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WTF is this world coming to???

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/front-page/story/796910.html

Sad story.  In regards to "WTF is this world coming to", this isn't anything new.  It's not new behavior.  I know a lot of people love to think that this wouldn't have happened in the 50's, 60's, 70's, etc and blame the "youth of America" for not being what it used to be.  Just ain't true.

Growing up in Oakland I remember seeing people getting jacked at a very early age.  I specifically remember a kid in 4th grade being caught with a gun in his back pack.  I was in 4th grade around 1977, if my math is right.



Edited for typo

Honestly, Maine, I'd never heard of that when I was a kid.  Sure, we had the typical school bullies extorting money, but all they had to back them up was their fists. 

This is a really sad story.  If they charge that kid as an adult, he's ruined his life. 

media is very very different now then it was in the 70's and 80's. we didn't have instant access to the internet and 24/7 news coverage.

I couldn't think of a good reason to charge this kid as an adult.  I do see some chances that his parents are going to come under some pretty serious fire, though.  A 1st grader can't be more than, what?  Six years old?  He simply doesn't KNOW better.

That is really exactly it.  The same things have been happening for hundreds of years, you just didn't know about it.  Shoot, I don't know if that kid getting busted with a gun when I was a kid even made the local news. 

I don't think things like this made the news back then. Which was better in my opinion. We over sensationalize everything.

We didn't have nationalized local news back then.

In the '50s, if a kid went missing in Denver, you didn't hear about it on the news EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR WEEKS in freaking Seattle.

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm in school up here in Orlando for and trying to prevent . Reaching these kids  younger and younger is getting harder and harder.  Obviously this kid has been exposed to this before and hopefully they can save him. I doubt he even knows exactly what he did and the conquences of his actions. 

Nice take.

Was there anything else to this?  It says it could be the parents or video games (I say the parents again) but I don't see a real reason for the robbery.  If this kid grows up watching Dexter there could be complications.

I'm still up here in Training............. :-\

We had a gang expert from the CIA who was a guest speaker today. He said that while they can't say that video games are directley responsible for the increase in violence, they definitely do exploit the lifestyle and the violence.  He showed us a game where if you reach the highest level you get to piss in a police officers mouth. I don't care how many traffic tickets you have gotten , if you do not find that disturbing and you let anyone under the age 16 play that game you are an asshole.  This is one of the most popular games out today. 

If you you dig that kind of stuff , you can't say kids exposed to these games and allowed to play them are not gonna carry some of that mind frame with them in daily life.  I used to believe Superman was real when I was 6-7.  Can you imagine a video game on a big screen that you get to interact with?!!   :|

Funny you mention this.  I was in Best Buy yesterday, doing some Christmas shopping, and I saw this lady who looked to be in her mid to late 30's buying a copy of the latest Grand Theft Auto game.  My curiosity got the better of me and I asked who it was for.  She said it was for her 11 year old son.

I immediately suggested she put it back on the shelf.  I then explained to her the type of stuff that was in that game, as well as the E, T, and M ratings for video games and what they mean (GTA is M rated of course)  She took my advice and put it back on the shelf.   At least I saved one kid from being exposed to that kind of garbage.

Tommy thats awesome.  Thats the game that was mentioned. I bet half the parents out there don't supervise or even know what there kids are seeing on these games, MTV, and the internet. Its really a big problem and the training I'm doing with hopefully get to some of these kids. Good Job........we can't do it alone thats for sure.

Thanks a lot Defense.  When it comes to my son, I make it very clear.  He cannot play any M rated games.  And T rated games, I have to take a look at before he can play them.  Although he's almost 11 years old now, so sooner or later, I might just let him play T rated games. 

Way to be responsible, Tommy.  I'm from BFE so nobody understands the ratings around here but most don't give a rat's ass anyway.  You know they don't know when they pick up Rock Band 2 for the PS3 and then grab a Wii guitar.  Is GTA IV the game you were talking about Defense? 

I still blame the parents (or lack of) for this first graders act.  You can't protect them from everything but there's got to be a middle ground.  Of course, I might think differently if I had kids.

yeah, GTA was the game. I had no idea how graphic it was and the last scene with the degration was inexucusible.  I really wish the worst on the designers of the game who profit from such a thing.

GTA is an awesome game .. it's alot of fun ..

if you don't like the game then don't buy it .. it's that simple

if you don't want your kids to play it .. then don't buy it .. also simple

you can't blame the world for being the world .. humans are animals .. and animals are violent by nature. I have no problem with this GTA game .. i'd have no problem if it were 10 times as violent ..  once you're a consenting adult, then you are free to do whatever you want in my view as long as you aren't interfering with anyone else's rights.

would i buy this game for an 11-14 year old kid ? not a chance in hell .. but for a 16-17 year old .. probably .. a game is a game and reality is reality .. with the way technology is evolving, i think teaching our kids the difference between reality and fantasy is becoming more important.

I go along with what you're saying.  The problem with GTA is when the 17-year old buys it and the 10-year old brother sits and watches because the parents don't understand what the game is about.  MTV was a big deal when I was a kid but the only time I saw it was at my cousin's house.  Case in point, kids grow up way to fast nowadays with the advent of technology and there doesn't seem to be a way to stop it without cutting into grown-up fun. 

Do you wish the worst on the makers of the Godfather and Pulp Fiction where there is an equally violent disrespect for law?

I don't remember anything remotely like pissing in the mouth of a cop from either of those films.

Whoever talked about GTA like this just doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.  To anyone who's played GTA, this is obvious.

I played this game from start to finish and there is no scene of pissing in the mouth of a cop.  But, even if there was, there also isn't a "highest level" structure either where such an act would be required or rewarded.

Games are increasingly getting more and more open, so you can do what you want.  That freedom lets people do detestable things sometimes, but is not indicative of the overarching story as a whole.

In Reservoir Dogs, they tie up a police officer and graphically cut his ear off.  Terrible crap happens in these movies all the time.  Games are a new media, and people who don't play them or weren't raised with them don't understand that it's not a medium for children anymore.  A kid getting a hold of a video game they shouldn't be playing falls on the parents or guardians of that kid...not the makers of the game.  And just like with movies, if kids are watching movies that they shouldn't be, it's not the movie's fault; it's lax parenting.

I'm an adult and enjoy playing games that tell a story, even if that story is about detestable characters, just as I like movies that do the same.

To give another quick example, this would be like taking footage of Super Mario Bros, where kids are intentionally jumping off of a cliff to their death.


....and then some old guy who's never played it coming in and saying that this game lets kids commit suicide.



GTA is pretty much unanimously praised as being masterpiece, primarily because of it's depth of the world and story.  What I mean is that GTA isn't controversial within the world of game media.  It's only controversial to those on the outside of the gaming world, using out of context clips and scare tactics, that don't really understand the medium.

Dave and Fau,

I'm not saying GTA is a bad game.  I'd love to play it myself.  However, guys our age are obviously old enough to realize that a game like that is for entertainment purposes only.  I'm sure yous and I can agree that it has a lot of violenct, graphic scenes that are inappropriate for children under 16.  Hence, I refer to it as "garbage" when I think of a kid being exposed to it.