Do violent video games turn people into killers? That, and more

Personal experience: I've been playing video games like Grand Theft Auto since I was 10-12, somewhere between there and Super Mario in the SNES days and then Mario 64 in the N64 days (Mario is violent, admit it) and not once did I want to stomp on turtles or run over prostitutes or gun down police. I can tell the difference between reality and fiction—violent video games did not turn me into a raging killer like the young people who killed and had games blamed on it.

Grand Theft Auto if people are not aware is a series of video games developed by branches of the Rockstar Game Company or whatever they're referred to. No relation to the energy drink... I don't think so anyway... Back on topic: The series let's you control a character, who does various tasks for people like drug lords, gangsters, crooked cops, a crooked land developer, a porn director, etc. You're also free to kill cops, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, prostitutes, SWAT, the military, shop owners etc. in any way you see fit. Mostly done with guns including but not limited to handguns, submachine guns, RPG's (rocket propelled grenade) and flamethrowers but you can use cars if given the chance. You can also play pool in local bars, bet a NPC, lose then kill him with the pool cue you got from playing and then go ahead and whip out your AK-47 and take out the entire bar in a blood fueled frenzy... Maybe video games can bring out the worst in us but it doesn't always lead to real life murders as we get back on topic.

There have been murders over video games, a couple of friends won a trophy I think for winning a contest, let's say Halo because I can't think of what game it was and one murdered the other friend for the trophy though a game was not blamed for it. A teen went and killed a cop because he wanted to know what it felt like outside Grand Theft Auto. A couple of teens did the same sort of thing: killed someone, perhaps another police officer because they saw it on Grand Theft Auto (GTA does not have a good rap in case you haven't noticed by now). Games have caused deaths because they became addictive; someone was addicted to World of Warcraft and went days without eating, sleeping or even going to the bathroom and died because of it.

As of now, one of my top 5 games is "Postal 2;" a game where you can control a serial killer to complete daily tasks from picking up milk and voting to escaping a napalm factory that caught fire and fighting through a meat packing plant to collect a few steaks. You can use gasoline, your standard handheld guns (pistols, machine guns) to diseased cow heads, a napalm launcher and an RPG. You don't have to kill anyone if you don't want to, you can ignore the rude citizens, the video game protesters, book protesters, rednecks and postal workers who want to kill you after certain points, and just rush in to do what you came to do and leave (be sure to carry lots of "health" pipes which resemble crack pipes and damage you if you do not take another every now and then). There is a limited bit of gore from decapitated heads but if you download/buy "A Weekend in Paradise" it's got added weapons and gore so you can then throw scythes which go so far before stopping, a machete that acts like a boomerang and comes back after being thrown and sledgehammers that destroys people's heads after being hit. The former two can also slice people in half, take their heads off, cut off limbs etc. Same effect can be done with explosive weapons also.

__One Month Later__

Fast forward a month since I wrote the first part of this, I'm now playing Fallout: New Vegas a "post-apocalyptic simulator" which is based mainly on violence. Your character, The Courier, starts off in year 2281, being shot twice in the head, gets a poker chip-shaped storage device stolen and you're tasked with finding and receiving the chip from the man who shot you. Along the way you are tempted with murdering innocent civilians, blowing up a monorail and assassinating the president by aligning yourself with the tyrant Caesar (based on Julius Caesar even using Latin names for his army and speaking Latin at times), helping the autocratic Mr. Robert House to expand his rule over the New Vegas strip by eliminating the competition and raising the robot army he created before the "Great War" 200 years prior (he also found the way to prolong his life hence why he's alive after 200 years without being mutated), unite the factions of New Vegas to eliminate Mr. House, Caesar's Legion, and the NCR and support an independent New Vegas (also known as the Mojave Wasteland) or ally yourself with the democratic New California Republic and help hold the Hoover Dam from Caesar, destroy Legion camps, assassinate Caesar and protect the president from an assassination attempt. All of which is optional depending on who you side with but that doesn't stop you from unleashing your inner monster and blowing up small towns or stealthily killing a bunker full of heavily armoured Brotherhood of Steel (a techno-religious group) members. This is way off topic but I was hoping to illustrate violent games that are not heavily under fire like Grand Theft Auto is (you an also decapitate people, tear off their arms and legs and obliterate their bodies into tiny little pieces in Fallout too by the way, forgot to mention that) but still have plenty of violence like killing NCR Military Police and destroying prostitutes with a minigun, missile launcher or just a simple 9mm handgun (hopefully people can relate this to GTA).

