A coalition of German citizens has published an anti-game violence position paper that is being referred to as the Cologne Declaration.
The news comes by way of David Ziegler, a longtime GamePolitics reader from Germany. Ziegler writes that the declaration was issued in response to the German Culture Council’s recent recognition of video games as cultural assets.
The Cologne Declaration argues that violent games are harmful to children as well as to the building of a peaceful society. Several prominent German social scientists have signed on to the edict, which specifically refers to Counter-strike, DOOM 3, Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV as "killer games" and "landmines for the soul."
The document revives the notion that shooting games were developed by the U.S. military in order to condition recruits to kill and asserts that violent games further the aims of the "military-industrial-media complex." Researchers who have defended games are labeled as "collaborators and accomplices" of the video game industry by the declaration, which calls for the government to end state support for game development and ban violent games. The document concludes with:
We won’t allow our children to be turned into killing machines on real and virtual battlefields.
GP: The "landmines for the soul" line has been used before by the German Society for Scientific Person-Centred Psychotherapy (GwG). The Cologne Declaration appears on the GwG website.
The claim that violent games are used by the U.S. military to desensitize recruits to killing was originally put forth by violent game critic Lt. Col. (ret.) David Grossman. ABC newsman John Stossel disputed that notion in his 2006 book Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity.
The GwG’s assertion that violent games are designed to further the aims of the "military-industrial-media complex" sounds similar to the views of fringe political figure Lyndon LaRouche here in the United States.
And until Dennis tells us otherwise we are going to continue to ask you to actually put some small shred of content into your posts beyond insipid internet memes.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person’s fear of their own freedom-
"Dennis has final say."
I stand by what’s quoted above.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
when will their stupidity ever end!?
When a mix of oldfags and newfags tell you to cut it out, you probably should.
Sounds good to me. Really though I imagine that it wouldn’t be good for you given the amount of people who have asked you to stop both politely and not as much politely.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person’s fear of their own freedom-
Unfortunately, it won’t be seen that way in Germany. Racism and militarism dominate the public perception of the 3rd Reich, censorship and control play only a subordinate role. If it doesn’t involve marching, discriminating against minorities or genociding people, noone will draw any parallels.
How’s this? Dennis has final say.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
I was considering doing the same thing regarding you actually.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person’s fear of their own freedom-
Double poster posted twice. BadLuck is right.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
I was talking to Turnip, not you two. *sigh* Might need to e-mail Dennis again. Shit’s getting really old, really fast.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
I had an online translator (babblefish) do the ENTIRE document, with the exception of the second paragraph, where I grammified them (lol grammified). It only gets worse…
"5, 15 and 25-year olds sit long hours, days and nights before computers and game consoles."
"In computer games like "Counter Strike “, "Doom 3 “, "Call Of Duty “, "Halo 3 “, “Crysis”, and “Grand Theft Auto IV", the gamers practice themselves, among other things, in systematic and excessive killing with weapons such as machine guns up to chainsaws."
"They humiliate, torture, mutilate, carve up, shoot and saw humans at their screens."
"It’s long been scientifically proven, that media violence and especially "killer games" have devastating effects especially on children and teenagers." (Danke to Herr Afirejar for this translation)
"Likewise it is in the everyday life of parents, teachers and guardians. It lengthens educators (lolwut) and shows that obviously that children and young people by computer games become more aggressive, more violent and more blunted."
"The more brutal they play, and the more time the children thereby waste, the more badly they perform at academics."
"Many parents and teachers are in despair, with rising brutality and the adults failing to fight." (this is a bit of a stretch, it was hard to translate it to proper English)
If anybody wants the full translation, just holler.
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XBOX LIVE GamerTag: Harry Miste | Steam ID: Harry Miste | PSN ID: HMiste | EYE. HAVE. YOU.
The edit button exists for a reason. Use it.
The appropriate response to multiple people asking you to knock it off… is to knock it off. Take a hint.
Seriously: singlemaltpoetry.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/irritation2.jpg
Oh, hell, Turnip, if shit like this keeps coming up, I may have to re-use pics.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
If it does not make sense, you must aquit….
Look a tht monkey, look at the cute little monkey…..
*head explodes*
As long as the facepalm pic is different each time, I don’t see anything wrong with it 😉
Exactamundo….
