03-08-2011, 11:31 PM
(03-08-2011, 10:14 PM)Bring4th_Aaron Wrote: What I think is happening here is that we're trying to label things as one thing or the other. There are very few things (actually, I dare say there may not be anything at all) in this world that are black and white. It's all varying shades of gray. In a holographic universe, everything is a spectrum, like light! It's the mistake we've made since the beginning of our modern society.
Ok, so playing Call of Duty may not put you into full on fight of flight mode (unless you're playing on a 72" screen with the surround sound pumped and a ticking grenade lands on your head!), but it does put the brain into a state that is more stressed than it would be if you were sitting in eden under an apple tree. When I would play CoD with my old roommate, he would get very stressed and sometimes even angry at the game. I know that's not typical, but we all are affected to some degree. Why do people get angry at games? It's because in order to engage the game and play, you have to put a part of yourself, a part of your ego, into the game as your character (except casual games like puzzle games). So it's definitely possible for video games to be a distraction or a stressor.
I think that similarly, media can't be labeled as either an STS distraction device or an expression of the soul which can provide guidance. A lot of media is purely the latter, whereas the mainstream seems to be both but mostly the former. So in that light, you're both right!Maybe you can each adopt and incorporate a little of the other's viewpoint?
I can recall, as a child, punching my little brother when he "made" me mess up and Mario wouldn't recognize that "I pushed jump dammit". All me, of course, all me. Those little kid games used to frustrate me to the point of physical violence. Not the games fault. Not at all. It was all me. All me. It has nothing to do with the graphics, or the difficulty. It was inside me. Jigsaw puzzles can be addictive and flustering (breaks are necessary) whether its a picture of a meadow or a shark.
Do you know that a polarized object is one that has separated its positive charges from its negative charges? Separated! Interesting, no? Things "outside" are not STS or STO. Inside is where the polarization takes place. Do you see the negative? Or do you see the positive?
I don't care about video games. I don't even play video games anymore. (okay, I play supermario bros 3 on occasion). I'm not going to call out those who do with "you're subjecting yourself to evil". Neither am I going to ascribe negative value to those who create the games. Its just a game.
I value allowing people to be themselves. Actually, people can't be changed anyway. They'll change if they want to, when they know who they are.