Back on track; recently, I haven't heard much about video game controversy relating to deaths of people or carjackings and joy rides but it's bound to pop back up some time, we just need to wait for Jack Thompson to bring up a lawsuit claiming that children will be corrupted by playing a future Super Mario game which will never happen but just imagine that day. Until then, I'll just be using my gore-ridden video games to vent frustrations and speed up my days waiting for upcoming video games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Bit of ViewsHound love

Hello, I haven't really posted anything in a while, on here and ViewsHound but I decided to write a short bit about ViewsHound for writers, authors, whatever who like to write articles about anything really. ViewsHound is a site where you can write about anything you like from food, politics, relationships, world news, etc. and actually get money for them. There is a prize of $20, $30, and $50 for 3rd, 2nd and 1st place respectively. There's also a prize of $10 for photo of the day and cartoon of the day. They also add Google ads and a type of ad that makes certain words links to ads which I can't remember the name to right now... Anyway, They've really helped me out with my prize winnings of $110 which I used to purchase a sword and a video game off of eBay =P And also a straight razor for my brother (both seen in my previous post). That's pretty much it, ViewsHound is easy to use, easy to submit articles to and easy to win money so you've got nothing to lose, and you still own the articles (copyrighted) which gives more freedom unlike some other article sites which claim ownership after you send them in. So give it a shot =)

http://www.viewshound.com/
http://www.viewshound.com/health-fitness/2011/8/male-breast-cancer-no-its-not-a-myth

New weapons arrived!

I'm a collector of weapons, well, in the process of being a collector and I ordered a couple things from Ebay of the blade variety. This was a Free Mason decorative dagger and a Confederate straight razor for my brother. These items arrived in the mail today and I couldn't be more impressed with them! The blade's shiny, very pointy and beautifully done. The razor, it's spring assisted so it pops out no problem, it says "The South will rise again" on the blade and it's generally a great piece of work. I'm hoping that my writing revenue can bring in even more swords, daggers, razors etc. in the future =P If you'd like to help, feel free to find the donation button or click an ad or too =P Every bit of revenue helps in the long haul. Thanks always =)

Back to business: AdSense

EDIT: It has been closed again. Google is a piece of crap...

Hello, I can see what I'm typing now so I know whether it went through or not. Anyway, my AdSense account was disabled, I made a new one and the ads are back! In an attempt to bring in some extra revenue I'm hoping these ads will do the trick as long as people click on them I'll be a happy camper. I also put an Amazon thinger in an attempt to get even more revenue =P It automatically finds products based on my blog content or that's what I read anyway. So I'm hoping you kind people in the internet world will be able to show some heart and help a young writer out =) Thanks for reading

Squidoo

Hello there. I have made a Squidoo account so I'll be integrating my articles from here over to there also in an attempt to get noticed a bit more and also to try and make royalties off my work =P Money talks peeps and she's a sweet, sweet talker

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/m24bm24

I hope to see you visit there and help make me some money ;-) Don't forget you can help me by donating. Even a penny will do =)

Hello, I'm adding a donate button, well, this post to try to increase my income since Google closed my AdSense account because of invalid click activity or something like that. I'm not asking for much, even a penny will do. I'd just like some encouragement to keep writing lol. Thanks and I hope you'll consider it =)

High school is the best years of your life? Like hell it is

Who ever coined the phrase "High school is the best years of your life" obviously only seen the one side of the coin because personally, it was the absolute worst. I know that's the description but I like it here, it's a good opener.

My years of high school started fine but then bullies came along, people from other schools that got combined into the one of two "super schools." Some of these people made sure your life was hell, not to mention others who were a part of your social circle. I would like to hear someone tell the students who are on the verge of suicide because of bullying that high school is "the best years of your life."

