Dear Caressa Cameron...
Posted by
DiZ, the Chocolate G.O.A.T.
That is unless you come from a community vastly and utterly different from my own. My minor research reveals that you hail from Virginia Commonwealth University and come from Fredericksburg, which I appreciate because we both know that people from Richmond, Virginia are the epitome of grimy. I have no qualms with the college because I have many a friend that attended that college, but all of them decided to pursue higher education in other locations; they claimed the curriculum wasn't engaging enough.
Before I continue this post allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Christopher Lamb, a 20 year old Virginia-born (at least raised) college student attending Clark Atlanta University. Before you ask me or berate me for not going to Morehouse allow me to say that I did attend Morehouse for two years before transferring; I found the curriculum wasn't engaging enough.
I joke; ultimately my reason for transfer was because of my ultimate goal of being a film maker. That, Ms. Cameron, is why I expressed a love for broadcast journalism, but my heart is in the world of film. And, as we both know, controversy is one of the most important elements to creating good media; this goes for both journalistic integrity and cinematography. As such, here is the main point of this letter: "Fuck you!"
Yes, these words seem unnecessarily harsh but hear me out; I tend to curse rampantly in my letters and you should not feel insulted... yet. Over the course of my life I've seen many things and experienced many events, and I've actually gotten the question, at the tender age of 20 years young, "Mr. Lamb, what do you want to be remembered by? Would it be that you are a great writer?" I say no. "Would it be that you are a consistent and loving philanthropist?" I say no. "Would it be that you are the epitome of a loyal video gamer?" Again, I say no. What I'd really want them to remember is that I'm stern in my stance of defending what I love, and as you see in the above sentences I love writing, philanthropy (which I assume we share), and playing video games. Therein lies my issue.
I don't claim to dislike you because you don't like video games; to each his or her own. However, your argument against video games is puerile at best. If I may quote your words, "Take away the TV, take away the video games, set some standards for our children!" This is much more vast than just games, but I'd like to lightly present both sides of the argument; I am a student of the field of rhetoric (not my major, but I tend to go outside the box) so argument and persuasion (again, we're both Virginians so you should appreciate this) are easy to the man writing this somewhat mean spirited letter.
We'll deal with the bad first. More than often video games are blamed for some of the most violent and infamous crimes in society and the world. Let's look at the issues: Columbine, Virginia Tech, some future war thanks to Modern Warfare 2 perhaps, I can't say. Did these, I wonder, have any basis in video games? Perhaps; I'm not psychologist and usually the shooter takes his own life with the same gun he used to slaughter people. If I had the opportunity to ask the Virginia Tech shooter what inspired his manifesto and massacre then I would, but I cannot.
Violent video games can affect a person's mind, yes, that is something we must all admit, but the effect isn't nearly as widespread as Jack Thompson and Australia make it out to be. Ultimately video games are a form of media, just like broadcast journalism, and they all have pull.
For example, as a broadcast journalist, rather, as a possible future broadcast journalist, I am confidently aware that you vividly remember the Hurricane Katrina tragedy of 2005. I am also very sure that you, a possible future broadcast journalist, remember vividly the images of the victims of this tragedy shown to us, the American public, on television sets around the nation.
However, I am not completely sure that you can recall the word refugee being used to describe these unfortunate victims. As a possible future broadcast journalist surely you can understand how the word refugee used in a manner to describe victims can cause the public to feel removed from helping these victims in their plights.
According to the United Nations a refugee is a person owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country; and that's according to the United Nations.
Now, as you recall the images of the impoverished people standing on the roofs of their houses, waving desperately for help at the various news helicopters that flew by and offered no assistance, I wonder if you asked yourself this question: "Self... is dem niggas refugees?"
My point in bringing all of this up is to merely state that all types of media are capable of shaping the public's opinion about a given topic or is able to coerce them to act or behave in a certain manner.
What does this mean, you may be wondering? By your logic, if video games are to blame for the downfall of our youth, then are our news outlets to blame for the lackadaisical and apathetic response to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina? Should I mention the earthquake in Haiti for further elaboration on my thesis?
If anything, journalism has a more powerful hold on the minds of people than video games because of the easier access of the news and the most popular content is usually the most dreadful. Indeed, while the people must be informed they much also not be desensitized to the violence of the world, something both your area of interest and my area of passion manage to do.
