Ravings of a lunatic

Tonight I attended my first Videogame Supper Club, an interesting collection of developers, gaming press, and the people who love them. We gathered this evening at the legendary House of Prime Rib, where, as you might expect, they serve a lot of prime rib. True to legend, it was indeed quite tasty.
On my way through my second or third glass of wine pre-rib, Chris Charla from Foundation 9, I mean Backbone Entertainment, I mean Digital Eclipse, asked me what I thought about the fact that it is the Democrats who are coming out against videogame violence lately.
Frankly, I’m happy to see that this is a non-partisan issue, as Rick Santorum and Joseph Lieberman have also banged on this issue a lot. But that’s not what jumped immediately to mind at this time.
Also frankly, I think there is too much videogame violence. However, this is my own personal opinion, and my solution is to not play violent videogames that bother me! My solution is not to tell everyone else that they *also* can’t play them. That’d be like banning oatmeal because I think it is such a foul substance. Stupid.
But of course, that didn’t jump to mind either.
What did jump to mind was a very well-spoken fellow who was on the Daily Show this week.
John Avlon asserted that the two modern American political parties have both gotten extremist, and as a result the massive population of centrists should be able to take over American politics. I just about fell out of my chair!!
Who The Hell thinks that John Kerry is an EXTREMIST?? Okay, the neo-conservatives… yeah, perhaps kind of extreme? But the Democrats??? The problem with the Democrats is that they’ve sold their soul in a gamble to get more votes. They are not extreme ENOUGH! Conventional thinking goes that if you pull your political party closer to the center you can pick up votes, since there’s a huge mass of “undecideds” that reside there. What seems to be forgotten is that in doing so you LOSE a bunch of people over on the left. Whoops! Why do you think all those people voted for Nader in 2000? What about the 50% of qualified Americans who just don’t vote at all, because they think it’s a waste of time? Maybe THAT should be your target, not the political center. Politics should be interesting and engaging, something people care about, and which encourages friendly debate. As a country we should be exploring ways to get people excited enough about our political process that they are lining up at the polls in the morning on election day.
The Republicans and Democrats have gotten so strategic and conniving, and dare I say – political – that it’s difficult to tell why anyone wins or loses these days. But one thing is perfectly clear: smart people stay the hell away from politics, and go get law degrees or become doctors so they can make boatloads of money. Instead of contributing to our society by trying to improve the country, they focus on making cash. Which means we *all* lose.