Playing at violence and war is nothing new. So why does Ron Jeremy, of all people, feel the need to call out violent video games while promoting porn? (photo from blackandwtf.tumblr.com)

I’ve been away from the blog for a while. Needless to say, lots going on. One of those things, I’m sad to admit, has been video games. When there is a lot going on in your personal life that you don’t want to deal with might need a break from dealing with, it’s not uncommon to seek some escapism in a fantasy world. It’s why entertainment still does well in a recession. It’s why millions of angst ridden teenagers get involved in epic fantasy series. It’s why I like video games.

After a week of working 9 hour days under the hum of fluorescent lights in an inconsistently heated office, it’s fun to get lost in the life of a wood elf. Or a 12th century assassin. Or the commander of a space ship. I still love to read. I play my drums. But there isn’t much on TV that interests me. Same with movies. My only real interest in the TV is, “can I hook my PS3 up to it?”. I built my last computer so it would run World of Warcraft better. (In fact, I might not even be writing this if C weren’t using the PlayStation to stream Lost.)

But while I’ve been away, working and trying to decide which from an incredible slate of winter games to focus on first, some crazy things have been happening in the world that remind us that, man, people are just plain weird!

Exhibit A:

Ron Jeremy writing on Kotaku about why porn is more natural and healthy than violent video games.

What he fails to address, in all of this, are the underlying reasons for violence. Why do people commit violent acts? Why is it (seemingly) more common in some regions than others? Is violence really any more common in the US? Is it more common today than it was in days of yore? And, most importantly, do video games cause violence, or are violent games merely a reflection of a cultural obsession with, and glorification of, violence that is already in place?

I’d say, to me anyway, it’s pretty obviously the latter. We, as a society, fetishize and celebrate violence. Perhaps because it really is one of those things that most will never actually engage in, unlike sex, and that is why it is so fascinating. Blaming violence in society, especially American society which has always celebrated violence in pulp novels, movies, etc., on products that are simply a reflection of that obsession, is putting the cart before the horse.

Likewise, claiming that porn doesn’t cause sexual deviancy misses the point. Of course porn doesn’t cause sexual deviancy, but it does most definitely enable it. People look at pornography for many reasons, but a healthy sexual appetite isn’t the only reason. Many undeniably turn to pornography precisely because they can’t accept those things they are attracted to, but they can watch or look at pornographic images of it. And I’m not even saying this is necessarily a bad thing. I’m attaching no moral judgment to it. I’m simply acknowledging that it isn’t so black and white.

Mr. Jeremy, I respect your work (such as it is). You give hope to the dreams of fat, hairy-backed men around the world that they, too, may someday have a threesome with two gorgeous strangers who will seduce them on an airplane. But you gotta realize you’re reaching here.

Exhibit B:

My new favorite photoblog, and source of the images used in this post, Black and WTF? Proof positive that people are not only weird now, but always have been weird.

Exhibit C:

Saudi Arabia is still sentencing people to death for witchcraft and sorcery. This is one of the many stories I meant to post about during my absence; but Saudi Arabia, late last year, sentenced a Lebanese television personality and “psychic” to death for sorcery. Ali Hussain Sibat was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2008 after making a pilgrimage to Mecca when religious police recognized him from his television show. This isn’t the first time the nation has sentenced people to death for sorcery. You may recall that in 2008 Saudi authorities were under fire from human rights groups for the scheduled execution of an illiterate woman accused of cursing a man with impotence. Sibat was still alive at last report, while accused witch Fawza Falih remains on death row.

So yeah. People are weird. And violent. We always have been. We’re violent in nations with loose controls on how violence is portrayed in the media. And we are no less cruel in nations where violent and objectionable material is highly censored.

We always have been weird and violent, and we will be until we kill each other off.

Photo from: http://www.joystiq.com

Of course CNN talks about the applications suggested in big budget sci-fi movies like Avatar and the Matrix, and the perfunctory various medical applications.

But to be honest, if it follows the course of other technologies, I see the first practical commercial applications of the technology being applied to porn or games (or porn games, like these, because I’m betting the Japanese will be the first to make it work anyway). In fact,the manufacturers of the Emotiv Epoc claim to already have a device that allows the user to control games with their mind. How well this device actually works though hasn’t quite been established yet, with those viewing demos of the tech often less than impressed. But this is how the technology will end up being developed; by selling high-priced, low value toys and gimmicks to those eager early adopters.

Then, after enough people have telepathically pawed their digital harem of anime girls or bought the expensive peripheral with the Men Who Stare at Goats video game and want to do something else with it, it will filter down to other games, the controls will be refined, and then the technology will finally be cheap and reliable enough for it to be viable for giving the average amputee without unlimited funds the ability to scratch his or her own ass make their own pot of coffee in the morning.

So instead go check out this new MMO under development by Funcom (the folks who brought us the Age of Conan MMO). Set in the modern world, it’s based on the premise that, besides the everyday world we all know, a Secret World of demons, monsters,  and shadowy secret societies and conspiracies exists and exerts a very real influence on the “real” world.