Also with other WW2 shooters out there, I won’t not be surprized if German Gamers would learn allot about WW2 more than what they do learn about in their schools because of the sensitivity of their History.
I don’t think, that would be possible. Sensitivity of our history doesn’t result in the topic being ignored, it results in the topic being done to death.
I feel sorry for the German gamers too who have to live with this stuff.
It is just as worse than what I get in Australia from a few certain politicians and family groups.
As for the comments about religion, I think of religion as more like a Videogame that gets blamed.
Kid shoots police officer and blames videogames for teaching him to shoot in the first place,
Person shoots their neighbour and blames religion for teaching him to hate his neighbour because the neighbour did not like him in the first place.
See the pattern here?
It is not religion or Videogames that are the problem, the REAL problem is in people blaming other things so they can attract attention onto something else and get away with murder.
And to think that I learned about that in my Psychology class when I looked at the behaviour of young children wanting to blame the dog or the cat for making a mess in the room.
And here we are with many child Psychologists blaming violent videogames for kids behaviour.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
the words Adolf and Hitler come to my mind all too easily when I read things like this.
Blaming Videogames for the violence in the world is like trying to blame Jewish people for all the wars in the world.
and like, wow, they attack the view of people who try to defend videogames as being like puppets of the industry.
The only thing I would ever ask these people is if they think that Violent videogames are so violent, why have they not played them yet?
Like seriously, my arguments against these people is that sometimes they don’t have any real experience with videogames because of the way they describe some videogames as killing games.
You need to play the games yourself to understand them, and play them though so you could get a fair bit of the storyline and this is comming from my opinion that I have played videogames before and I have played them for years without even doing a major bad thing in society like killing someone. I have never done anything like that in real life even though I have killed many CPU characters in my videogames.
When you point out an opinion, at least do it in a way that does not lable the other side as any less than you are except in your words that you use.
Or at least that is how I put it.
But sadly stupid comments are what makes newsworthy these days, so any sence is going to be left unniticed.
That is how bad our society has become.
Someone should ask.
"Did Hitler ever use Videogames to brainwash these people in the 1930’s and early 1940’s."
I know it is a sensitive thing to say, but someone from Germany who is also a Gamer should try to stand up to these people and ask them that verry question.
Also with other WW2 shooters out there, I won’t not be surprized if German Gamers would learn allot about WW2 more than what they do learn about in their schools because of the sensitivity of their History.
Don’t blame the left, don’t blame the right, just blame stupidity, it’s hardly exclusive.
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
So i’ll take that as a no, you don’t.
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
"And it is really needed here, given how f***ed up this shit is."
And apparently in nearly every other story as well hm? And this isn’t trolling, but rather a response to trolling.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person’s fear of their own freedom-
This declaration accuses scientists that oppose their viewpoint of ignoring evidence and scientific studies in order to push a political agenda. Why not go for the obvious?
Seriously, just knock it off. It’s obnoxious.
No, it doesn’t make sense here either. I noticed some politically left to far-left groups among the signees, so at least I get, why that nonsense is even in there.
Poor Germany
As stupid as the contents seem, you’ve got to admit that The Cologne Declaration is a pretty awesome name. Sounds like a cold war spy movie.
This is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in a long, long time.
I mean, seriously. They think shooting games are a tool for recruiting soldiers? Then why the hell are the kind of people who are really into shooting games usually nerds who, if not over weight, are at least not generally in shape.
The kind of people who join the military are usually the ones that have grown up shooting REAL guns, not virtual ones. Every single one of my buddies in high-school who joined the military had previous had extensive previous experience with real fire-arms.
Although I guess this sort of logic makes sense in a country where real firearms arn’t frequently put into the hands of children (or anyone).
The Honest Game – http://www.thehonestgame.org
Well if you didn’t do it every other thread and contributed a little more……
And it is really needed here, given how f***ed up this shit is.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I already have 2 people Trolling me about how I post. And that’s two people too many. A third will only make the shit worse.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
Oh, no, I wasn’t talking about you. Sorry, forgot to be specific.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
I guess I did word that badly.
Another bit of irony is that the serial killer these peopel are so convinced these games create would likely agree that the games are filth that need to be banned.
Didn’t some OTHER notable German citizen write a propagandous peice of literature (from prison) in which he pretty much just ripped off all his ideas from notable Marxists? Maybe around the 1920’s or so…
Oh history… how you do laugh at us so…
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" – Benjamin Franklin
Cartman uber Alles!!!
