One is about this article from CNN about the trailer for the new PC game "Dead Island." The nature vs nurture debate on violence notwithstanding, I get a little annoyed when people use video games as an excuse for violence from children. I have a three year old and in the bygone days where nothing she watched wasn’t from PBS (she was about two) we still had to teach her not to hit. Do I think I have raised an inherently violent child? No. I believe human beings are born selfish. Selfishness is a good trait when you don’t have the tools to survive without help. Compassion is something you learn as you grow and realize you have tools to help others; and it is something I am teaching to my daughter. Niceness is learned and some people don’t learn. Blaming video games is a fucking cop out! With all the violent media out there, why do people single out video games? I’ve read some pretty sick books, ya know (and I say this with pride seeing as how I haven’t killed anyone yet).

I watched the trailer because I like survival horror games, not because of any controversy or anything like it. My honest straight up opinion? I was fucking horrified! Omg, the poor little girl!! But you know what? (dramatic silence) IT’S A GODS-BE-DAMNED HORROR GAME!! GUESS WHAT THEY DO!!?? So, as a parent, I wouldn’t get this game because I don’t like things with dead kids. It’s really easy for me to see my own family in that video and it disturbs me on a level that I, PERSONALLY, am not comfortable with. However, as a gamer, that trailer is fucking beautiful! The way it’s all constructed, the angles, the clean movements, the colors, the music; disturbed me in a way that would make me want to play the damn game! Which is what it’s supposed to do!!

Horror is supposed to scare you. Dead kids are horrible and it scares the hell out of me for something to happen to my kid. But I don’t see this game or Bioshock or anything like it as a disturbing trend of using creepy kids to scare the hell out of you. Because you know what? They didn’t battle the Children of the Corn with candy and fucking gumdrops and Hansel and Gretel didn’t calmly negotiate with the witch about to eat them.  T_T

On a similar track (and I enjoy the synchronicity of these two things riling me up one right after the other), there is a movement here to try and get paid parental leave here in the U.S. I would LOVE for this to happen seeing as I’m one of the people who went in to huge debt to stay home a little longer than the Family Medical Leave Act allows. I wanted more time to breast feed (because it’s healthier) and to get used to being a new parent. What shocked me about this article is the comments. How the hell do people come off thinking we get some kind of perk tax wise because we’re parents? You know what, as someone who is married or single without kids, you don’t have to spend your money on kids!!! Why don’t people get that?! You know where a good chunk of my money goes? Child care. These kids also wanna eat and you tend to get arrested if you don’t clothe them. That’s not disposable income. I HAVE to spend that money. And it’s a giant hunk of my income.

"But you chose to be a parent. You didn’t have to have kids."

Aside for how much of a surprise my pregnancy actually was, people who chose to be childless are also making a choice. People who choose to smoke are more of a burden on the medical care system in the long run which I pay into and I’m a non-smoker. Although I may not like it, I consider it part of a greater good because smokers pay for my maternity leave. You all are not being punished for being childless, you are paying into a greater system which pays for everyone. Suck it the hell up. T_T

…

You have no idea how glad I am to have those out of my system. XD

So, now that the bile is out (and I’m sure I’ve alienated a bunch of people), I can get back to work on my writing. XD I’m still hard at work on that lesbian steampunk story. I have 12 written pages and still going! It’s fun! Why have I not thought of this before!? XD I also have some sketches planned for character designs for this series. Hell, any excuse to get drawing again, I say. :p

So, if you’re still with me by the end of this, and I hope you still are, there won’t be many of these rants. I tend to keep that kind of stuff to myself anyways. 😉