Posts Tagged ‘violence’

Western Lifestyle Creating Vicious Cycle of Destruction

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Our lifestyle is making the planet unsustainable for our lifestyle. The planet revolts and destroys our bodies. Our bodies destroy our minds. Our minds destroy our world. The cycle is self-connecting, perpetual and vicious. It must be broken.

We dump dead diseased animals into rivers. The rotting flesh, organs full of parasites and bacteria ooze into the water.

Thirsty, we drink.

Dirty, we clean.

We consume useless products we don’t need, to impress the people we don’t like, only to throw them out or lose them within months. They leach toxic chemicals into the earth and rot for hundreds of years.

We abuse our soil, which lacks nutrients for the food we grow. The food, stunted, lacks ability to fight pests.

We spray pesticides.

We eat pesticides.

We are pests.

Corporations bound by law to profit exploit and cut corners in order to keep shareholders happy, while they spew pollution into our waters, our air and our land.

Hungry, we consume.

Blind, we demand more.

We cannot continue this any longer. To do so is bringing a slow, but certain total destruction to all life.

Enter Exhibit A: It began centuries ago, one example being the poor treatment of cows. Their raw milk turned deadly, leading to an epidemic of Tuberculosis. This led to pasteurization and ultra-pasteurization, which can cause further disease and allergies. This disrespect for nature continues today. We harm our planet and it harms us.

Enter Exhibit B: The disastrous BP owned Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The air, which is 100 times more toxic than normal due to oil dispersant chemicals is making the people of Louisiana cough, gag and unable to sleep. Symptoms just like those who lived near previous oil spills.

Government and local authorities at this time of writing have yet to provide health services. If the toxic dust after the Twin Towers fell in NYC is any indication, it will be years before the people of Louisiana see any relief, if they live long enough.

Enter Exhibit C: The Red River in Winnipeg, Canada, an area known to have the highest incidence of Crohn’s disease, a devastating inflammatory bowel disease. In 1997 I was diagnosed with it.

That’s me, having the time of my life tubing and wakeboarding on the Red River up in Winnipeg, Canada. I’m the one showing off to the camera, unknowingly ingesting bacteria that would work over my gut for the next 6 months. Then symptoms of diarrhea and gut pain were frequent. My friend warned me not to drink the water, which I didn’t think I had. It wasn’t until years later that I learned from her and a UK doctor that farmers liberally use the river as dumping grounds for waste and dead animals.

Don’t you see? The system is out of whack, out of sync, on the verge of collapse. What the planet needs, what WE need, is to unplug from Western society. Forgo consumption in place of contribution. Skip the rat race towards piles of monopoly money that only exist on Wall Street computers. Rediscover the value of things that cannot be valued; relationships and community.

When this disrespect of all things living ends, no longer will we have increasing rates of disease and decreasing rates of longevity.

UPDATE #1: Huffington Post has an article that is along the same lines as the above, posted on May 19th, but I didn’t see it until today, May 23rd.

© 2010, Reid Bryant Kimball. All rights reserved.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Current Events, Education, Health, environment | No Comments »

Solutions for Terrorism

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Soap Opera for Social Change is an episode of PBS’s NOW about a Kenyan based soap television show that is attempting to “re-humanize” Keynan’s who are in different tribes. In recent years tribes have attacked and killed each other over political differences. The show tries to inspire Kenyan’s not to look at each other as being from different tribes, but to look everyone as still being on the same team. To look at each other as a team of people who despite not being from the same tribe, are at least from the same country, Kenya.

I found the episode inspiring because it uses a popular media format for social good. My chosen medium is video games and my passion is to use it for social good. Several comments from the actors and producers of the show really struck me. One of them was “re-humanizing” people who may be different in some way. The other was that people often resort to violence because they feel they are out of other options, that violence is their only solution.

When 9/11 happened, I was gun-ho blood thirsty for some vengeance and retribution. As the years passed I read more about war and terrorism and came to the conclusion that the US was going about it all wrong. That one can never stop terrorist violence by trying to kill the terrorist before they kill us. It only fuels the fire of hate that lead towards their participating in terrorism to begin with.

