Disney Movies : The Killer In Our Homes

Anyone interested in the Video Games industry will have heard about that wacky Jack Thompson’s latest attention grabbing tactic.

However, I’ve decided that the fame-hungry, money-grabbing attention whore is getting more than enough free press, and to that end, after today, this blog is becoming a Jack Thompson Free Zone. The senile old fool wants nothing but attention, and is desperate to stay in the lime-light, so I’ve decided to simply deny the retard any coverage.

Yes, I know that I’m hardly CNN, and me refusing to publish anymore of his mindless monkey-chatter is hardly going to bother him, but I suggest all you bloggers out there do the same. Ignore him, and he’ll go away…probably back to eating worms in the schoolyard …it’s already obvious that he’s willing to make a complete idiot of himself, and expose his shoe-size IQ for publicity.

After today’s post, I’m never mentioning his name on here again.

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I’m here today you warn you of the real danger that’s plaguing our society.

Disney Films!

Forget violence, forget sex. Disney films are warping our children’s minds, and have already resulted in countless deaths around the world.

The reason for this is that Disney completely mis-represents the animals it chooses to portray.
Think about this. Simba from ‘The Lion King’, Mickey Mouse, Goofy.

What do all these cartoon animals have in common?

Why, they’re friendly, loveable and completely non-threatening.

But surely this means that children will also grow up to be friendly, loveable and non-threatening? Surely sitting your child down in front of a good Disney movie will enrich their minds with wholesome entertainment?

That may be true, but it also means children assume that real animals are non-threatening.
At the time of writing, in the past, no less than three people have already broken into the lion cage at London Zoo, and suffered severe maulings.

The evidence is all around us. Animal attacks happen every day. People getting too close to zoo cages and getting grabbed by monkeys. People deciding it would be a good idea to try to pet the tigers. People are running across bears in the woods, and rather than attempting to escape, they break into a rousing chorus of ‘The Bear Neccesities’, complete with a dance routine.

I’m not making this up (except for maybe the ‘Bear Neccesities’ thing). People continue to approach wild animals without caution, and every year there are numerous incidents where people break into zoo cages.

Breaking into a lion cage does not result in petting a cute baby lion, while listening to a beautiful rendition of ‘The Circle of Life’. It results in the nearest lioness biting your head off for getting to close to her cub.

Dogs can be dangerous, bears have the strength to literally rip your head off, mice carry diseases, donkeys kick, and monkeys, as well as being, on average, many, many times stronger than humans, throw disease ridden poop at you.

However, none of this is that animal’s fault. They are, after all, wild animals and are only reacting on instinct. The problem is these irresponsible Disney Films that are teaching our children that these animals are to be petted, rather than respected or feared. Spending your formative years watching cute bears, tigers and other dangerous animals play on TV results in serious warping of your judgement.

How has this complete and total irresponsibility, and complete and utter disregard for the welfare of our children managed to go unchecked for over 50 years? Why hasn’t anyone done something?

Upon coming face to face with a dangerous wild animal, our first instinct should be to run or hide.

However, this instinct has been stamped out of us as we have been conditioned, brainwashed and de-sensitized to these warning instincts. Why run from the grizzly bear? Wasn’t he one of Mogli’s dearest friends? Why not pet that snarling dog? Didn’t goofy warm our hearts for years?

I myself, have been beguiled and brainwashed by these vile, animated fantasies. I once attempted to remove a mouse from my house when it had been caught in a glue trap, feeling sorry for it…and unlike Mickey, on the way to the door, it got its front legs free, turned and bit me.

THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED IF IT WASN’T FOR WALT DISNEY!

So, parents, I beg of you…write to your Senator or Member of Parliament, and demand that these horrifically irresponsible films are banned, or at least given an Adults Only rating, where they can be kept away from impressionable minds. These films are nothing but Flight-instinct suppressing Stupidity Simulators.

Please, before your son or daughter tries to pet a rabid monkey, or even worse, a Rabid Babboon… Take action now. The lives of your children depend on it.

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Ok, in case anyone missed that, I was being incredibly sarcastic. The saddest thing is, I made this up off the top of my head, and it is just as logical, if not more so, as Jack Thompson’s stance on video games. If I had enough money, and was a lawyer myself, I could easily employ a bunch of scientists who would give evidence supporting the above ‘Anti-Disney’ claims. Especially if I could get one or two senators who are desperate for good press in the face of an upcoming election to back me.

Let me explain.

Nearly everyone in the Western World has seen a movie, Disney or otherwise, that involves cuddly, talking anthropomorphisiszed animals. This also means that it is almost a certainty that anyone who has been attacked by an animal or broken into, or got too close to a zoo cage, has seen one.

In short, I could claim that there is actual, documentable ’scientific evidence’ that there is a direct link between watching animal based Disney Movies, and being attacked by animals. Hell, I’m a Bachelor of Arts, and have Media Studies qualifications myself, so technically I’M an ‘authority’ on this.

The truth is, it’s always a hell of a lot easier to blame our cultural and societal problems on some form of popular culture than to accept responsibility ourselves. This has always been the case, from Jazz in the 20’s, to Pulp Comicbooks in the 50’s, Rock and Roll in the 60’s, Home Video in the 80’s, up to current times when people place the responsibility for all society’s ills on Rap, Hip-Hop and Video games .