However, you never made any particular claim, at least none I've seen (if I'm horribly mistaken please let me know) that explained why you are anti-video game, just that you are. I believe your argument is that people become anti-social and cold hearted or mean spirited because they play video games more so than they go outside and play; I believe you say what you say because there are a number of overweight children going around and playing World of Warcraft as opposed to trying to cure cancer. Perhaps, but at what point does personal responsibility become a factor in this equation as opposed to unjust resentment directed towards industries you have no true knowledge about?
I've been playing video games since the tender age of three; I have fond memories of defeating Blanka with the immortal Ryu in Street Fighter 2 with a flaming fireball and I still like to do that today. I'm not saying video games are 100% beneficial to the player, but I can boast quicker reaction times, much better hand-eye coordination, even increased brain speed, all thanks to the quick thinking necessary with Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis (not the current generation one, that was awful). Similar minded video gamers tend to congregate and become friends; they tend to engage in the video game universe first and go on to, more than often at least, seamlessly drift into more fulfilled friendships as time and controllers go on. However, you probably don't know this, not being a gamer yourself and speaking from the outside looking in.
There lies the biggest issue with what you say: you're on the outside looking in. Can a man or woman that hasn't dabbled in politics be a good candidate for president? Can a farmer who spent his entire life picking crops immediately be thrown into the world of big business and expect to make the company very strong? Conventional wisdom says no, though I've been proven wrong before. After all, I did say the Miss America pageant was a load of crap, but what do I know? I'm not a Miss America contestant so I can't speak for it.
We must deal with the obvious: you come from a more rural area of Virginia where plantations and military battlefields are around every corner, so yes, your experience is different from mine. I was raised in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Norfolk, the Tidewater area, so I was always around more urban environments. Let me tell you: if I was out "playing imaginary games with sticks in the street" like you did when you were little, I'd of been hurt. As a matter of fact, what the hell were you doing playing imaginary games in the street? At the very least, couldn't you have used the stick for a purpose, like digging a hole in the safety of your front yard as opposed to in the middle of the street? Granted, Fredericksburg isn't Portsmouth; you can sit in the middle of a rather lowly populated town and the odds of getting hit by a car are much lower than in my home of P-Town. But still, imaginary games? How do you play imaginary games? That doesn't even make sense. At the very least you aren't Carrie Prejean though.
The elements of what a person does is directly related to their environment, for the most part. I played video games because of outside influence; I continue to play video games because its an outlet, a clever method of story telling, a way to go into another world without playing imaginary games with sticks and streets. Video games, in and of themselves, have no influence whatsoever; the person playing them, the individual, does. Not every video gamer is the stereotypical nerd with a 50 inch waist, 200 pounds of fat and no desire to see direct sunlight. Take me for example: I'm 20, in good shape, have an active social life and still maintain a hefty love of video games, actually critiquing them in my spare time which I have a lot of because I do my homework. In fact, one of my favorite things to do is debate on the whole issue of the positives of video games to the ignorant, i.e. you. Remember, ignorant means you don't know. If I called you stupid then I'd expect anger from you. As such, I expect minimal anger at best, but there's something about Virginia women that causes them to take everything to the next level when there is none. With that in mind, let me cut out the middle man and incite that anger. This is where the truly angry part of me comes out.
Listen to me, Ms. Cameron. If you really want to make it in the world of anything, journalism especially, you better learn to appreciate the realms of all digital and electronic media outside of your dying breed of television journalism. Until you have sat down with a video game controller and played a video game like a true gamer you don't have the right to say a damn thing. You can't claim to have such a better life when you yourself claim that you are a pianist but you couldn't get anything with it (one of my friends from Spelman is a pianist too; she's very successful), that you played varsity but couldn't get anything (again, that's a nothing special), and you had good grades but couldn't get anything. You claim you went into the Miss American pageant for the scholarship, but I have my doubts. Let's remember that your money from the competition comes from getting into a bikini and shaking your ass for Rush "I Hate Niggers" Limbaugh in the city of sin Las Vegas. Now ponder on that for a minute, your majesty.
Not Nearly As Mad As You May Think,
Christopher Lamb
P.S. -- Thank you, $Money$, for your valuable input that only makes this constructive criticism much more beneficial and worthwhile. And yes, I will return your game to you when I'm finished.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
