Procrastadabbler

I’ve been wanting to write about this for a few days, but haven’t had the time. So I’m staying up late to do so. This has been weighing on my mind.

A few days ago there were articles in the local paper and in the New York Times about 20 somethings playing a sort of war game. One is “squirt gun assassin.” People are given the names of people to “assassinate” using squirt guns. Once a person is killed, they pass on the name of the person they were to kill. The last person standing wins. This game goes on for days and is played in the city streets. The second game I read about is called “Humans versus Zombies” and is played on college campuses. Students join and are assigned the role of zombie or human. A human has to avoid getting “killed” by a zombie (which is done with nerf balls or a sock ball). If they get killed, they become a zombie and begin hunting the humans.

It’s like paintball.

Ok, sounds harmless enough…maybe.

What bothers me is that these games are being played by people who are pretty privileged. Typically White. Typically middle class. Being hunted is a game. It’s fun. An adreneline rush. I understand. I truly do. I played laser tag once, and it was loads of fun.

But on the intellectual level it really bothers me.

People really are being hunted and killed in the Middle East.

People really are being hunted and killed in our city streets. Every day it seems there is a headline in the local paper about a young (almost always) African American man being killed in the streets.

So, here we have White people of some privilege playing war, and African American people who are economically (and otherwise) marginalized truly experiencing war — even though we don’t call it that.

Something is wrong.

Speaking of wrong – I can’t stand hearing anymore about Obama’s supposed association with Ayers a “domestic terrorist.” For heavens sake, Obama was a child at the time, Ayers’ actions were part of the zeitgeist of the time, and if Ayer’s is a domestic terrorist, so too are the members of the Boston Tea Party. Get a grip people. Let’s talk about what really matters – like the assault on humanity in our city streets.

I’m disgusted.