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Those Crazy Christians| | After yet another brief period of non-posting, I've returned. I have a spare minute between studying and examining papers, and now feel the need to vent about a few more little things. I've left off blogging altogether for a while, except for yesterday when, during a particularly sleep-deprived, paranoid moment of weakness, I'm afraid I somewhat embarrased myself by making a weird post on a joint anime blog run by me and a friend of mine.
Judging by the deafening silence I've noticed on the board, I think I weirded everyone out. I've deleted the offending post, and will show better judgment in what I post there in the future. Sorry, Shaun. I meant to post my concerns about Black Lagoon's direction as an anime, then somehow got lost. Very, very lost. I think the meds for my cold symptoms may have been partially responsible as well. Please forgive me, I should have slept on that one before posting.
Bleh, now I'm losing my way again. I meant to post about a recent controversy I've noticed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this morning. It discussed the controversy over Wal-Mart's decision to continue distributing a certain video game, despite protests from various groups who apparently find the game morally reprehensible. But Wal-Mart, in making bold stand freedom from censorship, has made the decision to continue distributing this game "online and in select stores where it felt there was demand."
Sounds all too familiar, eh? Protest groups picketing a game, religious figures getting involved, but the corporations upholding the right to free speech and freedom of gaming by releasing the game anyway. Here's the catch: the people picketing it are not the hard-core right, but are instead left-wing groups, and the game is entitled, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces."
Yeah... that's right. They've actually turned it into a game. It's a combination of a role-playing game and a real-time strategy game, from what I've seen, and it pits the Tribulation Force (described on the Wikipedia article for this game as "an armed paramilitary Christian organization") against the GC Peacekeepers, the One-World-Government types who are rapidly turning the world into a dystopian, Satan-worshipping paradise. The reason it's drawing flak from left-wing groups (the article in the post described them as "liberal" groups) is because they claim it depicts Christians waging a holy war against heathens, with intent to kill or convert them. Obviously, these critics are trying to draw a comparison to Islamic Extremist groups, and are therefore implying that the much-feared Christian Right as "an armed paramilitary is beginning a media campaign to whip up sentiment against non-Christians.
First of all, I'd like to say that I'd never even HEARD of this game until I read about this controversy in the paper. Second of all, while I was a mild fan and reader of the Left Behind series, I've moved on since then, as has most of the Bible Belt, I'm sure. At this point don't really care about any further products from this genre. It's DONE, and I'm really not interested in a video game that rehashes what I've already read. Finally, video games based on popular movies or books generally suck. Yes, I wanted the Godfather game and the Reservoir Dogs game to be successful on the strength of their success in the movie world, but that doesn't alter the fact that they were sub-par, uninspired games. And quite honestly, I don't really see a game coming from the programmers of the Christian subculture to be all that up-to-date and cutting edge in terms of gameplay. In summary, I don't have any interest in this game whatsoever, and from what I've seen of its trailers on Gamespot, it's probably not going to do too well in terms of sales.
All that aside, does anyone not see the supreme IRONY here? Usually, it's the other way around: usually, hardcore members the Christian Right are picketing violent games like Grand Theft Auto or whatever M-rated game happens to be corrupting our children, and as a member of the Christian Right, I cringe with shame at the rhetoric of the Jack Thompsons of the world who make ridiculous claims and lawsuits about what should be allowed in gaming and what shouldn't be. But now, the people on the left who would have you believe that they support freedom of speech, are now picketing a game put out by Christians (and thus giving it more publicity than it likely deserves) which they feel presents a subversive, dangerous message. Does this not qualify as a sign of the apocolypse right here?
Of course, it's not the violent content that they're so worried about as the fact that they feel uncomfortable with the idea of you playing a Christian army vs. an army of unbelievers. For me, this is the real issue. First of all, their protests reveal a supreme ignorance of what the "Left Behind" universe is about. In the world of Left Behind, it's not the Christians who initiate the war, it's the Antichrist and those backing him who begin outlawing and massacring Christians. And even during this conflict, nearly all of the characters show a supreme reluctance to take lives of unbelievers, even the ones who are most actively persecuting them. From what I've read, this idea carries over into the Left Behind game, where you get "Spirit Points" drained if you kill unbelievers, thus forcing you avoid doing so unless you're facing a life-or-death situation. (I would point out that any war-strategy game that punishes you for killing the enemy is already a bad idea, but we'll set that aside.) Furthermore, the game is only rated "T," and doesn't have any blood, gore, or unnecessarily graphic violence. (Again, strike two in my book. Any game about the Apocolypse that doesn't feature at least some level of blood already seems to have lost a great deal of credibility.)
Second of all, these protesters seem to have this faulty idea that the Christian Right is, at its core, a backwards, extremist movement that, if allowed enough leeway, would put forth a "kill or convert" ideal. It seems that every other day, I see, hear, or read about some liberal who seems convinced that those red-state, fundementalist bastards are trying to take over the country and turn it into one giant theocracy. Frankly, it's starting to piss me off to no end. This is a ridiculous fantasy, that the Christian Right is essentially no different from Al-Qaeda, and that the Christian Right is covertly endorsing an agenda to take over the U.S. That's truly the LAST thing the Christian Right wants. Seperation of Church and State is meant to protect the Church, not the state. If everyone was forced to convert or be killed, all we'd get is a Church full of law-abiding hypocrites, people who profess Christianity only out of fear of doing otherwise.
As for our desire to convert? What does that even mean, "convert?" Quite simply, it means to change from one belief to another. In today's context, people have tended to associate the word "convert" with an act of compulsion; (i.e. those crazy religious fanatics want everyone to convert, whether they want to or not.) I think that both in light of history and in view of contemporary examples, it's been made pretty obvious that forced conversions don't work. Furthermore, despite the fact that various Church institutions and individuals have practiced forced conversions in the past, the idea of forcing someone to believe is completely against everything Christ stood for. It's all about a choice, and the one who enforces the consequences for making the wrong choice isn't man, but God. "Every knee shall bow" doesn't mean that radical Christians will force every knee to bow; it means that at the end of time, everyone will fall to their knees at the mere power of God. And if anyone claiming to be a Christian has ever taken up the cause of trying to force someone to become a Christian, they are, at the very best, tragically misguided and, at very worst, utter hypocrites who are condemned by the very beliefs they claim to represent.
The point is this: these liberal groups protesting the game are not only exposing their own hypocrisy over the issue of censorship and free speech, but they're also revealing their own irrational fears about the Christianity subculture of America. They seem to think that this game (which, if what I've read about the gameplay is accurate, I predict will be a major flop) will influence those who share its religious views to go on a Christian version of a "jihad" to kill unbelievers. To me, this is no different than the members of the right who claim that violent video games encourage kids to go out and commit acts of violence. IT'S A FREAKIN' GAME. FICTION IN VIDEO GAME FORM. I maintain my standard position that if anyone is influenced by a game to commit acts of violence, it's not the game at fault, it's the person playing it. That goes for Grand Theft Auto, and that goes for the "Left Behind" game.
So, to you liberal groups who think this game will indeed result in a bloodbath, please get a freakin' life and find some other game to picket. Or better yet, stop picketing games at all; it's an asinine way to express your beliefs over something as trivial as a video game, and it just publicizes what you're trying to protest. Hell, I've written a whole ranting article about this issue, and I never would have heard of it if you hadn't starting whining about it.
Ehh, time for me to get back to work. I've wasted enough time and words on this issue.
| | | Posted 12/13/2006 1:29 PM - 31 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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