Should Video Gamers Be Wary Of Obama Admistration?
Should video gamers be wary of President-Elect Obama?
For at least the past four decades, political candidates and government officials (and their spouses) have been slinging blame at the entertainment industry's products (movies, music, video games) for the decaying, lazy, and apathetic aspects of society. For example, in 1985, then-Senator Al Gore's wife Tipper co-founded the Parents Music Resource Center and testified before Congress about the negative effects of some popular music on kids. These hearings eventually led to warning labels on albums – not an entirely bad thing, but it was strange to see Frank Zappa trying to explain his music to a congressional committee.
Today, video gamers are parsing candidate Barack Obama's words to determine what a President Barack Obama will have to say about the influence of video games on people's lives. Obama has said he supports controls for both television and video games and that if the video game industry didn't improve its voluntary rating system, "then [his] administration would."
In campaign speeches to parent groups and educational organizations, Obama often told the crowds "There is no policy or program that can substitute for a parent who ... is willing to turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child, or help with homework."
Overall, for a candidate who so successfully harnessed the power of the Internet, social networking and even gaming (he purchased advertising time on Xbox live games), Obama seems to understand the potential for technology and entertainment to distract kids from learning – and to allow parents to abdicate some responsibility, such as when he told the American Library Association that we have "a general culture that glorifies anti-intellectualism." He cautioned that "it's too easy for the rest of us to make excuses for it - pretending that putting a baby in front of a DVD is educational, letting a 12-year-old skip reading as long as he's playing good video games, or substituting dinner in front of the TV for family conversation."
As much as we love gaming, maybe it is time to talk a walk outside? As the Nature Conservancy pointed out early this year, fewer Americans are visiting national parks each year -- and much of the decline is due to video games.
So when you're done reading and commenting on this post, go get some fresh air. [Source: New York Times.]