You can read more about it, from folks who know more about it than I do, at Kotaku here, here, and here.

Anomaly TeleVision » Blog Archive » FLASHBACK: ARG-Watch on PsiOp-Radio May 2009

This Week’s Anomaly TeleVision Round-Up:

• Austin City Council Meeting 8/6/2009 Item #9: Austin Regional Intelligence Center
• Man Exercising Open Carry in Phoenix Explains Obamacare: Theft Plain and Simple
• MSNBC Anchor: Socialist Is Becoming the New N-Word
• Bridgewater Bigfoot Tracks
• Lost Creek Flying Saucer as Reported Upon by Gray Barker
• Alex Jones as THE JOKER!!

This is what we think of your "community service", Buckeyes!

So, we missed the “because it’s Thursday” feature last week. Sorry about that. I had a whole thing on weird law enforcement planned, but I read Mack’s articles on the tasering of grandmothers and thought to myself “this is too serious an issue to dilute with frivolous arrest stories.”

But this week we’re back, and leading off with the neatest free, educational game I’ve seen in a while; Wolf Quest. I mean, where else are you going to find a game that encourages kids to “harass grizzly bears with your mate” and pee on things?

You can check out the promotional video here.

Now, on to the pre-empted police insanity; it seems that cops in Ohio really have too much time on their hands. I mean you’d think that with a failing economy, rising unemployment, and a prescription drug problem that had reached epidemic levels BEFORE the recession put everyone in crisis and desperation mode, they’d have bigger fish to fry. But not so. No, Ohio is intent on excercising all due dilligence to ensure that responsible citizens learn to stay in their place! And that place is apparently NOT contributing to the good of their communities.

First, we have the 81 year old Akron man, a retired construction worker, who dared share his experience with road crews and even give them a hand prepping a pothole in front of his house for patching. His reward? A charge for criminal damaging.

Not to be outdone by their colleagues in Akron, Sandusky police arrested a man for mowing the grass in a public park after the cash strapped city had to cut back on seasonal maintenance. But while those charges may be dropped, the state still isn’t done embarassing itself or its citizens.

In the southern Ohio town of Reading, for example, the police are earning the citizen’s tax dollars by harassing business people over their decorations. Specifically a bikini clad mannequin that has the prudish elements of this Cincinnatti area enclave fuming. I suppose when you’re bitter that your gerrymandering to get rid of a popular Democrat Congressman not only doesn’t work, but that same Congressman leaves the House of Representatives and takes over the Governor’s seat, you got to get your kicks where you can*. Good on you Cincinnatti. Now you can be known for something besides your racism and disappointing sports franchises.

Finally, wrapping up our Ohio weirdness, we have a 90 year old widow from the Columbus area causing a stir when she attempted to donate a WWII artillery shell to the Motts Military Museum in Groveport. Although her husband had held it in their home as a souvenir, without incident, for over 60 years after receiving it in appreciation for his service during the war; her donation led to the bomb squad being called out until it was confirmed that the shell was safe.

Luckily for her, Ohio broke its pattern of punishing a sense of community and history and didn’t arrest her.

*For those from outside the state or region, there have been several attempts to kill the working class Democratic hold on the southeastern portion of the otherwise red state, usually from redistricting to dillute the  strongly Democratic portions of the state by placing small swathes of them in largely Republican districts, as occured when the western part of Scioto County, where Strickland’s ancestral home stands, was moved from his Sixth District into the strongly Republican Second District of then Congressman Rob Portman.

Watching the ARGonauts Play

If you’ve followed the Elfis Network from the beginning then you know of my early interest in Alternate Reality Gaming and their potential for “mucking up the works” for paranormal and parapolitical researchers. You may also know that my interests were rekindled in 2007 by the provocative hypotheses of blogger DreamsEnd, who speculated that the mysterious suicides of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake were some kind of sophisticated art hoax or viral marketing / alternate reality game. After a very rough period of defending his theories online, blogger DreamsEnd temporarily pulled up shop, taking down his websites. My own re-investigations into ARGland dwindled and I too went back to my normal para activities…

That is until I became aware of a new blog that was following many of the threads explored by DreamsEnd; KadesKorner. Here was another blogger (with a writing style nearly identical to that found at DreamsEnd) writing about many of the themes and topics we’d been exploring during the Theremicity period: Andy Kaufman, Election Fraud, Andy Stephenson, false identities, the Franklin Coverup, the Octopus and PROMIS, Middle East parapolitics and … Theresa Duncan and ARGs! And through “Kade” I learned of a new ARG to watch out for; what has come to be called TGATT or The Great And The Terrible aka I’m Sorry. But before getting off into the I’m Sorry mindfu…, er um, ARG, let’s take a peek at some of the more interesting ARGs and Viral Marketing campaigns that have been bleeding through their alternate ARGiverse realities into our own.

Read more »