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" – Benjamin Franklin
How are they violent? If you’d dislike them for being prejudiced wouldn’t be particularly ironic either. It would just make you a hypocrite.
And what do you mean by that?
Alright, I will admit that post was a bad idea.
The irony being that these activists are some of the most violent people on the planet.
You know something can be overused to the point where it loses its point. A facepalm should be used when its really needed. Not in every thread. There comes a point where its more like OCD and a nervous tick than actually having any meaning.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person’s fear of their own freedom-
Holy cow, jack’s conspiracy theories have nothing over some of the Germans. It’s a good thing though that is only a coalition of German citizens. Perhaps German gamers can get together and form a declaration of their own. I bet they can get more names than this one did.
"Researchers who have defended games are labeled as "collaborators and accomplices" of the video game industry by the declaration,"
Ah a classic tactic, dismiss ANYONE who disagrees with you as conspirators or evil, that way you have an excuse to not listen to anything they say and you can remain with your head in the sand in your own little world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
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Debates are like merry go rounds Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it’s over they have the same positions they started in.
Do we really need that unprincipled hack John Stossel on our side of this argument?
Frist you start with fiction then you start with thought….then you try and take over the world……
=================================
Pirates,Shearers,Lenders and downloaders are not a market that can be taped by the mainstream.
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I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
Godwin’s Law is apparently being repealed, what with everyone imitating the Nazi’s in some way, shape, or form.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
So, stupidity, hypocrisy, and hatred decide that, after forming Voltron, they want to fuse with the Ultimate Jew Persecutor and the Ultimate Commie Hunter?
ULTIMATE Fail.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
*FACEPALM*
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
Anyone had a look at who signed this?
Besides the GwG people, all the usual suspects are there:
Christian Pfeiffer, whom you might know from other stories. Known for including the result of future studies in their announcement.
Christoph Hirte of rollenspielsucht.de, an activist against World of Warcraft addiction, because his son supposedly broke off all contact with him because of this addiction. If TV stations look for someone to rant on this subject, it’s usually this guy. Moreover, his story is riddled with lies and misrepresentations. The true story emerged from within the WoW community a long time ago, and reading it just made me hate the guy more.
Then we have such illustrous signees as various people who work in child care, teachers, politicians, journalists, writers, the boss of some theater, a catholic theologist, a doctor of naturopathic medicine and a woman whose prime qualifications they chose to list are "mother and grandmother". There’s even a fireman in there. They’re probably all experts.
This is a joke. The usual fanatics drew up this ridiculous propaganda piece, and then had everyone they could get their hands on sign it.
If Dennis wants a translation, he can post here and I’ll have one done by tomorrow evening, but to give you all a general idea of the quality of this thing – here’s the second paragraph:
It’s long been scientifically proven, that media violence and especially "killer games" have devastating effects especially on children and teenagers.
And it only gets worse from there.
subtlety….what’s that?
Have you seen any of my previous postings before?
The Colonge Declaration sounds like a combination of the ideals of Nazis, Jack Thompson, and Joe McCarthy all rolled up into one.
Very fitting and apt.
Don’t worry. This thread was already Godwinned from the start, since the story does originate from Germany.
Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets, Jack Thompson can geaux chase a chupacabra.
Proud supporter of the New Orleans Saints, LSU, 1st Amendment; Real American; Hound of Justice; Even through the darkest days, this fire burns alwaysSaints(3-4), LSU(7-0)
That actually describes these Neo-Nazis in Cologne.
Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets, Jack Thompson can geaux chase a chupacabra.
Proud supporter of the New Orleans Saints, LSU, 1st Amendment; Real American; Hound of Justice; Even through the darkest days, this fire burns alwaysSaints(3-4), LSU(7-0)
okay to aviod Godwining the tread I will refer to a certain German dictator as That Guy and I will refer to his party as His Peeps, and there political ideology as badguyism and those who follow said ideology as badguys.
Banning games is just like what that guy and his peeps did, you don’t what to be campared to that guy or his peeps do you? banning books is badguyism, you aren’t badguys are you? I would think being German citizens that you would want to aviod doing anything that guy did, except loving dogs, you can love dogs; dogs are awesome. I would hate to call you guys his peeps or badguys, or even mini-that guys. So please stop this silliness before I hurt you feeling you badguys.
