I avoid watching him, but now he stepping in our turf..
I ignore marketing hypes, even though I am not completely immune to them, but what do I care if someone wants to buy something that gives them pleasure or makes them happy or game all day? Who am I to judge how another should spend his time so long as it is their time and bother no one?
He rants about how bad it is to play games, and then gives an example of people he believes are not wasting their time playing video games.. (see both bold)
Bill O’Reilly Slams PS3 Launch, Gamers, iPods, Digital Tech (not in that order)
Apparently sparked by the PlayStation 3 launch, conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly took off after video game culture and digital technology generally in yesterday’s Radio Factor.
The controversial talk show host, who advertises his program as a “no spin zone” offered the following spin on gamers and much of their favorite gear:
American society is changing for the worse because of the machines… In the past to flee the real world people usually chose drugs or alcohol… now you don’t have to do that, Now all you have to do is have enough money to buy a machine…
Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality - ever. So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine. Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality…
Here comes the PS3 rant:
The newest thing is the PlayStation 3. Now this is a machine that allows you to play games in hi-def and all this other stuff… It’s the newest state of the art system from Sony…. It has a video game console, plays DVDs, connects you to the Internet, tells you how handsome you are. It’s six-hundred bucks. Now people lined up for hours to get this thing. Hours!
Next, O’Reilly recounts some of the various, well-publicized incidents that took place on PS3 lines around the country, before launching into:
The problem with this stuff is that some people can deal with it constructively… but other people get addicted to it, just like opium, just like drugs and alcohol… So this is a big, big problem. It’s going to change every single thing in this country.
At about this point, O’Reilly has Blois Olson of the National Institute on Media & the Family on as a guest. Olson talked about some issues regarding video game addiction, but was quite reasonable. As for O’Reilly? He thinks your video gaming may well doom you to a life of poverty:
The have-nots are growing. Why are they growing? Because the skill set that is necessary to earn a decent living is being deemphasized in a fantasy world of football games and shooting zombies and all that…. Now you have the “knows” and the “know-nots”, because if you spend all your youth being prisoners of machines….. you’re not going to know anything…. You’re gonna fail.
And, even though O’Reilly’s pay site offers a podcast, the pundit rather curiously disses the iPod and seems to equate video gaming with national collapse:
I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life - the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.
His Message Don't play be games, be serious get some skills, be a jihadist?
LOL.. Mr. dinosaur is on his way to extinction if he keeps up this rhetoric.. its not like he himself does not spend his life in front a machines (Camera), and then glued to another.. (TV) Frigging hypocrite. I personally don't use consoles and I am a PC die hard gamer.. but this guy is finally getting on my nerves..
Sorry, just venting, live & let live I guess ~
oh yeah almost forgot, he don't like i-pods either..
okay, let's see. Farily often I lose track of what time of day it is, what day of the week it is, not because of video games, but because of my academic work and how messed up my sleep schedule gets as a result of all-nighters and lab-sessions. Going to sleep at 6am consistently = not healthy . Coming back from the lab at 3am at the earliest = not cool.
I did play a shit ton of console games from ages roughly 8~18, meaning I should be leading a life of poverty according to EL Factor. But my projected earnings, if I chose to work next year, would be somewhere upwards of $50k year, looking at statistics of past ELE major graduates from my school. That's doing better than a good chunk of society, whatever way you look at it.
Oh but wait, I'm going to graduate school so I WILL BE POOR next year. OH NOES Mr O'Reiley was correctorz.
He didnt make any good point, not even worth quoting or arguing. The guy must be losing raiting I think? scaring the few conservatives that watch him saying to them that games are bad etc, just another attention whore.
oh yeah.. thedeadhaji thank you very much for pointing that out.. I am the quintessential example of a gamer.. I been frigging gaming since PONG game out.. I have lived the history of video gaming in vivo from ground ZERO and played games on arcades, pet computers, apples, atari's etc.. you name it.. and not only do I lead a productive life and help a lot of people on a daily basis but I ain't doing too bad at all when it comes to money. This O'Relly.. maybe as a kid no one let him play in the play ground..
On November 23 2006 18:32 Physician wrote: oh yeah.. thank you very much for pointing that out.. I am the quintessential example of a gamer.. I been frigging gaming since PONG game out.. I have lived the history of video gaming in vivo from ground ZERO and played games on arcades, pet computers, apples, atari's etc.. and I would like point out that, not only do I lead a productive life and help a lot of people on a daily basis, have a nice family.. I ain't doing to bad when it comes to money plus I never hurt anyone.. this O'Relly is a phuking idiot..
Who cares? You know it's true. Whoever thinks that video games are actually good and useful for you? It's just a thing to waste time and help when you're bored.
I think the whole thing is summed up nicely in: Bill O'Reily is an asshole. I wanted to email him, but I couldn't find the link on his page. I'd rather watch Scarborough.
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On November 23 2006 18:53 Physician wrote: and I also forgot ~ Countries that game
How very "unproductive" of nations were there is a lot of gaming...
The 231 in that list all have some sort of gaming?
I don't think O'Reilly understands that video games are the second largest (I think they're second now) form of entertainment in this country, and a billion dollar industry yearly. Not to mention that he uses iPod services in his podcasts, and that his shows are shown on this "disruptive" technology. Why not go back to the way it used to be when there was no TV, and no radio? Heck, why not just make Bill O'Reilly supreme commander of the world?
It seems to me like O'Reilly is trying to criticize the super-hardcore group of gamers that actually have no lives and don't do productive work (where studying obviously counts as productive). However, he falls into one of the biggest traps of modern society--trying to comment on something you know jack shit about. Thus, without any knowledge about the gaming base whatsoever, he launches into unreasonable generalizations and makes inflammatory suggestions. It's like the uproar over the dummied out sex scene in that GTA game--people couldn't wait to have their say on the issue even though their opinions were grounded in faulty understandings of how that scene could be accessed.
Haji, ELE = ELectrical Engineering? I swear electrical engineering graduates from the state college I go to (Clemson) average $50000+ starting salary, unless they lied to me in their presentation. I believe your figures are low, good sir. Don't you go to Princeton or something?
The greatest irony here is how none of us have read/heard the full interview/article, and I for one haven't listened to O'Reilly in a year, so what do I know about his views?
On November 23 2006 18:40 WhatisProtoss wrote: Who cares? You know it's true. Whoever thinks that video games are actually good and useful for you? It's just a thing to waste time and help when you're bored.
I mean sure, it doesnt help, but it doesnt "hurt" as badly as O'reiley claims either. Does loitering in the mall after school help? =S
Even if I personally cut my gaming to zero hours, I probably couldnt add more hours to my work schedule without losing my sanity. I need a breather.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://wis.worldcybergames.com/sp/web/news_photo/upload/20061121/oreilly_u_mad.jpg)
. Coming back from the lab at 3am at the earliest = not cool.