The people who are drawn to terrorism are no different from anyone else, but they have suffered greatly and believe they have no other options left than to commit an act of terrorism. The “global war on terrorism” is into its ninth year and in my eyes it’s only spreading. First it was Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Somalia and now it sounds like we’ll be focusing on Yemen for some time. Oh, and then there’s Pakistan, how could I forget? That’s five countries in 9 years where we have launched counter-terrorist operations, usually in the form of drone attacks that kill innocents. There is no slowing if the US continues this behavior and our vulnerability to a terrorist attack is more likely. The war is making us less safe.

Most terrorists are well educated and they must be to go to terrorist training camps. You think they pick up wooden clubs and beat each other like mindless brutes? No, they area in fast paced classes learning calculus and trigonometry and chemistry and dozens upon dozens of weapons names, stats and functionality. They’re smart and their anger is often justified.

The whole point of using military is to scare the enemy into quitting. But with most terrorists, they are fearless and actually welcome death to become a martyr. We can’t win with violence when the enemy welcomes it. We have to listen and by listening, we’ll be able to give them better solutions than resorting to terrorism. One way to stop the expansion of the “global war on terror” is to “re-humanize” the terrorists. We must understand where their hate comes from and it’s not because of our freedoms.

© 2010, Reid Bryant Kimball. All rights reserved.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Current Events, Social Issue Games | 3 Comments »

Feedback for Call to Arms: Entry 14 – Peace

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Over at FullBright blog, (which I wish I read more of) is a concept called “Peace” I really want to see work as a game. Not as a game that you win or lose but a game where you explore your views on the subject of violence. I was going to post a reply in the comments section but it got way to long. I recommend you read Christiaan’s proposal for “Peace” and then read below.

I love the concept and suggest checking out the movie, Rendition. It has a cyclical storytelling approach, where what you see in the beginning is what you see at the end, but from a different perspective. Everything else in the middle is learning a little bit why what you see at the beginning and end occurs.

I feel Peace needs more focus. Focus on the suicide bombing event itself and nothing else. You also need to say something with the interactions players can do. If I were making this game, I would say that violence begets violence, that we must take responsibility for our actions to stop the cycle of violence. Everything in the game must serve this.

I think the sequence of scenes is important. Here are my suggestions:

1. Mother with child caught in suicide bombing. In the café with the daughter, you pick up a newspaper, headlines read, “Increased security amid rumors of suicide bombing.” Daughter asks you, “What’s in the news mama?” Do you tell her that we live in a messed up world and must eliminate our enemies before they do the same to us? Do you smile and give her a kiss on the cheek? Do you try to explain to her the reality of the situation and that violence isn’t the answer?

Mood and pacing: Calm, foreboding, peaceful until the blast.

2. Soldier deals with the chaos afterwards, who’s a threat? Who do I protect? You are given orders to detain anyone you think is a possible suspect and to use any amount of force you deem necessary.

Mood and pacing: Frantic, violent, angry, hopelessness.

3. As someone else, you tell a young boy, 7 his mother died in the suicide bombing. How do you do this? Gently? Not at all? See his emotional reaction, cries, punches you in the legs.

Mood and pacing: Slow, sorrowful.

4. As a paramedic you grab someone injured, put him/her in the ambulance and then discover his/her chest is strapped with bombs. What do you do? Bomb’s disabled, your partner wants to kill the patient, do you stand by and let him/her do that? Do you try to save the patient? Do you join in?

Mood and pacing: Frantic, fearful, angry.

5. You are the suicide bomber. What might make it interesting, is that sometimes they force the bombers to press the activate button and then upon release it explodes. What if players are tricked into doing this and then, “Oh by the way, don’t release Right Trigger until we say so.” What do you, the player, the suicide bomber do then? No matter what, you are a dead man/woman. Do you try to run to an isolated area to not hurt anyone else or say, fuck it, if I’m going, then I’m bringing someone with me. Also, I think it would be very interesting if you see the other suicide bomber that you saw while as a paramedic in the same place as you. It will be interesting to be confronted with the possibilities of your actions and really hit home the idea of violence creates more violence.

Mood and pacing: Slow, fearful, sorrowful, or hopeful.

© 2008, Reid Bryant Kimball. All rights reserved.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Game Design | 4 Comments »