It's Time for a REALITY CHECK!

Those of you who have seen the review of Usagi MP's Sailor Moon Site know what this issue of MAU Madness is about. All of the information about what happened is easily available by clicking on the site link in the review. I don't want to spoil it very much by telling you exactly what happened here...

...except to say that Usagi MoonPrincess got a whiny flame from someone that in part said: "but no one canreplace Usagi or impersonate her in our hearts," then, a bit later in the note: "but there's no one else but Usagi herself that can warm our hearts, make us strong, and see the truth..." Then the flamer ends with a warning: "I'm kind of mad, but I think I know somebody who will get even madder really soon..."

Folks, what we have here is a classic case of what has vexed television and children's entertainment for EONS! It's one of the questions people ask when schoolkids go off the deep end and wind up in jail because they took a gun to school and started wasting other kids.

The question is: Was it something our child was reading, watching, or listening to that caused this sort of behavior?

In most cases, the answer is NO! For lack of better words, some kids are just evil spawn with a really bad personality that just kind of twists in on itself and there's not much parents can do to rectify the situation but figure out what is going on super-fast and do something to prevent the impending disaster. Look at a profile of any of the school killers we've had...Harris, Klebold, or Kinkle, and you see this same thing.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, along with heavy metal music, and violent television and video games have all been dealing with children such as the aforementioned flamer...people who fail to distinguish fantasy from reality. D&D for years was haunted by the few kids who killed themselves over the death of their favorite characters. Judas Priest was sued by the family of a kid who killed himself while listening to one of their records. Kip Kinkle and perhaps some of the other school killers were found to have gotten heavily involved with violent television and video games.

So, do I suspect that our young flamer is the next Kip Kinkle, Eric Harris, or Dylan Klebold? No. However, if I were this person's parent's I would strongly look in to the possibility of finding my daughter another hobby. I too watched cartoons when I was a kid, and while I thought they were great, and I often pretended to be the GI Joes attempting to foil another one of Cobra's evil plots to dominate the world, in the back of my mind was always the idea that this was all a fantasy.

Our flamer is failing to make that distinction, and that's a bad thing.

The disturbing part about all of this is where our flamer says: "but there's no one else but Usagi herself that can warm our hearts, make us strong, and see the truth."

Funny, but that's what PARENTS are supposed to do.

Artemis

More MAU Madness

MAU Madness #1: John Rocker and Yam Head
MAU Madness #2: Summer and My Thoughts on the New Dub
MAU Madness #3: Professional Wrestling...or Daytime TV For Kids
MAU Madness #4: We've Been REVIEWED!
MAU Madness #5: In Tribute (A tribute to Small Lady)
MAU Madness #6: The Way We Do the Things We Do
MAU Madness #7: Reviewing the Reviewers, and How Anime Saved the American Culture


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