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Posted Dec 11, 2006 at 10:48AM by Alaric S. Listed in: Off Topic, Videos Tags: Firefox, YouTube, Bill O'Reilly
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We're reporting this as objectively as possible. No opinions. No spins. No nothing. And with lots of " ". As soon as this gets posted we're ducking safely out of the line of crossfire.

Remember the Bill O'Reilly article we posted some weeks ago? The one where he called gamers "junkies " and game consoles, particularly the PS3, as a "big, big problem" because "people get addicted to it, just like opium, just like drugs and alcohol."

Shortly after that, the "culture warrior" appeared on Oprah to air his views on the war that's tearing up America. The "culture war " is between "Traditionalists" like him who believe that "America is a noble country." On the other corner are the "Secular-Progressives" who he says think America is a "deeply flawed society that needs changes in every area."

And yes, we read it. Twice. And no, he didn't say anything about video games.

Anyway, this is not about the O' ranting on the O. This is about this video on YouTube featuring a little girl sassing back at O'Reilly's stand on video games and rap music. After watching this video we thought Cher donated her brain and this kid was the (good or bad) recipient. It turned out the girl was an actress and the whole thing was an ad for a band called The Bastard Fairies.

But that's not the end of it. Go check the rest of the story out (and a couple more videos as well) by clicking "Full Article"!



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Posted Dec 01, 2006 at 10:27PM by Victor B. Listed in: Off Topic Tags: Minnesota, Sony, Bill O'Reilly
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You make people with an actual mind and heart cry...We never expected to make another article that had people making such weird decisions because of a game console. The truth is stranger than fiction, however, so we can safely say this is the second You Decide article. This can also safely fall into one of our "you make bunny cry" series of articles, simply because of the nature of the discussion.

We learned from Kotaku about a bit of coverage made on Fox News. Unlike our earlier article where Taco Bell was offering "tacos for life" in exchange for a PS3, a radio station jokingly asked people if they would trade their kid for one of Sony's next-gen consoles.

Minnesota station 101.3's host Dave Ryan asked the listeners of his morning show if they'd be willing to trade in their baby for 24 hours for a new PS3. While some got the joke other people, it seems, were dead serious, as calls kept on coming in.

You know, that's just the kind of thinking from supposedly sensible adults that makes Bill O'Reilly's assertions about gamers seem valid. We're not even really going to ask the question that lets you decide, because we're pretty sure no one wants to find out their parents traded them in for a game console, right? Exactly.

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Posted Nov 19, 2006 at 10:04AM by Alaric S. Listed in: Opinions & Analysis Tags: Sony, Jack Thompson, Bill O'Reilly
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bill o'reillyHit the road, Jack Thompson. There's a new anti-game crusader in town. Bill O'Reilly, controversial talk show host and occasional David Letterman sparring partner, doesn't think highly of gamers and fanboys.

In his broadcast "Young and addicted to machines", the outspoken O'Reilly blamed machines (e.g. game consoles) for the deterioration of the American Society. In fact, he referred to them as the new drugs and alcohol and gamers as the new junkies.

A large portion of the population, mostly... under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality - ever. They don’t know what day it is... they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine... it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality…


Then he sunk his teeth on the PS3 calling it a "big, big problem" because he says some "people get addicted to it, just like opium, just like drugs and alcohol." How about pain killers, the kind that fellow conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh is addicted to? Now Sony has always been crowing about how powerful the PS3 is but we didn't know how powerful until O'Reilly pointed out that the machine is "going to change every single thing in this country."

Wow! Every single thing? But wait! There's more! O'Reilly then takes on the entire video game industry and says it will send more people to the unemployment line. Why, you ask? Because video games make gamers too stupid to hold down jobs. You think we're kidding? His words were:

Because the skill set that is necessary to earn a decent living is being de-emphasized 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.


That's funny because a while back the U.S. Army said soldiers who grew up playing video games are better at operating CROWS (common remotely operated weapon stations). It's not only the U.S. Army who feels that way. Even the South Koreans were turning to professional online gamers to provide support for the development of war-simulation programs. Being a very big supporter of the Iraq invasion and probably every Republican-led war, shouldn't O'Reilly be promoting video games?

Speaking of wars, O'Reilly says game consoles has made him fear for the United States because "believe me, the Jihadists? ... they’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there." Uh, so you want gamers to get off their butts and start killing real people as part of their training to defend the U.S.?

Oh, really O'Reilly. We think David Letterman was right when he said 60 percent of what you say is crap.

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