I’ve discussed ways to overcome addiction to the World of Warcraft, but in that article I only briefly touched on the reasons why people become addicted. I will look into that further here.
Different people get addicted for different reasons, but there are some common causes that exist in the appeal of the game.
Because first-hand knowledge and experience are most valuable, I will begin by relating my own experience.
I recently discussed an incident where a Mormon couple accidentally left their child to die in a hot car for 17 hours.
Did you notice that I mentioned their religion?
Why do writers of such stories feel the need to attach a person’s religion to a tragedy in order to somehow make it seem more poignant? We hear it all the time.
“So-and-so was an active member of his church before he was gunned down.” Awww, he must have been a good guy then, right?
Why does this happen? Why are people who attend church automatically hailed as the good guys?
Does being religious make a person’s death - or their life - more meaningful? And does it have to be a Christian here in America in order to get maximum impact? How would the response be if it were a Muslim couple that left their child in a car? Oh that’s a little better because those Muslims are so weird anyway, right? Or what about an atheist couple? That’s OK too because they have no morals.
I’m every bit the father Ward Cleaver was. Perhaps even better because I had no June Cleaver by my side to assist me. My kids are my life and I teach them what’s right and wrong. They’re good kids, and I’m all they’ve had for most of their lives. I spend quality time with them, I talk to them, and I’m raising them to be good, honest, respectful, and productive members of society.
And I’m an atheist. I have always told them that it is their choice to believe or not to believe in God. In no way to I ever try to persuade them to believe anything. How many religious parents do that?
If I were gunned down, the media story wouldn’t read, “An atheist father was murdered.” If they did say that, it would somehow present my death as less of a loss than a “Christian father” being murdered.
This is offensive on a level of epic proportions.
Sure, many churches are filled with good, honest people. But so is every other segment of society. And as with every segment of society, churches are also filled with phonies, wife beaters, pedophiles, and murderers.
Not convinced? Let’s take religion out of it.
Let’s say there’s a serial killer in the news and he’s killed 6 people in the last 6 days, right around your neighborhood. You’d be scared as hell. Then you find out those 6 people were all prostitutes. Not only would you breathe a sigh of relief (unless you were a prostitute), but you’d also somehow feel relieved that it was “only” hookers being killed.
When you hear that a prostitute is killed, more than likely you don’t feel as bad as if you hear a “Christian mother” is killed. Prostitutes sometimes have children, too. And yes, some prostitutes are even Christian mothers as well. And of course it’s not a safe or wise career, but these are humans with feelings as real as the rest of us.
Race is also a factor. Perhaps you’ve heard of Missing White Woman Syndrome, an obvious media bias toward sensationalizing missing white females who are cute, and virtually ignoring similar cases of missing non-white females.
If you are missing and you’re Elizabeth Smart, you have everything going for you: white, religious, wealthy, cute, and female.
If you’re a non-Christian non-white male and you’re missing, good luck ever getting any interest.
There’s a stereotype of those who practice Western religions as being holy, righteous, and good. Living in a religious society, it’s not surprising that these stereotypes are inserted at every opportunity by the media.
But when you get people who do nutty things in the name of religion (Jim Jones, Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate), or hide behind the veil of it (Dennis Rader, the BTK killer), the media brushes over the fact that these are not isolated anomalies.
How is it that religion, and especially Christianity in America, can have its cake and eat it too? They present themselves as persecuted victims, yet they are the ones holding all the cards. It’s impossible to hold a political office without belonging to a major religion. Atheists and those belonging to minor or fringe religions are the truly persecuted and ignored.
Religion doesn’t affect the value of a human life and should not be reported as part of a news story unless it’s directly relevant to the case.
In a country where people won’t even protest gasoline well over $4 a gallon and rising daily, it’s hard to imagine anyone ever protesting something as “trivial” as media manipulation of religion.
Among the self-help and instructional material here on wafflesatnoon.com, there are moments when an angry commentary is appropriate. Like now.
One of the unfortunate aspects of living in Las Vegas is hearing stories of parents who accidentally leave their children in hot cars during the summer. I’ve heard one too many of these, so here is my take on the subject.
Even if you don’t live in the desert, try out this little test. Get into your car on a very hot day. Make sure the windows are up and there is no air flow. Now sit there. See if you can last one minute. I’ve done it, and after only seconds I feel an unbearable need to get out or start the car and put the air on.
Now imagine being a child strapped into a car seat. From your silent perspective you see Mom and siblings walking away from the car. It immediately starts to get hot. Your movement is restricted and no one can hear your screams.
Scary movies can’t surpass the horror.
Just recently here in Vegas there was another tragic story of a 4-year-old boy left in a car for 17 hours before he was discovered dead.
17 hours?
How many meals passed over that time period without this child’s absence being noticed? What about bath time or bedtime?
The media noted that it was a large Mormon family, so somehow having too many kids excuses completely forgetting about one? The parents did the unthinkable and passed the blame onto their older children who were supposed to be watching this child because both parents were sick.
If parents are unable to even keep track of their kids, how can they possibly tend to their needs? For this reason, several of the children were removed and placed in temporary custody pending a hearing.
I’m not saying they meant to kill their son (unlike some of the angry comments I’ve read on this story). Of course it was a mistake. Punishing the parents will not bring the child back, nor will it send a message and prevent further incidences.
But they still must be punished.
A family spokesman said, “It can happen to anyone..” I find this offensive. There are millions of responsible parents who know where their kids are at all times. Even parents with many children.
Sure it can happen to anyone… Any parents too distracted to focus on their children. And yes there are many of those around. We’ve all seen them: The work-a-holic parent who shuffles their kids around from daycare to sitters to relatives. Or those parents who think they need to produce as many children as they can, then find themselves unable to cope.
It’s a sad commentary on our society to see couples who would rather have both parents working to pay for their SUV and 4000 square foot house than to have a more modest lifestyle with one parent at home with the kids.
I would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.
So sure it can happen to anyone who holds their own interests higher than their children. Apparently this is the perspective from which their lawyer spoke. I know people who are more aware of their pets’ whereabouts than some parents are about their children.
It has nothing to do with their religion and it has nothing to do with the number of kids in the family.
It boils down to irresponsible parents.
And these parents should be punished. It should be no different than if they forgot to feed their child and he died of malnutrition. Whether it was too many kids or being sick and delegating improperly, it doesn’t matter why they were distracted. This child died from their neglect.
Every parent can leave their child unattended for a few moments, and even during those few moments something can happen. Kids can even drown in a pool with a party going on. But there must be a limit to which leaving a child unattended becomes criminal.
And I’m quite sure that 17 hours would be over that limit.
You can read about the story here.