First off, bullying is still claiming lives of students because of their constant torment from other students. Even some students who start off as friends but reveal that they were just using you to gain personal info to help spread to other bullies. Now, that is a true story I read not too long ago and the female bully who gathered information to give to others in their school (a middle school if I'm not mistaken) did feel terrible about her part in the boy's suicide and would later help the kid's father in helping to stop bullying.

I, was always made fun of by my weight, my bad grades in school, and thanks to cyberbullying, it greatly improved the chances of me hating life to the fullest. I for some reason was beginning to be called a pedophile. I forget why but I can tell you it's just not something you want to be remembered for. Luckily it stayed in the circle and didn't travel far but still had me wishing for either the high school or the world to end, which ever came first. Luckily high school just ended for me June 29, 2011, I'm hoping it's one of the best presents my mother ever gotten for her birthday.

Now off of bullying of me and actually to the bullying of teachers. Believe me, it happens. Some teenagers around here have no respect for adults now and will "shoot off" to teachers about anything from asking why the teacher is picking on them because of the student's stupid actions to just being frustrated and saying it's the teacher's fault that they're the way they are. give me a break, you have no idea how much I would have loved to see them gone for as long as it took.

But now I am free from the torment and Rick Mercer along with many other celebrities are correct, it can only get better from here. Congratulations 2011 NRHS graduates, no longer must we suffer though school! Unless you're planning on post-secondary schooling, then good luck with that!


By the way, I graduated high school today. So... Yeah, I'm basically forced to find a job now

New new articles

I decided to write a little something something for the annoyances of mine on ViewsHound. It's not posted there yet because I just wrote it today but here she goes:

A formal apology to some individuals in the community



Dear whom ever it may concern,

I'd like to apologize for any comments I may have left or invalid arguments that I obviously pieced together out of a child's story book. Believe me, they sounded good at the time but obviously cannot stand up to the arguments of people who refuse to quit.

After this point however, I have learned **not** to make an argument unless I have cold hard facts that are similar to the person/persons I'm debating with.

I must also apologize for my poor debating skills, I was not aware that I needed to repeat the same argument over and over again for it to have an effect though I did try at times.

I also forgot to mention I must forget certain individuals in the populous and just base our argument on the percentage that it applies to and not the others to help drive my point home.

Signed, "Anonymous Author"

** Author's Note**

Remember this is under "creative writing" because it does not have facts in it at all that I know of. Nor does it apply to anyone in particular, it could be anyone! Which is why it's addressed to no one specific.

Now that was a bit of a joke because of a certain user of ViewsHound requested an article get moved to "Fiction" which does not exist so I made a little joke out of it but it's mainly to troll them. Thanks for the read through and I'll put up the next article I wrote after I publish this post...

Dutch group burns cover of "The Book of Negroes"

"The Book of Negroes" caused a bit of controversy in Amsterdam because of the title. A Dutch group naming themselves "Foundation Honor and Restore Victims of Slavery in Surinam" says that the word "negro" is an insult to the black race so they said they would burn the cover unless the author, Lawrence Hill changed the name. The title was changed to "Someone Knows My Name" in the US, New Zealand and Australia because of this very reason: people would take offense.

If you know me, I figure shock value and controversy is the best way to sell something and if you name a book "The Book of Negroes" you're going to catch lots of people's attention. Now the novel itself is about a woman who was taken from her home in West Africa and sold into the slave trade in America. Skip ahead to her latter years and she travels to Sierra Leone, passing ships carrying even more slaves and then she travels to England to write the Book of Negroes and ask the Queen for help abolishing the slave trade. I hope I got that right.

Anyway, even with a story like that, people took offense over one simple word that was not always offensive. Lawrence Hill explained that it was a friendly greeting by the "old timers". As they walked down the street they would tip their hats and give a friendly, respectful "hello, negro!" (Note: I tried re-finding that since the last time I read that particular line was months ago but could not find it) It's like the "N-word" we've all come accustomed to, rappers use it all the time but God forbid a white man says it - the offensive meter goes right off the charts. I mean, I won't say it out loud but I will write it if it's in an appropriate sense and I'm not flaming a race (quotes for example...Unless that quote is a racist quote and I'm writing about it, that's an exception).