EDIT: sortableturnip, do you not understand the concept of subtlety?
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
There’s a general rule with me. I will ALWAYS present illogical evidence, no matter what the case may be. Don’t be surprised.
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XBOX LIVE GamerTag: Harry Miste | Steam ID: Harry Miste | PSN ID: HMiste | EYE. HAVE. YOU.
Wow, uninformed, illogical "evidence" for the lose…
World of warcraft is 4 years old.
Doom is an Iconic game /series known for its violence.
Wasn’t that released four years ago?
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XBOX LIVE GamerTag: Harry Miste | Steam ID: Harry Miste | PSN ID: HMiste | EYE. HAVE. YOU.
Doom 3 is almost 5 years old.
http://www.eliteownage.com/nice
Yes, they did.
"That’s not ironic. That’s justice."
inb4pandralisk
inb4davorious (sic)
I doubt you’ll get anywhere by playing the "Religion" card. Most people like them will just cover their ears and yell BLABLABLABLA.
Though show them the entire book of Deuteronemy… and hehehe.
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XBOX LIVE GamerTag: Harry Miste | Steam ID: Harry Miste | PSN ID: HMiste | EYE. HAVE. YOU.
Haha, really?
I think you’re just pulling words out of a dictionary at random.
For example, I have one word that explains so-called facts about video game violence.
Politics.
The Honest Game – http://www.thehonestgame.org
Must we drag religion into this? Are you trying to summon Pandralisk back from the banned?
Here’s a better argument that would kill their proposition, do some backtracking and prove that their claim that video game companies work for the army is full of crap.
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Debates are like merry go rounds Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it’s over they have the same positions they started in.
Jeez, I’m gonna regret participating in this thread-jack but what the hell, we’re not doing anything at work today anyway.
What, exactly, is your argument?
I’ll expect typical straw-man athiest "religion is teh evil!!1!" response shortly.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
I have one arguement that would kill all the so-called facts about video game violence.
Religion.
I don’t know what a German phonebook can yield, but I did find an online one and cross-referenced it with the names on the bottom. They were pretty hard to find (partly because I can understand only a minor part of the German language).
For any intrepid hero who wishes to go ahead and do the entire list, http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/
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XBOX LIVE GamerTag: Harry Miste | Steam ID: Harry Miste | PSN ID: HMiste | EYE. HAVE. YOU.
He had some interest in the occult early on in his power grab, but that was later suppresed and most of the astrologers and occultists that had been in contact with the nazi party were executed. In pure religious terms there isn’t much evidence for any particular religion that Hitler followed. At the very least no one thought enough of it to document it. There was the sort of new paganism with elements from Buddism, Hinduism and Christianity along with Germanic pagan traditions, but we don’t really know how much of that he really beleived and how much was just a play to the masses.
What I find odd is he never replied.
Oh for gods sake, I was trying to make an example
islamic terrorists, use passages from the Koran, Jewish terrorists presumable use passages from the old testament
Happy now?
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
No, that was one of his advisors, can’t remember his name; I think it was german
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
Hitler sent Catholics to concentration camps late in the Holocaust. So I really don’t think Catholicism ever factored in.
Can’t say how accurate it is, but I had heard Hitler also had an interest in the occult.
Well, two things;
1. They could just as easily get motivation or justification from another source; what Geoff said does have validity, that if it’s not religion, it’s something else.
And 2. You use the Bible, but what about others who are not of a Bible-based faith?
You make a valid point.
My bad on the devout Catholic statement, he was raised Catholic but he warped it to an unrecodnisable form.
I generally agree with you I’d forgotten about all that, weird since I had read a book about the crusades and it lays all that out, although you seem to be implying that their were no religious motivations behind them. also mass executions =/= "slapped down"
Good point on the political dissedent thing.
I tip my hat to you, you trashed my arguement rather well. Now I’m gonna lick my wounded pride.
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
I personally ment the former. Either people already have preconceived bigoted notions and then use religion as an excuse for those (like the KKK) or religious/political leaders exploit religion to advance their own power/ideology (like Al-Queda, Catholic Church in the Middle Ages).
