That would be Arthur McBride, then. One of the less violent brand of traditional folk song. Many folk songs are riddled with revenge, murder, fraticide, patricide, and any other sort of -icide you could name. (Though probably not insecticide.)
I agree that it's very inconsistent and hypocritical. The reason is presumably that "everyone" knows that rich old ladies watch opera, and happy hippies listen to folk, but rock music is listend to by scary teenage boys who hang around on street corners wearing black and scowling. If you demonise a group (and I would argue that teenage boys are demonised), then everything they do is suspect. The music they listen to, the films they watch, the games they play, etc. Whereas if "We" do it, it's fine, because We know that We have the intelligence and maturity to put it in perspective.
The arguments also don't take escapism into account. I've never been interested in reading novels about people who live the same sort of life that I do. That's why I read fantasy and historical adventures. I like to experience in fiction what I can't, and wouldn't want, to experience in life. I enjoy reading about fantasy battles precisely because I hate violence in real life. Because I've played Thief, I don't need to break into a rich man's mansion to steal his magic jewel, because I have already experienced all the emotions of it. If anyone suggested that I really did race at 200 mph through city streets, I wouldn't need to think, "ooh, I wonder what that would feel like," since I already know. Playing the game is, if anything, going to make me less likely to do it in real life.
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Date: 2007-04-16 04:57 pm (UTC)I agree that it's very inconsistent and hypocritical. The reason is presumably that "everyone" knows that rich old ladies watch opera, and happy hippies listen to folk, but rock music is listend to by scary teenage boys who hang around on street corners wearing black and scowling. If you demonise a group (and I would argue that teenage boys are demonised), then everything they do is suspect. The music they listen to, the films they watch, the games they play, etc. Whereas if "We" do it, it's fine, because We know that We have the intelligence and maturity to put it in perspective.
The arguments also don't take escapism into account. I've never been interested in reading novels about people who live the same sort of life that I do. That's why I read fantasy and historical adventures. I like to experience in fiction what I can't, and wouldn't want, to experience in life. I enjoy reading about fantasy battles precisely because I hate violence in real life. Because I've played Thief, I don't need to break into a rich man's mansion to steal his magic jewel, because I have already experienced all the emotions of it. If anyone suggested that I really did race at 200 mph through city streets, I wouldn't need to think, "ooh, I wonder what that would feel like," since I already know. Playing the game is, if anything, going to make me less likely to do it in real life.