It could be the Canadian in me that cannot come to terms with this, obviously Hill didn't until he grew to appreciate the changed title but still, burning a book cover because they took offense to the name seems a bit extreme.

Taken from the [Sympatico](http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/world/dutch_group_burns_cover_of_hills_book_of_negroes/9519f0e7) website:

Earlier on Wednesday, Hill said he was "horrified by" the notion of burning books.

"I wasn't looking to be sensational or provocative when I called it The Book of Negroes. I called it The Book of Negroes to bring attention to a long-forgotten historical document and a long-forgotten migration," he told Matt Galloway on CBC's Metro Morning.

"There is no defense to burning a book. It's a hateful act designed to intimidate? It's something that stifles dialogue and the notion of the freedom to read and to write."

The reason they did not burn the book itself was that it did not offend them. Did they read it? There is a LOT more "negroes" floating around in there and also the infamous "N-word."

Now, I know I am 'white' so I don't exactly know the history of these words except from movies and what I read online but I just don't see how "negro" is seriously offensive and offensive enough to burn a book cover. Hell, our black coloured pencils say "Negro" right on them as what I assume to be a Spanish translation as "noir" is French and I don't see any Canadians complaining about that. Then again we're the first country that let Lawrence use that name since he is a Canadian so we've obviously got a tolerance for the word.

"I think it's partly because the word "Negro" resonates differently in Canada. If you use it in Toronto or Montreal, you are probably just indicating publicly that you are out of touch with how people speak these days. But if you use it in Brooklyn or Boston, you are asking to have your nose broken."

Again, this all connects to "hate" in the world, these people hate and are offended by the word "negro" and are willing to burn a book cover for their cause. I will not ask a question in this article but I would like to know your views on the book title, racism in our countries and if the words described are offensive.

Second new old articles - Is there really a purpose to life? A view into my mindset

I often wonder: What is the point of living? To service the government? Our country? Continue our race because we are the most superior being in the world and no animal can stop us from owning every square inch of Earth? I then think about my own mortality; What's my purpose? How will I possibly serve any purpose in the world? My answer: Nothing and I won't. There's what? 6 billion people in the world and I'm supposed to be able to help shape the future of the world? I just can't see that happening, I'll be the same as the majority of people: a nobody in the world, just people working to keep the government off our backs and make sure we're not on the street.

The majority of us in Canada, US, UK, and so on go through school for a good portion of our lives, usually 13 years if you include primary/kindergarten or preschool and after that you can go for another 4 years at a college or less than that depending on why you're going. After that however you're working for the next 40, 50 maybe 60 years. Really? That's it? No, another aspect is to keep the human race going because we're pretty much just selfish that way with 6 billion people and counting. People say the point of life is to get married and have kids. I'm not a huge fan of people so I would rather not spend a few years with someone just to divorce them later, leave them with a kid or two or five and then move to someone else. I don't even care for relationships or children, I'd rather keep to myself which is why I just want to write; I'm not around people and I can get paid, though I'm even losing the desire to write, again, I'm serving no purpose with it, just giving a few people something to pass the time with but it's not impacting anyone or anything, it's just reading material when you're surfing a website with nothing better to do.

I am not in any way suicidal if I come across that way at parts, I just question why we live and what a difference it would be if I died. A person I know who was a friend many moons ago but gave up that privilege said I was just an "emo." Mainly because they're too ignorant to know what emo even means (it's a style of rock music - punk rock, etc and stereotyped people who dress in skinny jeans, tight black or striped shirts with hair covering their face and multiple piercings of the face). I dress in loose-ish blue jeans, tight black shirts (because of a combination of I got larger and they shrunk in the wash) and usually short hair and sometimes long hair in the summers but is out of my face. I also listen to classic rock and Rob Zombie music which is not associated with emo at all so thanks you s.o.b's, you sure know how to diminish my depressing thoughts!

