When I was in university, oh so many years ago now, I noticed a consistent characteristic among my contemporaries who were immersed in political activism - they were all assholes.
There weren't that many of them. When we`re in our late teens and early twenties, most of us are wrapped up in trying get laid, have fun, get our assignments in on time, recover from hangovers, pass our courses and dream lofty, ambitious dreams of our future. There may have been an issue or two to get each of us temporarily riled up, but it took a special class of person to be continually devoted to aggressively ramming political and social issues down other people`s throats. Invariably, back then, everyone I knew who who fit that description was a leftist. There may have been young conservative activists, but if there were, they operated with exceptional stealth, because I never met any.
Most of the young activists I remember were socially maladroit, had bad relationships with their parents, and seemed to be acting out some inner turmoil. The worst part about such people is that, while far from shining examples of humanity, they want to dictate how other people should think and behave.
Therein lies the problem with most of our "social justice" zealots; the stylized social justice they promote is frequently self-serving, hypocritical and fatuous.
It is troublesome that the agenda pushed by the radical left has been overwhelmingly advocated by a sympathetic television, film and print media, hoping to impart values they want society as a whole to assimilate. But despite their self congratulation, indications are that common sense is winning out and the left isn't nearly as influential as they think they are.
For years now, the video game industry has been making more money than the film industry and commanding far more attention from makes under the age of 30. This is an age group that couldn't care less what Jon Stewart, George Strombolopolis, Bill Maher, Michael Moore and Chris Matthews have to say about anything, let alone politics. To be fair, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Steyn hold just as little if not less interest for teenage and young adult males. But the latter may take some comfort in the entertainment they do flock to.
Daniel Tosh, who recently became the bane of humorless feminists because of a rape joke, has the highest rated television show for young male on any US cable network, followed closely by the libertarian, anti-hippie South Park. It's also worth noting that the hero of the most popular movie of the year is a rich, capitalist vigilante.
The Call of Duty series is the most popular video game series ever. In the last installment of its Black Ops game, the villains were Communists. In the newest installment, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, which looks set to be one of the most popular releases ever, in a move that has already infuriated leftists, the villain is a presumptive leader of the vapid Occupy Movement. The game's bad guy, Raul Menendez, is described at the "messiah for the 99%."
So while irrelevant aged radicals try to self promote and capitalize on the anti-capitalist Occupy Movement and delusionally claim the few scraggly malcontents it managed to conjure were representative of youth as a whole, reality is something very different. Ironically, it's virtual reality where the real attitudes of the up-and-coming generation are reflected, and they aren't interested in being part of the radical left, they play games where they pretend to kill them.
Given the 100 million deaths in the real world that Communism has caused since its inception, a prevailing violent rejection and hostility to it in the world of gaming is a comforting cause for optimism about the future.
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