November 18, 2006
Apparently sparked by the PlayStation 3 launch, conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly took off after video game culture and digital technology generally in yesterday's Radio Factor.The controversial talk show host, who advertises his program as a "no spin zone" offered the following spin on gamers and much of their favorite gear:
American society is changing for the worse because of the machines... In the past to flee the real world people usually chose drugs or alcohol... now you don't have to do that, Now all you have to do is have enough money to buy a machine...
Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality - ever. So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine. Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality...
Here comes the PS3 rant:
The newest thing is the PlayStation 3. Now this is a machine that allows you to play games in hi-def and all this other stuff... It's the newest state of the art system from Sony.... It has a video game console, plays DVDs, connects you to the Internet, tells you how handsome you are. It’s six-hundred bucks. Now people lined up for hours to get this thing. Hours!
Next, O'Reilly recounts some of the various, well-publicized incidents that took place on PS3 lines around the country, before launching into:
The problem with this stuff is that some people can deal with it constructively... but other people get addicted to it, just like opium, just like drugs and alcohol… So this is a big, big problem. It’s going to change every single thing in this country.
At about this point, O'Reilly has Blois Olson of the National Institute on Media & the Family on as a guest. Olson talked about some issues regarding video game addiction, but was quite reasonable. As for O'Reilly? He thinks your video gaming may well doom you to a life of poverty:
The have-nots are growing. Why are they growing? Because the skill set that is necessary to earn a decent living is being deemphasized in a fantasy world of football games and shooting zombies and all that…. Now you have the "knows" and the "know-nots", because if you spend all your youth being prisoners of machines..... you're not going to know anything…. You’re gonna fail.
And, even though O'Reilly's pay site offers a podcast, the pundit rather curiously disses the iPod and seems to equate video gaming with national collapse:
I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod... If this is your primary focus in life - the machines... it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America... did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? ...I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They're not playing the video games. They're killing real people over there.
GP: A big, huge shout-out to reader Jim for the tip... Even if GP did have to shell out $4.95 in order to listen to O'Reilly's rant. Hey, we spare no expense for our readers.
Comments
I see where your coming from. But although he did have some points, he still shows that there are more than enough people that will look at another group and ignore the vast majority of people who are OK in favor of those few that are not OK. This is just an example of saying we are all becoming a little too dependent on technology based on what some individuals are doing. These people who riot for a PS3 represent a portion of the game community, not all of it, but that doesn't seem to matter to Mr. O'Reilly. When a few from a certain group screw up, for some reason it represents everyone in that group for some stupid people. It is sad but unfortunately true.
However, it did really irritate me when he said that these games were like drugs and alcohol. These games are not at all like that. If they were, you couldn't play and then drive. They don't turn players into the living dead, like drugs do, and that's what I was complaining about a few posts ago. Some countries ban these innocent games as though they were drugs and alcohol. They don't have the damaging effects of drugs and alcohol, so the entire notion is ridiculous. That misconception is very dangerous to our games and I hope no one buys it. Then again, Bill O Reilly is no Jack Thompson, so I don't think we have to worry about him as much as about Jack Thompson. He doesn't write letters to judges and politicians trying to get games banned, but he represents the kind of thinking that is behind it and that's not good.
That is all.
He's done this before with other things and will do it again. That's how these people try to earn their living...
From his unusual views I would suggest that it is he who does not 'know what his neighbor looks like', when you consider how many hard-working American adults play video games today.
well, its good to know he knows what hes talking about.
"did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them?" What the hell are you talking about? You should leave the nerds alone O 'reilly, I've heard that one day they may get their revenge.
I guess he has a bad case of Technophobia.
So, when do we send a huge shipment of 360s to Iraq?
How about the 'computer geeks' who are running all the technology for his show. Maybe he should fire them all and run it himself...oh wait, he probably isn't smart enough to run it.
O RLY?
Because nobody uses drugs or alcohol anymore. Especially not teens/20-somethings. And drugs? They were CHEAP! Same with booze.
"So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like."
It's Saturday, it's 38 degrees outside, the neighbor on my left is a middle aged, heavy black woman with 4 or 5 teenage kids and her husband. The neighbor on my right is a 30something thin, tallish black woman with lots of friends over all the time and 5 kids or so. The neighbor across the street is a 20 or 30 year old thin, short white woman who I've seen outside once... But maybe I'm just the statistical anomaly...
"It has a video game console, plays DVDs, connects you to the Internet, tells you how handsome you are. It’s six-hundred bucks. "
I bet Bill has something that costs at least 600 bucks, plays DVDs, connects you to the Internets, tells you how handsome you are and plays video games. (The PS3 tells you how handsome you are? Wha?)
"Now people lined up for hours to get this thing. Hours!"
People lined up to see Santa for hours. People lined up for hours to see (band). People lined up for hours to see Star Wars (and other movies)...
"because if you spend all your youth being prisoners of machines….. you’re not going to know anything…."
Oh THAT explains why nobody in my generation has a college degree or a job! It makes sense!
"the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games."
I thought they were playing video games?
I am a videogame addict. I am a rabid GTA fan. I DO know what today is.