I would not mind at all if I were to die in let's say a week, I'd welcome Death and even hug him, I'm not scared... Only if it was quick, painless (or a little depending on how quick the death was) and I didn't see it coming, not if I was a hostage or something and was told I was going to die, that'd sort of suck.

Anyway, back on topic. Today's world is full of war, hate and ignorance. We've got wars in every part of the world, we've got people hating one another because of their beliefs, sexual orientation or whatever and we have people who think that being gay is a choice, AIDS is a gay disease and they believe everything someone tells them. Actually, those can all fit into one category now that I see they're all related in someway. I am a person who hates, I hate people who decide to write comments online bashing people who can't even do it in a manner that makes them look like they have an IQ over 12, I hate governments, I hate ignorance, I hate haters (=P) I hate Google and their slow websites that sometimes don't even load for me. I basically hate 90% of everything.

This is quickly coming to a close, I can't write anymore without directing frustrations directly to the reader. Now to the end of article questions: What are your views on mortality and your role in the world? Thanks for viewing my mind.

New old articles

Hello, I've written new articles but haven't posted them. One's about the celebs which I mentioned earlier, one is my view on the world and one is about a Dutch group burning a book cover(Yet to be published on ViewsHound). Starting with the first.


So there's a nice, juicy rumour that Mary Kate Olsen, half of the Olsen twins was seen at Kanye West's birthday party from what I read on Sympatico.ca ([Here](http://www.dramarama.ca/2011/06/kanye-and-mary-kate.html)). Apparently this "news story" was doctored up by the one and only Perez Hilton and we all know how honest he is. Anyway, he somehow found out that someone who is said to be Mary Kate Olsen was seen at Kanye's 34th birthday party and he believes they must be, dare I say, DATING!!

That's right, if you're a creepy looking child star at a bad musician's birthday party, you must be "hooking up" with the guy. How this makes news I'll never know.

I used to like the Sympatico website because they had news that I actually liked but somehow when I wasn't paying attention, they replaced it with crap like this, rumours they can somehow doctor up into "news". I want to know, why are people so obsessed with celebrities that a news site is suddenly showing nothing but celebrity news? Are our lives so incredibly boring that we need to see who's dating who? Who's hating who? What Charlie Sheen is doing? It's pathetic to tell the truth.

I am someone who absolutely despises these people, I don't care what they're up to, nor will I ever, I just like criticising the people who do care and the people who are pathetic enough to help the spread of gossip like this which is why I hate Perez Hilton and wish he and his ugly face would "disappear" forever from behind that computer of his never to be seen again.

So...Do YOU care? Do you care about celebrities' lives or are you too busy in your own to care? I'm hoping people fall into the latter category.

http://masonatjustin.blogspot.com

Hello, I was told to post a link to a friend of mine's blog. His name is Mason and he streams videos. He also posts his life, well, not his life but parts of the days and what not. It's worth a read through if you like reading and entertainment =)  So Copy and Paste this: http://masonatjustin.blogspot.com or click HERE  or here or click http://masonatjustin.blogspot.com =P Enjoy

Update

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything so time for some updates.

First off I lost the most followers competition but I don't really care, I never believed I had a chance to begin with but thanks anyway.

Second, New article here. About celebrity rumors, don't bother reading it. It sucks

Third... That's it really, I lost and a crappy article. Fun times. Thanks for reading =)

ViewsHound Competition. $500 prize!

Hello, If you're reading this then don't stop! Please do me a great favour and follow me on ViewsHound =)  The person who gets the most followers by June 20 (next Monday) wins $500! Now I know not many, if any people will follow me so this is kind of a lost cause but the money would be nice to have, makes my writing worth while 'cause frankly, I'm getting no where writing. So you don't have to follow me, I don't have high hopes anyway but it'll be nice to try. http://www.viewshound.com/prof

iles/matthew-maclean

Baconators and you... Well, me anyway

Fast food is great and all if you're on the run and have no time to rush home to make something to eat or can't wait around for food at a diner but after witnessing the most grotesque thing I have ever laid eyes on, I feel my fast food love drain out of me.

