page 4
The Fourth Wall
Soldier
from page 3
centuries. To think that we’re going
to step in and stop them, it’s kind
of crazy.”
Following that I asked if Jaha
found the process of becoming a
civilian again difficult?
Jaha said, “It’s totally difficult.
The main thing is the camaraderie,
that’s what I miss... To protect each
other, to care about each other. It’s
like a family. It’s not about
individuals, really. In the civilian
process, it’s a lot more individuality,
especially how we talk about in
class, how technology has
burrowed us away from each other,
pretty much. That’s the way I feel.
That’s why I like talking to people,
and I like being around people.”
“Another thing, when I got
back, the anger was kind of bad
because you’re in a war zone. You
Editorial:
Gamer’s
By Gregory Reed
Features Editor
I am a gamer. Run in terror
because I walk among you. Hide
your children! Mothers don’t let
me look your way.
Because, apparently, I am a
deviant.
I recently purchased the best
RPG (role-playing game) I’ve
played in a long time: Mass Effect.
In the game you can have digital
sex. Hurray, my life is complete.
My dreams of having sex in a
digital format have finally been
completed. I can die happy.
But, Fox News doesn’t think
digital sex is such a hot idea.
First, on a program called ‘Live
Desk’ a 6-7 minute segment is
devoted to the child-ruining video
game Mass Effect. 1know, I know
why should I call out Fox News, a
reputed source of fair and balanced
reporting.
Why? Ino longer will be quiet
when there is no accountability. I
must play a just hand in a world of
forum-trawlers, who speak in
tongues of bad grammar and poor
word choice.
Fox News’s program bombarding
see bombs and dead people, and
stuff blowing up, and all kinds of
stuff happening.”
“Especially driving because
when I was in Iraq, you drive as
fast as you can possibly drive, and
you just get away from everything
because you don’t want to be
blown up. So, you have to learn
how to drive again, like a normal
person, I guess you might say. You
have to learn that these intense
emotions, you have to take them
by your own hands, and be a
human being about it, and you
can’t treat people like that every
day, with all that anger, and with all
that hate.”
“Everyone’s experiences are
different. You have the Combat
Arms ranks in the Army, and you
have the people that are support.
The people that are support aren’t
directly in combat every day. The
Combat Arms people, they’re in
combat, for the most part, every
day. So everybody’s experiences
are going to be different. You’ve
got to be a human about it, and
just love your fellow person. I think
you can go to Iraq with the
intentions of justkilling everyone.
I just wanted to help people. Help
move things along the best that I
could.”
When asked if there is hope for
the conflict in Iraq, and .in the
Middle East?
Jaha responded, “I hope so.
When people are stripped of
everything, all that’s pretty much
left is hope. I hope that these
people can live normal lives, but
what are you going to do, destroy
their religion, because that’s the,
main thing that they use as an
excuse to attack us. Don’t make the
soldiers that died in that country
die for nothing. Why pull out
now? We’ve already been there too
long. There needs to be some kind
of solution. It’s like the craziest
thing in the world, what solution?
I’ve talked to a lot of people, and
they say, “Just kill them all.” That’s
inhumane, just murder everyone,
and then just leave the country.
You don’t go help a country and
then just leave them. Eventually,
they’re going to get pushed down
again, so you can’t do that. It’s
going to end up being a hardship
tour. We’re going to have to rotate
through there.”
Jaha went on to say, “That was
the main reason I got out. When I
left, I talked to... the contractor
that brings all our equipment and
just signed a ten year contract.
How are they talking about
moving out of Iraq when this
contractor just signed a ten year
contract back in 2006? There’s no
way for us to pull out. We could
pull out the bulk of our forces, but
there still has to be some combat
reaction team that, when that
problem arises again, they’re going
to have to run in there and fix
everything again.”
Then finished by adding, “It’s
just going to become another
Korea, basically. If we pulled our
forces out of Korea, think about it,
North Korea would just slide down
and just take them all out. Same
thing in Iraq. If we pull out of Iraq,
Iran would come down, Syria would
come down, everybody would just
come down, Afghanistan would
probably push up. Whoever wants
to take. We know it’s basically Iran
that wants Iraq, because that was
part of Persia, and the Iraqis have
family members in Iran, and the
Iranians have family members in
Iraq, so they want to be unified. You
have to take over every country in
the Middle East to make a problem
solved. You have to go take over
Syria, you have to go take over Iran,
you have to go take over Saudi
Arabia.”
the game is filled with so many
mistakes I can’t fathom why people
watch the channel to begin with.
Reporting and Journalism, once
thought to be reputed crafts, have
been tossed down a latrine like so
much fecal matter.
In the segment it is mentioned
by the host that there is full graphic
nudity depicted in the game.
Nay, you get ‘side-boob’ and
good view of some digital booty.
But, I’ve seen worse; if nudity is
really considered that harmful, on
MTV, the OC, Family Guy, Reno
shows that air on the Fox Network.
At least, I put my bias out there.
Also, without dwelling on it
too much, the game expert on the
show (for the first half of the
segment, the second half, with the
desk panel had no such ‘balance’)
did an admirable job of not
interrupting the bimbo, and I say
that with full intention, when she
opened her mouth and spewed un-
researched lies. However, the
gaming expert who had actually
played the critically heralded game
had no such luck. Anytime he
would make a point, or at least try,
he would be cut away from and cut-
off at the syllable.
Real cute, Fox, real cute. Tell
me again that the ERSB isn’t
respected by Congress and the
Game Development community.
followed by all regulated retailers
(which by law are all of them) isn’t
enough. And finally tell me this;
please do, that you wouldn’t lie to
spark controversy just like this. At
the end of the day Fox, and its
billions of dollars, won’t get hurt.
We do. Not as just gamers, but as
consumers and for that matter,
Americans as a whole:
That’s where the real problem
at the heart of this message lies in:
accountability.
There are some, in the myriad of
online forums, who ran to the aid
‘expert’ on the show. They decried
those who would criticize the
pretty little self-help author, who
just wanted to promote her book.
Someone decided to call
everyone who bashed this author
naive, considering that Fox
probably told her the lies(instead
of research which real authors
typically know how to do) and
what to say (instead of being a real
expert), and thusly she should not
be blamed for her actions.
We live in a sad age. We live in
an age where people are no longer
accountable for their words. And
it makes this writer sick.
I propose that, if only time travel
were possible, we go back to the
Nuremburg trials and ask the
prosecuted, “Did you only
perpetuate the lies and kill, maim
the Jews because the higher ups
who paid you said to?”
And if they say “Yes” we say,
“Then you are innocent.”
That way in our new altered
future it would be much easier to
justify watching network news.
Because instead of video games
desensitizing us to violence. We
have been desensitized to
stupidity.