Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 3
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I agree, but where is the head-shot?
[Read the article: "CSI: Miami" vs. "Grand Theft Auto"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I very much agree with what the article says, mainstream media (i.e. not Internet media, no games) have still not understood that games do not produce violence and that the average gamer is not going to perform a "Columbine".
However I did expect a little more meat in an article written by Salon. I've read Salon for 3 years now and I'm not used to seeing this kind of half-baked article swing by. Slow down, breath and do an hour of counter strike before you squat down, take aim and do a head-shot on CSI: Miami, instead of a little knife-jab in the groin.
You had a perfect opportunity to connect the story with two big events in the gaming industry this week, the Cyber games over in Asia, where teams of highly trained "athletes" competed for 500,000 dollars in cash prizes. None of them when on real killing sprees although they all probably have more tactical training than any S.W.A.T member alive. And today, the Xbox 360 hit the streets launching a new generation of consoles which will head an industry surpassing film and bringing in 25 billion dollars a year. But, TV execs and the mainstream news media still treats it like a little freak industry which only produces psychopaths and killers.
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World spin not related to time
[Read the article: Isn't 16 a little young for marriage? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"In particular, that for you the world seems to be spinning backward on its axis is a wonderful metaphor. This sense of a surprising and sudden repetition of the past both takes us back in time and also destabilizes us,..."
Contrary to what Superman 2 tells us the spinning of the earth on its axis has nothing to do with the forward motion of time.
The spinning does a lot for our planet, it keeps the winds moving, it reduces the effect of gravity ever so slightly and does things to the planets molten core that I don't quite understand. The forward motion of time, which is to say that causes precede their effect, is not related to the earth and will continue to move forward long after out planet is consumed by the demise of our sun. It does in fact appear that this notion of time is embedded in the very fabric of the universe and can not be changed.
And yes, marriage at 16 is reckless and ignorant in our age. Long ago, when the life expectancy as 40 years and we lived in little villages where having a lot of children at an early age was beneficial to the family it was important to marry young. Times have changed, women are generally speaking accepted as equals to men and we've even allowed them to get an education and work in any field of their interest. Men also have the right to not get married at an early age and can continue to act as boys well into their thirties. They no longer have to till the fields, literally breaking their backs at 35 requiring many sons to continue the legacy.
16 year olds are idiots and have no idea of what they really want and do not have enough experience to take these types of decisions by themselves. The fact that their parents even allow this to happed seems to me reckless and in many ways cruel.
I would recommend anyone with similar feelings to watch "Jesus camp", a documentary about home-schooled religious conservatives and their children.
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The real problem: Managiner customer service
[Read the article: We moved, and now my husband is miserable]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There was one sentence which stuck out in the article for me: "..the job he has, which he cannot stand (managing a customer service department)."
If this guy, in addition to being stuck in hickville, is managing customer service, i.e. being responsible when angry people complain I can understand why he hates his life. No job is more demeaning, frustration and depressing than customer service. Customer service is something one should do for 6 months, just to get the idea of what it's like to be on the receiving end of endless complaints all day. I you stay any longer you will go mad or want to kill yourself.
If can you support him a while, think about him starting a small company focused on whatever makes him happy or at the very least let him quit his job today and try to find something better.