So, as the US Presidential Election wore on other news happened. Sadly, because of my own fixation about Obama's then impending victory I kind of neglected to write about some of the other news events that caught my eye. So with my world winding down for the holidays I troweled through my notes for stories. So with that said, here we go.
Interesting and sad story is the one of Brandon Crisp. On the night of October 13 and argument between his parents over playing COD4: Modern Warfare in excess prompted the young 15-year-old to pack a backpack and take to the road on his bike. The next day the parents filed a police report when their son did not return overnight. While the police picked up their search, the media picked up the story. Anyone want to guess the cause the media pegged onto the reason Brandon ran away? Video games.
Sadly I wish there was an interview/counseling for Brandon to find out what his real reasons were, big or small. His body was found, lifeless, on November 5th by a pair of hunters, in an area that was just outside the original search area. From the autopsy it was determined he'd fallen out of a tree.
Now, for its worth I'm going to fork my argument here. After the fact the family decided to make a charitable foundation in his name, funneling its funds into Canadian Tire's
Jump Start, which provides funds for poor children to take up sports. Sports? Well.. hmmm... bravo then. I get it. It honest would have been a better activity than the video games. And for that, I give heartfelt condolences for your loss... to a point.
See, I'm reading something else here, and it stinks. Contrary to what the media really wants the parents of today to think, video games are not an addicting substance. No more addicting than a father pushing his son, living vicariously through his actions that the father himself could not accomplish. In the end, it is a symptom of something else going on. And this case, we may fully never know. Did he having something else going on his life? To put it bluntly, yes. Yes he did and it saddens me that no one digged a little deeper to find it.
And for the media itself during all of this? You could hear the cries of "wont someone think of the children" from fucking orbit. It has become the catchall for the problems of societies youth. Is our children playing to much? Honestly? No, they aren't. What they do have is a system of support that labels each and every thing a potential problem, shoves pills down their throat if they are a small bit out of line with the norm, and has little to nothing in the understanding department of what we are exactly putting today's youth through.