Anyway, the examples you gave are much more complex than simply "because their religion said-so". In fact most of them have very little to do with religion itself. Religion was used as a tool by those in power to whip up the masses to act towards their cause. I’m not so ignorant as to say religion had nothing to do with it, but it was really only one ingredient in a proverbial stew of shiat.
9/11 – Like with a lot of actions committed by Islamic radicals, religion is only one of the major factors. Nationalism and the feeling of ethnic persecution are equally valid. Many in the Arab world feel they are marginalized by the rest of the world and are resentful towards the West seeing as we have a tendancy to walk in and conquer. This goes back all the way to before the Romans. The Middle-eastern world and the Western world have always been at odds even before Jesus showed up. Now not all Islamic radicals are Arab, true, but this is an example of using religion as a tool. An Arab leader, angry at the West for whatever reason (take your pick, really) is looking for soldiers to commit violence. Well there are other Muslims in the world that aren’t Arab, why not bring them aboard under the guise of a holy war? Most of those Muslims live in poor countries with little to no education and whose world view is limited to the town they were born in, maybe the local city. Indocterination is easy when the person isn’t exposed to alternative viewpoints. If we, say, supported Muslim countries and went against Israel instead you’d see far-less (possibily to zero) violent actions perpetrated by Muslims against the West. (Though you’d probably get Jewish extremists making up for it, so you kind of lose either way.)
Hitler and the Nazis – Out of everything I have ever read or viewed about Nazi Germany, I’ve never heard of Hitler being a devout Catholic. The Nazi regime did not have any religious properties to it at all with the exception of a few Germanic pagan symbols. If there was any sort of Nazi religion, it was the worship of the State and it’s leader. The anti-seminitism was mostly one-part culture, one part-scapegoat. Jews never really had it easy in Europe and there were many raciest groups that viewed Jews as sub-human from a genetic/racial point of view, not religious. Hitler devoured the written material provided by these groups, which I’d bet had more to shape his views than the Catholic church. When he came to power, Germany was in a terrible position from practically all social viewpoints. The German economy, military, social programs, etc. were an utter mess, in part due to the strict rules set on the country after WW1. People were angry and looking for answers no matter how far-fetched. Hitler gave them an answer; it was the Jews! When people are downtrodden enough, they’ll believe anything especially if it acts as a focus for all of their anger.
The Crusades – I love it when people cite this as proof of religious-centered conflict. Oh to the common peasent it was based on religion, but that’s just what the leaders wanted them to think. There are several non-religious reasons for why Europe wanted to invade the Middle East. The biggest motivation was trade. The Middle East was the best land trade route from the East to the West during it’s time. Anyone looking to increase their economic wealth during that period would have to consider taking over or at least having a powerful influence over the Middle East. There just wasn’t anywhere to go really. Naval trade was long and costly, not to mention more dangerous. At least with a land route you could erect a bunch of forts/castles/strongholds that could house a bunch of patrols for the region. Prior to the Crusades there had been several attempts by the Moors and the Turks to expand their empires into Europe, which was ment with mixed success. Tensions between the Middle East and Europe had been simmering for quite some time. The Templars, after their success during the First Crusade, also played a large role in getting Europe to constantly support the take-over of the Middle East. Again this was more social-economic than religious in origin. The Templars got all of their wealth, power, and prestige from their success in the Middle East, they weren’t about to just abandon the area. They’d lose all of their power. (Though they were too successful and were eventually slapped down by the French king, who was in debt.)
Witch Trials/Inquistion – I’m grouping these two together ’cause I’m not sure if by "witch trials" you mean the ones in America or just in general. I’m gonna focus on the Inquisition here. Simply put the Catholic church wanted to clamp down on power so they had to make a show of power. To do this they persecuted not just those of other religions like Jews or Muslims but also any social outcast they could find, people who were already shunned by society and who no one would miss. It wasn’t so much about killing people who were different but as a means to distract people by giving them a boogey-man to be scared of and implanting the idea that that boogey-man could be your neighbor or even a family member! People tend to not stage revolts when they are too busy peeking over to see whether or not their neighbor is a witch. Out of the examples you gave this is the closest to being purely religious, but the tactics and reasoning behind it are not exclusive to religion. The McCarthy Hearings for "communists" is eerily similar, even if no one was killed as a result. In a lot of dictatorships, most of them of which are secular/athiest in nature, they constantly imprison/torture/kill "political dissdents". If you were to take the Inquisition’s reasoning for it’s actions, replace "heretic" with "dissdent" or "traitor" and you’d find that it’s almost indistinguishable from what China does.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
I’m sorry but there were horrors that were indeed rooted in one religion or another, not all of them but some of them, the 9/11 hijacker were devoutly religious, they weren’t just using it as an excuse, Hitler was a devout Catholic which helped lead to his anti-seminitism, the crusades, the witch trials, the inqusition
wait do you mean that the people were using the religion as an excuse or that those action were not endorse3d by their holy book, i assume you mean the former but could you clear this up for me.
