I've been somewhat one dimensional in my bickering with
Kooky Val and some who haven't read her site might believe her to just be against Howard Stern, a somewhat reasonable position, as I understand that his brand of humour isn't for everyone. That doesn't make it right to take that humour away from those who do like it, but I can understand the position. On the contrary however there are many things she doesn't like. Rap music for instance. She has campaigned to prevent tens of thousands of paying fans from seeing acts such as
Eminem or 50 Cent perform, and has also tried to persuade major record stores from carrying Rap. She has an entire page on her site dedicated to "music" but the only thing she fights against is rap. There is a lot of Metal and Punk out there that carry a much more racist and violent message, but she doesn't seem to care about that. She filed a complaint with the police about Bell Express-
Vu showing pornographic movies on Pay-Per-View. That's right she thinks that she has the right to dictate what content adults can watch in their own homes. She also has a bug up her ass about violent Video games and this weekend unveiled her latest
page on the subject, a collection of media clippings about the Dawson College shooter,
Kimveer Gill. Of course she put the article that she is quoted in at the top of the list. The writer Mike
Strobel of the Toronto Sun seems to have a somewhat irritating writing style where one sentence equals one paragraph, but I'll quote the relevant passage anyway:
I call Valerie Smith, 54, a neighbour of mine in Scarborough.
Where we live is bounded, roughly, by the Galloway Boys, the Markham-Eglinton Crew and the Versace Boys.
The Montreal Massacre, the original in 1989, inspired her to become an anti-violence crusader. (See www.fradical.com)
In '89, the deadliest video game was Pong, but that's sure changed, eh Val? Now, 401 video games are rated M for blood 'n guts. (Like that'll stop any kid who wants one.)
"The problem has exploded," says Val.
"As opposed to just fighting monsters, it's getting more and more personal. You get to kill people with all manner of instruments.
"And virtual reality is coming. What do you think will happen when some kid can immerse himself so totally he can't tell the difference between real life and fantasy?"
First up, Pong wasn't the most violent video game available in 1979 let alone 1989. Depending on the study up to 95% of Canadian teens report that they have access to video games with upwards of 80% owning at least one video game console of their own. So why aren't our streets crawling with homicidal maniacs? Why is it even possible for me to walk the 2 blocks to work without having to dodge gunfire? With so many of out children being corrupted you would think that our society would have devolved into a complete state of chaos by now.
Hmmmmm...perhaps Video games and music aren't to blame. Maybe society should take a look for other factors. Anyone want to wager on how happy of a home life
Kimveer Gill had? Anyone want to wager as to whether or not he had been abused physically or mentally? These would seem like far more likely triggers for someone to become a
sociopathic killing machine than what games they play. But hey slapping "Video Game Killer" in 72 point print on the cover of your piece of shit tabloid newspaper helps sales.
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