A rant (Mazes and Monsters, dems and repugs)

[The Straight Story]

It all started last night while I was watching and then researching the movie 'Mazes and Monsters'. I had purchased the movie that day as I wanted to see it again (circa 1982 w/tom hanks) and it had come out as D&D was becoming popular (for those not in the know, D&D is a role playing game). Now I loved D&D and had a great many nights playing it with my friends. It was an outlet for us in some ways, a way to use our minds and be creative. I won't bore you with my many stories from then (though some are dear to me as my best friend who played it with me later died in a car wreck, and those were the best of times...)

Ok, getting back on track here: Rona Jaffe based the book off of a false premise which had ties to a real life story (ie, some smart 16 yr old who played it disappeared and one thought was he had 'become' his character from the game, completely false but it made the press and she rushed the novel based on the ties to the game).

This played into the fears of some folks that the game was dangerous (mainly some RW christians, one of which was my history teacher who burned my D&D books - but that is another story). So now I come to the crux of my posting;

My dad, back in said days, was worried when I told him I wanted to buy some costumes to act out some D&D stuff. This whole craze (ie, D&D led to death and insanity, and so on) was absolute bunk - I just wanted to have some fun while playing the game on paper. BUT - and this is where I am going with all this - adults who wanted to believe otherwise never bothered to research things and sucked up the MSM take on it. And the info they got was bogus.

WHY? My dad has always been a smart and wonderful guy, yet he bought into the hype without looking deeper. And he is the one who taught me to examine things with an open mind. From science to psychics he has been my inspiration over the years. Yet on this one thing (and others mind you) he never bothered to examine deeper.

And that leads me to today. And politics.

WHY do people just buy the line of the day (whether it be democrat one or republican one) without going any deeper than a few newscasts?

In dad's defense (and his generations') I would say because that is who they trusted to (ie, the news media) to report on the truth and not be so damned biased. "They wouldn't waste broadcast time on reporting lies, so what they are saying about D&D must have some truth to it...." and one can extrapolate from there.

So answer me this - when did we become so aware of bias and WHY haven't the rest of the people done the same? Is it because they trust too much (and sure as hell I am sure we here do as well at times, if it fits what we believe or want to) or simply because they want to believe something and when a prominent news outlet backs it up with a headline or a blurb?

Basically I am wondering, when do we put faith in others and how much stock do we put in it and why? Do we suck up the news when it fits our view and not question it (as dad did, which is odd because the first adventure game I ever played he introduced me to) or do we look for lies/spin even when it fits our view (ie, examine without bias when able)?

THIS is something which does concern me, as I see us placed to take the house/senate soon. Will we be as vehement in our posts/research with those that have a D after their names as those that do not, or will we go easy on them and ignore the same outlets (and attack them perhaps) if they do not print good things relating to 'our' folks?

In this battle ahead I hope myself and others take to heart that things which we may hear might well validate our beliefs - but in the end may be totally false. I hope we can continue to work together to put truth and justice back into our elected employees.

I am worried that 'mainstream' dems might be on a similar path as repugs, serving corporate masters on the one hand while throwing real liberals a bone on the other. And if we attack dems we might be seen as helping the enemy to win next go around.

I guess, to me, the fight is not won with a simple win on election day. No, it is just starting. We have to be the party of the people, by the people, and for the people - and not let politics ruin our reasoning, and most importantly not let FEAR (ie, of losing a seat) stand in the way of making this a better country.

For fear seems to be the main thing which rules these days. Fear of terror, death, repugs, middle of the road voters, etc and so on - so much so that we find ourselves playing a game to keep people liking us and not standing firm on core beliefs. Fear we will lose, which will drive us to accept things we would normally rail against.

DU is a great place in that we fight such things, and look at laws/executive orders/etc and hold them to a higher light usually. But in some ways we are stuck. Throw a dem under the bus and someone worse may win. Not hold them to a high standard and you become partisan. Igonore misdeeds out of fear and end up in the same spot we are in now. It goes on and on.

Let us hope we win, and the people we have fought for YEARS to get into power do the right thing. But I for one won't be giving any of them a pass in the days ahead. Fail me as a dem is worse then failing us as a repug. We EXPECT them to fail us, but not our own.

Keep up the good work folks, keep contributing to DU no matter how large we win the next election - because we need a rational voice in the wilderness of life. Don't stop fighting and watching, and never give the people we employ a free pass - keep em honest.

Thanks - end of rant for now :)

[Bucky]

1. D&D leads to Satanism, drugs, Renaissance Festivals, & teen suicide

Except for the Satanism, drugs, & teen suicide part, that is.

[lapfog_1]

5. and bizarre weddings

like my nephews...

[Dover]

2. A maze....a ruse.

We're all in it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2410598

[shadowknows69]

3. No bullshit

I had a friend in high school that I used to play D&D with who killed another kid with a shotgun blast to the head and somehow the murder got tied with his love of the game.

[Bucky]

8. Must've been a +3 magic shotgun w/a chaotic neutral alignment

Rolled at least a 35 on a 2d20, right?

[shadowknows69]

11. Yeah and some kids brains on the walls

I wasn't trying to be funny.

<Edit to add> No really how can you even make a joke about that? This was a friend of mine who for whatever reason snapped and murdered someone.

[Mythsaje]

4. If anyone actually bothered to do the research

they'd discover that the VAST majority (like 99.9% of all gamers) are productive members of society. In fact, they generally test in the upper percentile in language and mathematics, and many go on to make their mark on the world in many different ways.

When Katrina happened, and we saw the aftermath, I wrote something suggesting they try putting GAMERS in charge of something like FEMA...I guarantee we would have come up with several dozen ways to get supplies to those stranded there within six to twelve hours.

Of course, I'm prejudiced. I've been gaming for something like twenty-five years.

[AllegroRondo]

7. Some nice facts about gamers

back in the mid 80's, the University of Wisconsin did a study on suicide and D&D. They found that suicide rates among teen gamers were actually LOWER than among teens as a whole. They belived this was due to the building of good social networks that gamers create, and of having outlets for frustration and anxiety.

Your comment on Katrina made me remember a book I read about 10 years ago (wish I could remember the title). It was about how to design and create war games, written by one of the big game designers of the time - I believe he had done a lot of work with Avalon Hill, and designed a game for the US Army that teaches squad level infantry tactics. He tells a great story about August 1991, and the first gulf war. Hours after Saddam invaded Kuwait, he and several other game designers were invited to the Pentagon to "game" the war. Within 3 days, they had games designed and strategies in place to take back Kuwait, and were teaching generals how to play.

[Bucky]

9. We'd have won Desert Storm a lot faster if Saddam didn't have orcs

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. ROFL

[TlalocW]

6. Let me be the first to say...

I DON'T WANT TO BE ELFSTAR ANYMORE! I WANT TO BE DEBBIE!

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

TlalocW