In the 80’s, they blamed the horrific murder of a child, by a child, in England on the movie ‘Child’s Play’. That case also bears a startling resemblance to the current Anti-Video Game campaign, as the main point that the papers labored was that Home Video players (VCRs) allowed a minor to view a movie that he was not old enough to see. Yes, the videos were rated, but the fault apparently lay squarely at the feet of the movie industry, rather than the parents of the children involved.

However, VHS and DVD are no longer part of ‘Youth Culture’, they’re part of world culture now, so are no longer an effective scapegoat. Basically, all the politicians and lawyers own VCRs and DVD Players, so they can’t blame anything on them. You simply can’t vilify something you personally own. However, not many politicians or lawyers tend to own Games Consoles.
BINGO! Instant scapegoat.

The truth is, there’ll always be crazies in our society, there will always be people who will commit murder and other atrocities, just because they want to. Conversely, there will always be people who will use this for their own gain. Either sueing blameless businesses and companies for their own lack of responsibility or judgement, or riding the wave of moral panic to some sort of sick and twisted fame, like Jack Thompson.

I would also point out that Jack Thompson made his name campaigning about a sex ‘mini-game’, in a game that is rated for people aged 17 and over. The age of consent in England and most US States is 16. Basically, he’s saying it’s wrong for people who are actually legally able to HAVE sex to view an extremely tame ‘cartoon sex’ scene, that has all the sensuality and eroticism to play as a game of ‘Dance Dance Revolution’.

This is our current, rational ‘voice of reason?’

If you read some of Jack Thompson’s email replies to gamers in the internet, you will find him to be an arrogant and aggressive fool. Someone who is far from rational. Despite the fact that he has been contacted by gamers that are University Graduates, Doctors etc, he never hesitates to personally attack and call you an ‘irrational idiot‘. His debate style is to ignore anything that doesn’t support his views, put his fingers in his ears, sing “lalalalala”, and finsh with “I’m right, you’re wrong, go away.”

The most recent example of this is his reply to Gabe at the Online Comic ‘Penny Arcade’.
Gabe emailed Thompson and pointed out that while Thompson is offering $10,000 to charity, (on the condition that a games company makes Thompson’s idiotic anti-game ‘game’), Penny Arcade’s own charity ‘Childs Play’, (www.childsplaycharity.org) has already raised well over half a million dollars, this year alone. Half a million dollars to be spent on toys and games for children’s hospitals all over the country.

Apparently, this is a side of gamers that Thompson just does not want you to see.
This resulted in a few minutes of Thomson screaming at Gabe over the phone, followed by him telling Gabe he would ‘regret it’ if he emailed Thompson again.

Yep, there’s your rational ‘voice of reason’. You’ll ‘regret’ pointing something amazingly good and worthwhile to him that doesn’t support his stand. All gamers are socially inept potential murderers, remember? Half a million dollars to charity just doesn’t quite fit. Fingers in the ears and abuse time… again.

When it comes to acts of violence, it’s a natural human instinct that when something goes wrong, we absolutely NEED to find somewhere to place the blame. No-one wants to discover that their child is a murderer…but every murderer in the world has parents. Rather than accept the fact that their child maybe just had a screw loose, or even worse, that the blame could rest with them, the parents, it’s far easier to blame something else.

When this happens, we take the easy road, and ignore the inconsistencies in this theory. Billions of movies and games are sold every single year. You can count the number of murders that have been ‘attributed’ them in the past decade without running out of fingers.

No one notices that things that were hailed as the downfall of morality in society in the past, are an integral part of culture today, and are held up as ‘The Innocent Good Old Days’.

Try to get a reputation as a dangerous, social deviant today by listening to Elvis Presley. Kids, see what your parents say if you listen to Jazz and read hard-boiled detective stories.

Look at it this way. If over a few hundred million copies of violent games or movies are sold in year, and 2 people commit murders that have a tenuous link to them, does that mean the game has an effect? Or does it mean that there was something wrong with the murderers to begin with? I’ll leave you to decide.

However, my opinion is that if a movie or game can set you off on a murder spree…you’d probably have done it anyway.

I’m making a call for common sense.

The next time a teenager goes bezerk, and kills someone, let’s not ask whether they had an X-Box, or watched violent movies…Let’s ask where they got the gun from…and why their parent or guardian didn’t notice any warning signs. The exact opposite happened during Thompson’s notorious ‘Doom’ murder case. He wanted everyone to know the child in question played Doom. However, he never once asked where the kid got the gun from, and why the parents didn’t know what their child was capable of.

It’s easier to get a ton of cash out of Games Industry Giant like Id, than it is to get it out of some poor, disturbed kid’s parents.

In my lifetime, I’ve watched hundreds of violent movies, and played almost every violent PC game that has come out. I’ve never killed anyone, just like the vast majority of other gamers and movie fans out there.

The truth is, the number of violent crimes that can be ’attributed’ to games and movies is statistically insignificant. It’s something in the realms of one in a trillion.

I have the solution to young children and teenagers commiting these atrocities. It doesn't take lawyers or huge sums of cash, and it can be summed up in a single sentence, just six words long:

Parents, pay attention to your kids.