Oh, For Gog's sake...

[seawasp]

Once more we're going to see political figures rant and rave about something UTTERLY UNRELATED to the problem because it looks like an easy political target. Yes, our government, led by this idiot Rockefeller (how the mighty names have fallen), will be investigating if watching violent videogames makes people violent.

No. I have four kids, and I've been watching them. The ones who are already PREDISPOSED to be agitated and energetic can be pushed in that direction easily. The ones who aren't... don't. This indicates the problem isn't "videogames" or "D&D", or anything else outside of the person. It's something to do with THE PERSON IN QUESTION.

Of course, it's so much easier to talk about blaming some other innocuous but eyecatching activity, rather than address the real issue, which is that people who have various mental problems -- large and small -- generally can't get them treated under the current system because they don't have the money to pay for it or the support to convince them to go do it and KEEP doing it (even if you have a condition that's treatable with drugs, it's not just a matter of finding the drug and everything's happy-ever-after; you have to monitor the dosage, observe changes over time, etc.).

Comments

[kjn]

Blaming the mental health care system is also a dead end, IMO, though at least there you have a small chance of getting a better health care system in the end.

The main problem is the gun fetishism in US culture.

[seawasp]

I agree only in the limited sense of "if you could go back 200 years and change the course of history". Otherwise, that's basically the same as complaining that, for instance, we SHOULD have built the main railroad lines over --->there instead of over <---- here; no one's going to move the railroad lines for innumerable reasons.

You have to deal with the culture and the laws and the assumptions that exist -- unless what you want is complete revolution and re-organization of the country. That generally involves uncomfortable times and LOTS of people getting shot.

I'm not entirely sure we won't end up coming to that anyway.

[kjn]

Yeah, you have to handle the hand you're dealt, but that doesn't mean you can't change the hand, given time. Most countries has managed at least one peaceful re-organisation of the country by now (the US has had several - the north and frontier switched from slave states to free states, the Human Rights movement, arguably the current neoconservative surge et c), and countries change their culture all the time, constantly.

Heck, the entire point of democracy is that you are supposed to be able to do peaceful re-organisations of the country.