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Pundit Says Video Games Are Making Men "Pathetic"
firefly2003
Member UncommonPosts: 2,527
William Bennett is a well known cultural commentator, and served as U.S. Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush. In a recent CNN editorial, the author of the recent book The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood has harsh words for men, and cites many males' video game habits as a contributing factor to the decline of males in education and the workforce.
In the article, entitled "Why Men Are In Trouble," Bennett calls out video games in a couple of passages. In the first he writes, "Man's response has been pathetic. Today, 18-to- 34-year-old men spend more time playing video games a day than 12-to- 17-year-old boys. While women are graduating college and finding good jobs, too many men are not going to work, not getting married and not raising families. Women are beginning to take the place of men in many ways. This has led some to ask: do we even need men?"
He concludes the article by stating "We may need to say to a number of our twenty-something men, 'Get off the video games five hours a day, get yourself together, get a challenging job and get married.' It's time for men to man up."
Harsh words indeed.
{mod edit - know it's the title of the article over there, but adjusted it slightly to make it less political}.
Comments
That guy needs to go f$*@# himself.
He lives in the past and does not get it. There are way better reasons why men(and women) are not having kids and getting married, how about the 68% fail rate that a marriage has here in the US and something like 58% worldwide. All my friends that got married young and have kids are now divorced and the poor kids are thrown into a bitter relationship battles (these friends of mine all have good jobs and dont really play video games).
who are these women marrying? if men arent getting married?
kevin ripka
He has a point though. Playing too much does suck you out of time you might have spent chasing dreams and great ideas.
I know that making art and music, two things I always loved doing in my evening hours and weekend, do suffer from my gaming habbit. Also I still want to write a book and do all kinds of constructive things with my time.
It's just that after a day or a week at work, I really have this need to get out of it, forget the stress and relax, and gaming is the perfect escape for that.
On the upside, I almost watch no tv ^_^
My brand new bloggity blog.
Sounds like he got WTFPawned in a game.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
If it wasn't video games, it'd be something else. Video games are simply a more convenient timesink. They require no locomotion, are situated in the comfort of your own home, and have the appeal of non-commital entertainment. It could just as easily be television or, with a little more ambition, whippits with mom's empty spray-on whip cream cans.
Sooo society has been empowering women with rights for many years to have choices and options...
But yet men dont have the right to live how they want to, and are considered "worthless" becaise we dont fit societies mold?
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I dunno, always wondered if computer games had existed when I was a young man would I ever graduated college, gotten married, etc?
My son grew up in the gaming generation (he's 18 now) and so far he seems to have a pretty good balance. He does play some games, but manages to go to college full time, work 2 jobs, and even go out on some evenings to pursue other opportunities. (drinking, drugs and sex I believe)
I watch him carefully, but so far video games haven't seem to "ruin" him in any way.
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I'm pretty much the same I hardly ever watch tv at all , when I do I pop in a Blu-Ray and play PC games most of the time, lately I've been finishing off PS3 and Xbox games just in time for the onslaught of new games coming out from now till the end of the year, I like to draw and write as well , read a book here and there, you can have a good job though and still have plenty of time to devote to video games. The whole marriage comment is bs though, don't have to get married and raise a family to be a "man" do what makes you happy , in my case getting married and having kids isn't something that will make me happy just miserable.
I'd rather be successful on my own and have my freedom to do whatever I please without someone hindering me.
he (and his ilk) make their money by harkening back to a "good old days" that is quite idealized but never really existed. there were no video games in this idealized past, therefore they have no place in his world. the same goes for anything he doesnt like (EG same-sex marriages)
the key is to not listen to, or be bothered by them.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
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Very true
If you really want to look at it from a perspective are we pathetic or is it really society that's pathetic as a whole for passing judgement on things they don't understand or fear?
I have to wonder how much tv the guy watches in a day.......
Dem hibbies! Dey be wrong!
maybe us 18-34's are so we're all tired of seeing the BS that goes on in our government and knowing nothing is going to change we just waste away in a word where we have a say. Insurance for life for serving 1 term, giving yourself a raise, etc ... so much garbage.
However, i'm glad to say i dont fall into this guys metric. i have 2 degrees, have a family, and play games about 25hr a week. I make sure i spend time with my kids before i do my gaming for the night.
Say what you want about IGN, but they've got a pretty nice reply.
<childish, provocative and highly speculative banner about your favorite game goes here>
Has he forgotten all about the women who play games ? It is all about time management anyway.
Yeah, that was well done.
Agreed, television has been villainized for the same issues for many years. I will say the man has a point. I'm almost 34 myself and have noticed a huge change in productivity since I've stopped playing games regularly (down to 2-5 hours a week). I spend more quality time with my GF, my grades have improved, and I'm working on a second language or getting more exercise during my free time instead of wasting it in games. I may be spending slightly more per month for entertainment but the time I save from not playing MMOs is worth far more than that. I'd be even less behind in my career if I'd left console gaming behind as well when I graduated HS (stopped watching television pretty much entirely about 11 years ago).
I think proper mentoring programs would go a long way.
You should also all read his article in light of the fact that he really does know first hand how piss poor self control skills work.
He is a gambling addict.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett#Gambling
A$$.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
He's right though, we should be more like previous generations.
Watching network TV and drinking ourselves into alcoholism.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Games can be addicting time sinks, but it takes willpower to balance everything. I play games about 10 - 20 hours a week, workout 8-12 hours a week, spend time with the woman 15- 20 a week, and work 30-50 hours a week. It's a lot to juggle but it works for now. His point has nothing to do with a man not being a man though, willpower is key.
This from a douchebag who has lost millions gambling...
Great post! For me games are an interactive TV replacement.
I haven't watched broadcast TV shows since the early 90s. That crap rots your brain.
Also hate to inform him, all the IRL gamers I know are married with kids and own their own homes (well one guy rents).
I don't disagree at all, but even in the age-span given in the article you can many times see a profound difference between the upper end and the lower end. Hell, even two guys the same age based on their socioeconomic background. I can say personally (especially when I was younger) it was easy to use video games as an escapist crutch for parts of my life that were unfulfilling (particularly when I was active duty). I won't say that I didn't have fun times because I most certainly did and I met quite a few great people many of whom I still talk with regularly. However, in comparison to my non-gaming peers I have quite a bit of catching up to do.
It comes down to a double edged sword though- the more educated and well-rounded folks you have out there the more competition there is for the better jobs in most any background. I'm quite happy having addiction-level gamers and stoners out there to deliver my pizza and bag my groceries. I'm just happy not to be one of them anymore.
The stoner, store baggers I knew now have masters in IT (needed a dead end job to focus on school) degrees and make money over fist and play more games then I can dream of (and smoke a lot of really good pot). All in the eye of the beholder. Doing anything for too long will derail other parts of our lives.