it's all about the benjamins

In between moments of hysteria today (it's a busy week in the gray matter), I thought about Columbine and the fact that ten years ago, a scary thing happened in a school one day that led to innumerable other scary things that happened in schools and public places all over the world.

If you haven't read Andrew Gumbel's article in The Guardian.co.uk, it's a must read.

And if you can stomach some opinion on the matter, David Sirota makes a pointed case to end our obsession with blaming virtual media for societal ills.

I'm going to take this rare opportunity (ha) to express my clear and pointed opinion on the matter. I find war+military+weaponry+etc. horribly out of line with scriptural statements on how a Christian is to live their faith. I find Christian support of any sort of death-making (even the so-called righteous war kind) disgusting. You may disagree with me, but I challenge you to present me with a New Covenant (Testament) piece of writing that condones killing to achieve your purposes. If it exists, it may actually take me out of some of the misery I experience for the pain of this world. But unless it is clearly stated, I may be inclined to suggest you have distorted the Word to comfort you out of taking responsibility for such societal ills.

I'm going to side with Sirota on this one. It isn't the video games that the kids are playing--its the nightly news combined with the shiny Escalades in the driveway of the few. Our virtual realities only reflect the actual worship of our culture: power and control.