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
Whoa, whoa, whoa, we never say that religion is to blame for all the worlds problems we only say that it is one of many things that can cause problems religion does a lot of good in the world but there is a lot of bad that it has caused as well
while i get what he says about it being the followers of religion that causes the problems most if not all of them get their justification or motivation from one biblical passage or another. If the bible was more consistant in its love your neighbor, be nice message there would be less killing and general misery caused by it. People are the problem but those people are almost always able to find a passage that leads them to believe that being an ass is God’s plan
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
Yeah, they seem to view religion as somehow a more viable target than other ideologies. To be blunt ideologies, whether spiritual or not in nature, always have the potential to be exploited and/or taken to the extreme by a minority group whose rhetoric or actions color the perception others have of said ideology. In essence it’s the dark side of human nature, the willingness to persecute people who are different. The ideology, religous or not, is cited as a way to justify the actions.
Getting rid of religion wouldn’t change a thing. If you were to somehow magically get rid of all religions on the planet, people would just fall back on social ideologies to justify their crimes. Eliminate that and people will fall-back on nationality or ethnicity.
Sorry to say, but religion and all the other ideologies are excuses for atrocities, not the cause.
Man, the Athiest Defence Force is taking their time getting here today.
*Grabs popcorn, waits patiently.*
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
That pretty much sums it up. You’ve got to love the hypocrites who fly off the handle when someone baselessly blames video games but are the first to jump on religion as the cause of every problem in the world.
ISn’t it obvious. Despite all the good religions do for the world, they arethe root of all evils. It doesn’t matter that all the horrors that were performed in the name of religion were not rooted in said religion. The fact that religion played a part in it is what really matters.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Oklahoma Game Development
Rusty Outlook
Random Tower
My Patreon
Hmmmm would their battle cry be "THOMPSON-LALALALALALALA-LA!"?
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
LOL, now watch…
In a couple years we’ll find out this group is merely the early scout for Anti Videogame-LA… then they’ll need a few years to get back their credibility
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" – Benjamin Franklin
You’re all giving away too much information.
I’m turning on "THE PYRAMID OF DARKNESS!"
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Hookers and Ice Cream aren’t free. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/5137-Stolen-Pixels-12-The-Economics-Lesson
Cobra TV I remember, not so sure about the rice paddie one though.
Ahhh G.I. Joe the only time you’ll see someone using a crossbow (Scarlet) or a javelin (Lady Jaye) to take down a dozen troopers with laser rifles and win. (Gods I had such a crush on the Baroness…
)
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Who told you about Project: Jurassic Thunder? You can expect a couple of guys wearing all black paying you a visit shortly for a polite "talk". Don’t bother running. We can track all of your movements with our robotic camera-flies.
I actually think I remember the episode you’re talking about. It wasn’t video games though, it was TV. Cobra took over a bunch of TV satellites and started broadcasting "Cobra TV" or something like that. My favorite plan that I can remember was Cobra using a machine (where did they get all the funding, anyway?) to flood all of the rice patties in the world, then they used robotic sharks to harvest all of the drowned rice and ransomed it off to the rest of the world. (Wonder how much they had to sell to make up for the costs of said flooding machine and robo-sharks.)
Every time I hear a conspiracy theory I can’t help but think of one of my favorite quotes from "Dr. Strangelove".
"They’re after our precious fluids!!"
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
That sounds like communist talk, and I won’t have that in this country. Expect a visit from the CIA.
That sounds like communist talk, and I won’t have that in this country. Expect a visit from the CIA.
Yeah, that collaborators line totally made me think HUAC.
Indeed, I feel sorry for the Germen gamers who have to put up with this bullshit.
I don’t know what to say.
They are wrong on a level that is just…. I have no other response.
