Trump's communications director quits

[Spartanmack]

Throw in some George Micheal and Boy George and you could've had the trifecta.

P.S. If that's what you listened to when you were younger...:cheers:

No Boy George but I'll admit to having a huge crush on Debbie Gibson in my early teens. And I'll also admit to leaving XM on the 80s channel if Culture Club comes on these days - and I sing every word because it makes my kids laugh.

I listened to a very ecclectic mix and still do, although growing up and through high school it was mostly rock (VH, Rush, Aerosmith, Billy Idol, Ozzie, Motley Crue, U2, REM, the Alarm) and New Wave (Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen - but i hated the Cure). I wasn't exposed to much rap until college but that's mostly due to the fact that it wasn't that big. Freshman year at MSU I roomed across the hall from Big Ed and Miguel from Detroit. That's when my roommate and I were exposed to Eric B and Rakim, EPMD and a few other more obscure or not safe for radio artists. Prior to that it was mostly Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Ladies Love Cool James, etc - 2 Live Crew was probably the edgiest but who hadn't heard of them in the late 80s?

 

[turok]

interesting that you consistently talk about how dumb Trump and the GOP are yet on this particular topic on which there is no data to support your or Trump's position, suddenly he's the voice of reason. :cheers:

None of my posts equated playing war games to commiting mass-murders, so don't try to put words into them that aren't there.

And I linked to Trump's meeting only b/c it was related to my post, and there is absolutely no topic or subject, or tweet, or his opinion that I have ever agreed with him about, including this one.

 

[Gulo Blue]

not really, if having two working parents isn't a predictor of outcomes, why should it get as much attention as the other factors?

I mention the big slow shift away from stay at home moms and you say 2-parent vs 1-parent is a bigger factor? How do you make that comparison? Tell me about 1 parent families with a stay at home mom and how the effects of raising children in different decades was controlled for in this study you appear to be telling me about.

 

[turok]

I have only purchased one interactive gaming software, being "GTA: Vice City" back in '06, out of pure curiousity, but it didn't hold my interest for very long. Gaming virtually is just not my thing, unlike when I was a kid/teen, and physically/actively played board, card, pool, foosball, air-hockey, and outdoor games with actual people, not CGI vapor animation.

 

[Gulo Blue]

I have only purchased one interactive gaming software, being "GTA: Vice City" back in '06, out of pure curiousity, but it didn't hold my interest for very long. Gaming virtually is just not my thing, unlike when I was a kid/teen, and physically/actively played board and outdoor games with actual people, not CGI vapor animation.

Terrible pick. It's like the only movie you ever saw was Vin Diesel's xXx, so you decided that movies aren't your thing, you'd rather interact with real people, not CGI vapor animation.

 

[sggatecl]

Yeah...your :cheers: pal Spartanmack can claim that my .gif of beating a dead horse is trolling, but posting :lmao: gets *crickets*. It obviously depends upon whose posting PoV that it is coming from.

I mean, I was LITERALLY laughing at my screen. I thought that was the best way to convey it. Next time I'll use the more standard 'LOL'. I love that dead horse .gif. I love .gifs. You won't hear me complaining. You people don't use them enough.

You're not seriously comparing listening to music, to interactive/immersive computer war gaming software, including online MMORPG?

These games tend to create the sociopath impression that human lives aren't valuable. Plus the fact that young people are increasingly using social media almost exclusively outside of school to communicate, and aren't developing the interpersonal skills necessary to function in many work environments.

I'm with you on social media being a cesspool but that is completely unrelated to violence in video games in my opinion. I would argue, but in a way agree with you, that the biggest impact video games have on youths isn't violence but more so how they've replaced face to face relationships for many people. As a very avid video game player, the number of teenagers who have called me a 'stupid f***ing f***ot' and that I should kill myself is mind blowing. That's not because of violence in video games. It's a culture that is prevalent and VERY nasty.

Oh and just coincidentally, Trump held a related meeting yesterday about this very subject, but I don't believe that there could be any effective means of keeping these violent games out of the hands of underaged children.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/08/trump-video-game-violence-395116

And coincidentally, I have something on hand for you and those morons in that meeting.

http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/EFGamesandViolence.pdf

They have ratings on all video games. If kids are playing them...guess who's fault that is? Hint: It's not Trump, Obama, the NRA, or BLM.

 

[sggatecl]

Terrible pick. It's like the only movie you ever saw was Vin Diesel's xXx, so you decided that movies aren't your thing, you'd rather interact with real people, not CGI vapor animation.

That is a fantastic example. :cheers:

 

[turok]

Terrible pick. It's like the only movie you ever saw was Vin Diesel's xXx, so you decided that movies aren't your thing, you'd rather interact with real people, not CGI vapor animation.

The GTA series was popular back then, which is why I chose it. I had some former co-workers who owned and rented other interactive games back when PC GPUs were only beginning to become the super fast with GBs of internal memory monsters that they are now. So its not like that was the only one which I had ever seen or used.

 

[Michchamp]

That is a fantastic example. :cheers:

oh man. I loved GTA Vice City.

the week after I got it was like the most entertained I've ever been in my life.

 

[sggatecl]

oh man. I loved GTA Vice City.

the week after I got it was like the most entertained I've ever been in my life.

