Well, it's no differant than many other complaints that have come before. Kids reading too many comics, too much TV, and of course one I caught the tail end of the whole "junk fiction" scare that revolved around "Fear Street" novels and such.
I wouldn't be so quick to point fingers at her for being conservative. Right now I think a lot of the current criticisms are very much mired with the transition of the goverment to the left wing, and the way how the media mostly covers a left wing perspective. All of these articles and such you see on video games *DO* have an impact. Her kid isn't that old and has probably only had a video game obsession for a little while, but right now while it's going on she's making desicians in part based on articles exactly like the one about the police being called over GTA IV. Articles influancing people just like they influanced her is exactly why they exist. You'll also notice her parrotting an Obama rant (also covered here) about kids playing video games instead of exercising and developing muscles. Fears like kids developing "real criminal skills and attitudes" from games like Grand Theft Auto are also fears stemming right from that playbook.
In the end the idea is that when the boogieman gets big enough to send her running to saviors like Hillory Clinton and Barakc Obama to take her freedom away (without her realizing that) so they can do something about these horrible video games. Early actions like Hillary's involvement in the whole "Hot Coffee" thing also play into this by showing that they have been "championing this cause" for so long.
Given the general left wing leanings here, and the popularity of those I am (again) criticising, I don't expect this to go over well. But stop and think, how many articles we've discussed right here on The Escapist does it appear this lady read? She mentions one directly, but she also hits a LOT of those same issues (Obama's name was on the fitness one).
That right there is the problem, she's never going to real OUR site because The Escapist isn't mainstream. You need to be a game nerd to even find this place, never mind dig into our commentary. This is exactly why I say we need the industry itself, which has resources closer to the politicians and PACS, to start getting involved in defensive political activism. *WE* can't really fight this battle because simply put we do not have a platform capable of casually reaching the ears of someone like "Dowdy Housewife" and if you think about it, as "whacked" as she might seem, she's our battleground.
Evne if you disagree with me about who is responsible and/or their agenda, in the end it's STILL a media battle. Who you come up against in the end doesn't much matter, but I think a lot of people who tend to disagree with me will be quite surprised.
-
I also confess to some concern here. See, when you deprive kids of things that are popular you make them social outcasts (well intentioned or not). If all the other kids are reading Fear Street and discussing it, forbidding your kid to read young adult horror is going to give him little in common with them and make him an outcast. If your always "protecting" JR. from the horrible things the "cool kids" are doing, don't be surprised if he winds up being hated by even the poseurs, and one day you wind up to find the FBI pulling militant crud out of his room and that he decided to go out in a guncrazy blaze of glory directed at the tormentors. This might sound extreme, and it is, and I admit it isn't usually this simple, but the point is that a lot of problems, including big ones, come from the way other kids perceive someone. Being overprotective can do more damage than it prevents.
Giving kids everything they want all the time is bad, but by the same token looking at some of the situations mentioned here, I'd actually suspect someone might want to look in on this kid and how well he's doing socially and so on. Dowdy Mom might also need a few parenting classes because it seems she's basing her technique mostly based on the media of the moment, more than anything (which sadly too many people do), and needs to be taught when and how to loosen up somewhat.