(Saturday November 18, 2006)
I DO know who my neighbours are.
I KNOW quite a bit.
(The newest thing is the PlayStation 3. Now this is a machine that allows you to play games in hi-def and all this other stuff… It’s the newest state of the art system from Sony…. It has a video game console, plays DVDs, connects you to the Internet, tells you how handsome you are. It’s six-hundred bucks. Now people lined up for hours to get this thing. Hours!)
It doesnt tell how hansome you are STUPID!
Actually It plays PS3, PS2, and PSX games, DVD, and BLu-Ray. It's a friggin computer that plays videogames on your TV. And a good computer that does all that can cost more than a thousand dollars. This is actually cheaper. And people will line up for anything. New videogame consoles, Harry Potter, Movies,etc.
(The problem with this stuff is that some people can deal with it constructively… but other people get addicted to it, just like opium, just like drugs and alcohol… So this is a big, big problem. It’s going to change every single thing in this country.)
What, becuase you don't understand it?
(The have-nots are growing. Why are they growing? Because the skill set that is necessary to earn a decent living is being deemphasized in a fantasy world of football games and shooting zombies and all that…. Now you have the “knows” and the “know-nots”, because if you spend all your youth being prisoners of machines….. you’re not going to know anything…. You’re gonna fail.)
And you know this becuase...
(I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life - the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America…)
Like what?
(did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …)
Have you really tried? What about the computer geeks that run your stupid show?
(I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.)
So we should be killing people over here too? Just what are you saying here?
Just another old, out of touch asshole who is trying to talk about something that he doesen't know anything about.
Hey O'Reilly, STFU!
- Warren Lewis
You know why ? Actually, I have no problem having things in common with someone I strongly disagree with (or even despise). And on the opposite, I have no problem having serious points of disagreement with someone I love or deeply respect, although I can regret it. This is why I'm happy about the French culture minister's policy supporting video games, although this is almost the only thing I approve of him.
But in the case of O'Reilly... I'm glad that his rant on videogames, gamers, etc... confirms exactly what I think of him. And I really prefer to disagree with him on that subject.
(Warning: About to generalize based on personal observation)
Nono, it's the left wingers who believe that people, such as jihadists, only do bad things when forced to do so by the influence of evil, such as guns or video games. Thus, ban guns video games and people will become paragons of virtue.
The right wingers prefer to think that people are responsible for their own actions. Therefore, if they attack games, it's because they think we should quit with the fake stuff and start living a "real" life, full of responsible activity.
A) Google the words "Tickle Me Elmo". Slap in the face, isn't it?
B) You're using a machine to get your message out. Those same machines had people just like you in the past deliver the same message. How many slaps can you take?
C) I live in an apartment. I know all my neighbors except one. Scratch that, we became friends when he saw me come home with an EB Games bag. This is close to a TKO.
D) As a personal trainer I have to help clients through such issues as obesity, family illness histories, anorexia, depression, and all the social ills from being out of shape to all the social ills of being in shape. I also just found out my ex-girlfriend (whom I wanted to marry) is now pregnant with a guy who is unemployed. Don't tell me I don't deal with reality.
Games ain’t the catalyst to the madness. It’s greed.
Andrew
You know it's going to happen.
I thought it was because Bush and co. was laying thier fiddles on the white house roof while the corperations ran off with the jobs....or are you saying you have to go to collage 3 time and have 3 or 5 degress and BAs in this and that jsut to be middle class....mmmmm
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"American society is changing for the worse because of the machines…"
All societies grow and change over time.......
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""I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life - the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.""
So what your saying is you would be more happy if teens and kids were on drugs and killing each other daily??.....then of corse you would say
*I am sitting here,watching them....playing )these games((takeing drugs and killing each other)...and I cant do a thing to stop it*
sad sad little man O'rilye...sad ....you are now Rush Jr....
-- No no, what I meant was, I thought the jihadists were coming out with various video games (I don't remember the titles off the top of my head...) (and the 9-11-01 hijackers, I thought, trained a little on Flight Simulator)
....He has obviously never bothered. Maybe it's because 'Computer Geeks' have access to things he can't understand, like, possibly, the fact there's such a thing as the 'rest of the world'?
Is it the other persons fault for knowing more than you Bill?
There are people out there that specify with the field of their choice. Business men like to talk about business, while artists like to discuss things about art. It should be a no-brainer that Computer "geeks" enjoy talking about computers. The field is so wide-spread that it extends the arms to more than one field to know (Computer hardware, software, programing, etc) so it's no surprise that gamer's would discuss things on gaming. It's the whole human psyche of likes and dislikes that make unique beings co-exist with others that do the very same.
...some may call it friendship, or maybe even love.
Going off topic for a second I just want to say some republican conservatives are alright, the party has just been hijacked by the religious right. Most of them are focused on what conservatives were supposed to do, which is balance the budget and help the country economically. Now I'm an independant but I just wanted to get the word out that Bill O Reilly doesn't represent all of republican conservatives, but he does appeal to an awful lot of human messes.
All in all Bill O' Reilly= Irrelevant Douche
As a society we have become incredibly reliant upon machines for everything. I'm not saying that's good or bad but it does present certain problems that we've never had before.