I didn't hate it but I can't imagine trying to introduce someone to video games and that being the choice. I've also never been a huge GTA guy. I still haven't bought the latest installment and it's been out for years.

 

[Gulo Blue]

The only GTA game I ever played was very different from what most people think of

Also, the only Warcraft I ever played looked like this:

EDIT: I take the first half of that back. A friend sat me down and had me play 5 minutes of one of the new GTAs and I hated it.

 

[Spartanmack]

None of my posts equated playing war games to commiting mass-murders, so don't try to put words into them that aren't there.

And I linked to Trump's meeting only b/c it was related to my post, and there is absolutely no topic or subject, or tweet, or his opinion that I have ever agreed with him about, including this one.

so what did you equate them too, Americans being lazy which is the the point in the post you responded to? If so, how do violent video games make people more lazy than nonviolent games because you specifically mentioned violent games?

You seem to be sending mixed messages - you deny making any link to violence then you say violent video games lead to sociopathic tendencies and a devaluation of human life. Well, if you're not concerned that it makes people violent, what is the real risk? That they are lazy and lack good conscience and compassion?

 

[Michchamp]

So things were better when kids mostly raised themselves? It's kind of a romanticized view of the past. People are dumb now, but people were also dumb in the past.

when I compare my parents to my grandparents, I'd have to say my parents were better educated and "smarter," but a hell of a lot less streetwise. my grandparents seemed to have more skepticism and cynicism.

I don't know if that was just my own family, or what, but I always had the sense that my grandparents - having lived through the Great Depression, albeit as kids - still understood that life was a struggle.

The "welfare state" maybe lulled my parents into a false sense of security? They seemed to believe "they earned it" instead of "good jobs, strong unions, good public education, and cheap college" were all things regular Americans had to fight hard for, sometimes losing their own lives in the process. they bought into all this crap about "social welfare" being handouts to lazy people, and so voted for Reagan, tax cuts, education cuts, anti-union measures, etc. , and then 10-20 years later were confused when they saw their kids' tuition bills, loan balances, struggles to find employment, etc.

"Where did we go wrong? must be the liberals..."

 

[Michchamp]

The only GTA game I ever played was very different from what most people think of

Also, the only Warcraft I ever played looked like this:

EDIT: I take the first half of that back. A friend sat me down and had me play 5 minutes of one of the new GTAs and I hated it.

maybe you didn't like being forced to enjoy it?

I dunno... I played a bit of GTA V, and didn't like the plot.

The last one I played all the way through was San Andreas... which was great.

 

[Spartanmack]

This is a place where we differ. I don't understand how a person can believe in the efficiency of free markets and the idea that self interest is such a powerful motivator and at the same time believe people receiving welfare are happy enough to sit back and be lazy.

why? people are utility maximizers - some people are happy to scrape by on welfare rather than taking slightly more money from a low skill, low wage job they have to work 40 hours a week for. Many people are also short-sighted and don't see the value of the experience from a low skill, often minimum wage job or high school diploma necessary to get that next job that pays more. Also, there's the reality that those on certain entitlements lose certain benefits by working and/or earning "too much." Welfare gives lazy people an out or forces them to make decisions they wouldn't normally make without it - that's not to say everyone on welfare is lazy but if you think everyone on welfare is on welfare because they can't work, that's legitimately delusional.

 

[turok]

That they are lazy and lack good conscience and compassion?

I suppose that those are qualities which would be welcomed by certain politicians who wish to encourage and engage in voter apathy and suppression.

 

[Spartanmack]

I mention the big slow shift away from stay at home moms and you say 2-parent vs 1-parent is a bigger factor? How do you make that comparison? Tell me about 1 parent families with a stay at home mom and how the effects of raising children in different decades was controlled for in this study you appear to be telling me about.

because families with two working parents tend to not live in poverty and their children typically don't end up on welfare. You can read the studies yourself from the Brookings or Cato Institutes or the Heritage Foundation (cue MC discrediting anything from the conservative Heritage Foundation to dismiss the results offhand - conveniently ignoring the libertarian Cato institute and the left-leaning Brookings Institute).

 

[Gulo Blue]

maybe you didn't like being forced to enjoy it?

I dunno... I played a bit of GTA V, and didn't like the plot.

The last one I played all the way through was San Andreas... which was great.

I vaguely recall talking about it here. I think you hadn't seen the part of the game that I played, but the part I played involved some story scene and someone groveling and begging for their life and you need to shoot them with your shotgun to move forward with the game. Maybe there was some other way, but with this friend sitting there walking me through it, that was what it was and I hated it. There is another game I've played with a part like that and I loved that game, but still hated the part about shooting someone that's not shooting back.

 

[Spartanmack]

I suppose that those are qualities which would be welcomed by certain politicians who wish to encourage and engage in voter apathy and suppression.

that's a good dodge but also thought provoking. Perhaps the Republicans should send a few of those video game trucks into Democrat strongholds in 2020.

 

[Spartanmack]

Terrible pick. It's like the only movie you ever saw was Vin Diesel's xXx, so you decided that movies aren't your thing, you'd rather interact with real people, not CGI vapor animation.

who on earth would see Vin Diesel's xXx and decide movies aren't their thing? Talk about terrible picks. Ice Cube's xXx MAYBE, but Vin Diesel's - GTFOH.