the people in my world with some vocabularic (I KNOW it isn't a real word...but Shakespeare gave us "alligator", and look how he did!) gymnastics to aid in the exercise of their minds and imagination. I know many of you think at this point, "What an arrogant jerk!"... you're correct in your surmising, I admit to some arrogance, and to being a jerk at times... hell, I'll even go father and admit to being an asshole if it means that you'll look up what a demagogue is and accept that I'm on the soapbox now and seeing as this is my personal forum... you can either keep reading or go back to your Archie comics and bask in your own ignorance... I'm waiting...
Video games rot the mind and the soul (or chi, ki, aura...or whatever your denomination of choice is referring to it as)... I said it, and am amazed at how many people defend the games with research performed to show that it promotes analytical thinking... so does reading and actual problem solving in the real world... I'm sure many of these researchers are trying to compensate for their own lack of parenting skills. I've watched footage of tank drivers in the military blasting thrash metal in the cabin and blasting targets outside, all the while laughing as the icons on their targeting screen disappear... and have seen the same behavior in youths in front of an Xbox. Desensitization through desensitization... brilliant! Ignore our youth, load their senses with digitized blood and gore, all the while wondering why little Johnny only has a few pasty-skinned friends who come over and hide in the basement plotting to mow down their classmates...
No, I'm not just blaming video games, I'm blaming you, the parent for not reading to your kid, for not encouraging your kid to do their best, for not spending time with them and developing social skills, for buying a video game system rather than doing something practical with them... childhood memories should be of time spent with the parents...not of level attained and games beaten.
Teens abound who cannot read or write beyond the level of a retarded orangutan, I know, they used to come to my construction workplace looking for a job, because even the McJob hiring staff wouldn't have anything to do with them.
I've taught my daughter to love words. She never hesitates to ask the meaning of a word used in our discussions, because she has a desire to know more... and she's seen me stop a conversation mid-sentence to ask the speaker for a definition... because I'm not ashamed to admit I don't know a word...
OMG,LOL,TTYL,ROFL,ROFLMAO.
I would love to rant more, but I know I've already exceeded 90% of the populace's capacity for meaningful thought... so I'll finish with this... just because you can breed, doesn't necessarily mean that you should. If you don't want to dedicate the next sixty years to seeing a child through all of life's obstacles, and are actually looking for a replacement for the puppy you had put down because it peed on your leather sofa... get spayed or neutered... kids are not accessories, video games are a waste of time, and you most likely wish you hadn't read this because now you're thinking and it hurts... and you actually thought a demagogue was an European sedan.
Pogh ma thoin
I love your rants, and reading them always makes me think...this time I'm thinking I disagree with you "somewhat".
ReplyDeleteI play WoW (yes, we've already discussed this) but appreciate it for the socialization aspect. I love to play games with my son...though we restrict it to WiiFit bowling and trying to outdo each other (your competitive nature should appreciate this) and I'm now going to use the dreaded LOL!
I hear where you are coming from though, and have used parental controls numerous times when I see him watching YouTube videos that I find detrimental to forming minds. Grand Theft Auto? No way, no how, no EVER!
He has always had an extensive vocabulary, and I wonder if that should be attributed to the name :-)
Fantastic... I find it most heartwarming to have you comment here Susan, as you're opinion tends to weigh far heavier than most. I concur that some games can be cathartic and others useful for family interaction, the issue I have with video games is that youths don't use them to learn, and the professed problem solving the youths are supposed to glean is circumvented by the plethora of "Cheats" available to beat the games. I find this behavior a learning lesson in teaching our children how to seek the easy way out of situations... a habit that if carried into adult life, will be to their detriment.
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