08 May 2010

the cake is a statistic



   With a few things happening in recent weeks, I have not posted on the topic of video games again yet. However, I have not forgotten this commitment! 
   Now, as Amelia is sleeping and I am awake (though I did manage to go to sleep at about 1am my first night off. That is a pretty remarkable achievement. I will probably be taking a nap whenever she gets up writes her blog post, but still it is nice to see the morning for the first time in about a week (besides the five minutes it takes from walking out of the warehouse to plopping into bed).
   Finding myself at the computer, I will proceed to tackle the beginning issue here, that of a Typical Christian's Response to the Idea of Video Games. But first: A note on that word, “typical”


   I am aware that many Christian brothers and sisters make a fair amount of a ruckus at the prospect of statistics and numbers and polls and the like. I do not usually invest myself very heavily in these things. I do not trust statistics, and I will not be making use of many throughout my life time, I expect. 
   What a statistic says is that, if a small number of people will behave in such a way, then a large number of people will behave in a basically similar way. The problem with this is that people are not at all consistent. You can interview 10% of America about their view of baseball's importance in feudal Europe (about 30 million people, which would be a much bigger test than any poll I've ever heard of... besides the census, I guess) and run your numbers, but you will not necessarily get that good a picture of what the whole 100% of Americans would think about the importance of baseball in feudal Europe. Actually, you will know what 30 million individuals who happen to be sitting around with absolutely nothing to do think about this issue. Actually, you will know only what they say they think about it. Actually, you will know only what your questionnaire allows them to say about what they say they think about it. And that is where your very data is going to be flawed. Then, just start to interpret and apply that data, and you have left the realm of science for some arcane, alchemical mysticism.
   So, all statistics are guesses at best, though they are more often lies. And so, I do not care to use them.
  Now, I am to proceed with a description of “typical” Christian responses to video games. This is based on 0% statistical analysis. I have no idea what fraction of the Christian base might lean one way or another, but that does not matter. My case rests on the fact that most one or more of these responses to the idea of video games will sound familiar to each one of us that has grown up with them around, even those who did not grow up playing them. I will try to leave aside inhuman statistics floating in ethereal nebulae (redundant though that phrase may be), and will attempt to focus on a picture of one fellow with his Christian commitment firmly placed in his affections, sitting down on the couch or at his desk, and considering whether he ought to go get a video game of some sort to occupy his attention for a while. I guess if he has time to sit and consider this, maybe he has time to fill out a questionnaire for the Barna Group.


That was on my mind as I was considering how to start this. Maybe it is good enough to post. Amelia is asleep, so I'll check with Florianus.


He said that the post was up to my usual standards. I am not sure what that means, but he also wanted me to include a picture, even a picture of my faithful dachshund. So I figured that was a good enough idea.

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