I don’t speak German but I think that long list of names on the bottom might be them. Anyone have a German phonebook?
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Debates are like merry go rounds Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it’s over they have the same positions they started in.
Maybe these "citizens" should identify themselves fully so that we can evaluate each and every one of THEM and decide if what THEY expose children or adults to is harmful or not? It’s very easy for THEM to pass judgement, but are they brave enough to have judgement passed on THEM?
What religiouns do they follow and expose others to?
What music do they listen to?
What books do they read?
What slant to news do they follow?
What is their politics?
What version of "morality" do they follow?
What newspapers and newsletters do they read?
What conversations do they have, small "irrelevant" conversations or major debates?
What sides do they take on major issues?
C’mon! You’re ready to pass judgement on others! Let’s see how big and brave you are! Allow US to pass judgement on YOU! Moreover, let US have the same effect that YOU want on US.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Nightwng2000 has also updated his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/nightwing2000 Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
It also sounds like a former Republican senator from Wisconsin just a half a century ago.
"Researchers who have defended games are labeled as ‘collaborators and accomplices’ of the video game industry by the declaration…"
This sounds like someone who got disbarred recently, and the overall action sounds like a certain regime that Germany would rather forget existed.
"That’s not ironic. That’s justice."
It won’t happen that would be too awesome.
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can’t do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
So, how long until the German gamers publish a position paper against fear-mongering, lies, and general stupidity?
Er, one post above ya man for the religion-athiest thread-jack. Let’s at least keep things organized here.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
Sometimes I wonder if religion is a cause of evil.
Honestly, I think these people while there intentions may be for good are overeacting and need to look at the facts more straight.
In fact a lot people need to do that.
When will people learn? Never. v.v
I think we established in a previous thread that he was a Lemmings fanatic. He never got very far though. Would always just have them all jump into the lava.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
Let’s ask them what video game Hitler played. That would at least get their attention.
"That’s not ironic. That’s justice."
Until there is a truly scientific and non-biased study then all of this is just ignorance and fear-mongering.
There are people in this world who are just plain crazy. And just because they may have played a videogame somewhere along the way does not automatically mean its the cause. These people talk about games like they are an infectious disease that corrupts wholesome little kids into mindless killing machines. When in reality it’s just a handful of people who were nuts to begin with or had other much more likely causes.
Didn’t Cobra try something like that though? Isn’t that proof enough of their conspiracy. Cobra is the ultimate instance of art imitating life. All government militaries are run using such outlandish schemes as cloning dinosaurs and unleashing them upon an unexpecting population.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Oklahoma Game Development
Rusty Outlook
Random Tower
My Patreon
Hmmmm…well actual research takes time and money. But tin-foil hats are free and only require minutes to assemble.
Conspiracy theories are self-perpetuating ideas. Regardless of the response conspirators get, they twist it to further their theory.
Take UFOs for example. If the government declassifies some documents and shows that they did some research but found no conclusive evidence, the UFO nuts scream "That’s what they want you to think!! Where are the real documents?" If the government were to not declassify the same documents, those that wear tin-foil hats would be saying "OMG What are they trying to hide?!?!"
This particular conspiracy, the idea that video games are promoted to turn us into soldiers, is on a whole other ugly level though in that it’s used to promote censorship. At least with the UFO crazies their conspiracy is rather benign. Conspiracy theorists like the ones mentioned in the article have a legislative agenda and use backwoods-insane "evidence" to try and push lies. They are on the same level as the looney 9/11 Truthers and the rabid Freepers that think Obama is a foreign-born citizen.
Really there is only one response for these types of crazies; tell them to shut up because adults are talking right now. (There are far more pressing issues right now). When the adults are done, then they’ll be willing to at least humor you and listen to your story about your imaginary friend General McBloodthirsty and his comic book-esque plan to turn the world’s children into souless killing machines.
…Seriously, WTF Germany? That plot sounds like something Cobra would try in G.I. Joe.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
Didn’t they say doom 3?
The fact that these organizations still cite DOOM constantly is hilarious.
These groups think DOOM (the ORIGINAL DOOM) is still a "current" game. It’s obvious none of them have ever actually seen it, otherwise I have to think they’d drop that from the list given its pixelated, totally unrealistic graphics.
Whenever anybody cites DOOM you know they just grabbed a list off a website somewhere.