Lets look at the recent mutli-day lines and some of the ensuing violence that broke out with the release of the PS3 for example. It IS a little nuts to wait outside a store for three or more days just so you can get a PS3 before someone else. Its even more nuts to shoot someone over it. These can be seen as an example of spme people thinking that a game system has more importance than a human life. I mean what employer is going to be ok with you taking off that many days of work just so you can buy a game system?
There's also the problem of addiction. There are people out there who become so enamored of a game, MMO, or similair product that they lose their sense of self. I don't know how common it is, but it can happen and we need to acknowledge it.
I'm a traditionalist myself, anyone here who knows me will know that about me. I can see where Mr. O'Riely is coming from, though I may not agree with all of it. Yelling and cursing him out solves nothing. The matter needs to be approached without condescention and a mind open to the debate. Otherwise we're just handing the anti-game crowd a victory before the fight's even won.
This is a good thing, you can not get arrested for drving after 6 hours of heavy video game playing (unless it causes you to be sleepy), a video game addiciton doesn't support drug dealers, video games don't need to be smuggled into this country. With games you can turn the game off and go back to the real world in a flash you cannot become sober or not high in an instant. Also a heavy addict would probably spend more money on drugs than a hardcore gamer.
Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality - ever. So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine.
So basically anyone under the age of 45 is stupid and can't tell the difference between reality and fiction? Keep talking O'Reily you're doing a great job of making people think you're senile.
Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality…
The same thing could be said about every novel ever made well actually it can't because with novels you go into a reality someone has created for you, instead of having to create one as you said.
The newest thing is the PlayStation 3. Now this is a machine that allows you to play games in hi-def and all this other stuff… It’s the newest state of the art system from Sony…. It has a video game console, plays DVDs, connects you to the Internet, tells you how handsome you are. It’s six-hundred bucks. Now people lined up for hours to get this thing. Hours!
Days would be a lot more accurate, and I do believe people camped out for star wars movies.
The problem with this stuff is that some people can deal with it constructively… but other people get addicted to it, just like opium, just like drugs and alcohol… So this is a big, big problem. It’s going to change every single thing in this country.
People get addicted to a bunch of stuff,as stated before people can get addicted to golf. 'It's going to change everything in the country' is an exxageration at best.
The have-nots are growing. Why are they growing? Because the skill set that is necessary to earn a decent living is being deemphasized in a fantasy world of football games and shooting zombies and all that…. Now you have the “knows” and the “know-nots”, because if you spend all your youth being prisoners of machines….. you’re not going to know anything…. You’re gonna fail.
Please show me an example of a youth who spends every single second playing games. You can;t then be quiet. Oh and calling gamers know-nots shows just how senile you are (especially when you use the term know-nots).
Bill keeps talking about being prisoner of machines and not understandingh reality because of machines. I think he's been watching too many Terminator movies.
-Control freak
-The type of guy who would burn new technology and call it 'witchcraft'
-That guy from the TGI Friday's commercial (the one with the guy using that old 70's cell phone)
-Trying to be the new Jack.
-But is more like the new Joseph McCarthy.
"Trouble coming everyday."
You know, if Bill would have used the anonimity of the internet a few years back, maybe he wouldn't have had to pay off that one woman that he tried to force into dirty conversations.
O'RLY's a dick about 90% of the time, but there is an occasional moment where he says something that's either right or agreeable with. If I had a choice as to who to send to the moon without any oxygen or a space suit between him and Nancy Grace, it'd be a hard choice though I think I'd favor ol'Tweety.
I ask: O RLY?
And he responds: YA RLY!
I am shocked: NO WAI!
Ironic isn't it that O'Reilly makes his living by diverting people's attention with a machine that lets them escape from reality?
Using drugs and alcohol to escape reality is a better choice than video games? He didn't come right out and say it, but he certainly implied it.
Anyways, I'm kind of sick of this mindless fear of technological and cultural advancement.
I know some kids that put their livelihoods (jobs) and educations (college) at risk just to get in line for a Playstation. Skipping out on work or school for a videogame is ridiculous, no matter how you slice it. Let's stop ignoring the fact that we all know people like this. Sure, O'Reilly was a bit extreme with his rant, but he has a point to a certain extent.
We all know some of those kids that spend way too much time on games, MMOs, Live Action RPGs, or just pen and paper RPGs. Some of those kids can't have normal conversations outside of games, and we all know this to be true. We should acknowledge this fact and say, while they are some people like that, it's not the complete truth. I, for one, had a roommate who did nothing but play World of Warcraft. He played, all night, every night. When I was getting up to go to class, he was going to bed because he had just played 13 hours straight. Needless to say, it wasn't long before he flunked out. And I know several people who follow this pattern. We have to stop acting like this isn't true.
Also, on the IPOD. I met a guy who said he didn't feel like a real college student until he had one. Come on. That's ridiculous. People are getting too concerned with technology and letting it define who they are. It's a problem that we have to deal with. Get over it. Sure O'Reilly says a lot of nonsense, but he made some valid points in his argument.