First off, a Wendy's Double Baconator combo comprised of medium fries and Coca-Cola has a total of 1600 calories, 79g of fat, and 2300mg of sodium. I could have added more info but that should be enough to show that it's unhealthy for the most part.  Now, add that it's probably broiled in 2 pounds of grease and you get a big burger that tastes like heaven although it looks terrible and don't get me started on the bun. Actually, that's where I'm headed next anyway.

The bun, it collects the leftover grease, steam, whatever liquid it can get its non-existent hands on so you get this nice shine when it opens and it can also slide to reveal the greasy meat inside when it's unwrapped. It also seems to be a bit too small for the burger, perhaps the grease and steam shrunk it down and makes it wrinkle-y? Believe me, it's not a pretty sight. 

"If you hate it so much why do you eat it?" Why do I eat it? Because I haven't had one in a long time and felt like a change. But now I think I'll just stick with Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers or Double Cheese Burgers from McDonalds because they are not as gross looking as a Baconator may be.

Do you have any fast food stories? Baconator experience? Anything humorous, serious or just plain gross? Feel free to share, I need a good laugh

Pirating: Is it good to an extent?

Pirating is the act of unauthorized copying of computer software from music, Windows/Mac applications and video games but it is controversial in plenty of countries because of copyright laws. 

People argue that the makers of this software are losing money but the other side can argue that they're not losing money because we're technically not stealing, more like copying and borrowing with the plan of not giving it back much like your next door neighbour's lawnmower.

Many places shun this type of "theft" but don't actually do anything about it though some places do;

_Under the proposed US Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), a controversial model law that has been adopted in Virginia and Maryland, software manufacturers are granted broad rights to shut down unauthorized software copiers without court intervention similar to some of the provisions found in Title II of the US DMCA, the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, which allows copyright holders to demand that an online service provider (OSP) expeditiously block access to infringing materials. If the OSP complies, it is granted a safe harbor, providing it immunity from infringement claims. If it does not comply, it does not become liable, but may instead rely on the protection of the Communications Decency Act.

Title I of the US DMCA, the WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act has provisions that prevent persons from "circumvent[ing] a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work". Thus if a software manufacturer has some kind of software, dongle or password access device installed in the software any attempt to bypass such a copy protection scheme may be actionable — though the US Copyright Office is currently reviewing anticircumvention rulemaking under DMCA — anticircumvention exemptions that have been in place under the DMCA include those in software designed to filter websites that are generally seen to be inefficient (child safety and public library website filtering software) and the circumvention of copy protection mechanisms that have malfunctioned, have caused the software to become inoperable or which are no longer supported by their manufacturers._

-Wikipedia article on software piracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_of_software)

_Piracy helped the young generation discover computers. It set off the development of the IT industry in Romania."_ - Traian Băsescu, president of Romania

And apparently Bill Gates is somewhat of a fan: 

_As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade._

Last 3 quotes taken from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_of_software)

People have even cracked iPods and iPhones called "jailbreaking" where you can get an application to mess around with your handheld device and add "sources" to it and get applications off the App Store for free as long as people have uploaded the cracked application/game to something like _Mediafire_ or _Filedude_.

I've personally saved hundreds of dollars on video games and music, I've downloaded every Sims 2 expansion pack, Sims 3+ all Expansions, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, The Elder Scrolls IV, I'm in the process of Dragon Age: Origins and Mafia II, SNES, and Nintendo 64 games (for an emulator) dozens of music CDs (minus the CD of course), and most recently Stick RPG 2: Director's Cut and an application called RPG Maker and also Game Maker.

Pirating can also lead to viruses if some people want to have a bit of fun and destroy your computers so many pirates have good antivirus software which they may have even pirated.

I like to think as long as the makers of this software makes the money back they spent to create the software, pay the employees and have some left over it's fine to just take the leftover because they obviously have the money to make more because the developers are still making more games and people are still buying hard copies or downloading from the developer's website.

How do people with higher morals think? Fellow pirates? Video game developers? I'd love to hear everyone's perspective in the comments below

Winner!!

Hello hello hello, I have won yet another prize for my articles, this time the Silver $30 prize! The article about marijuana (Found one post below [Here] or Here. It wasn't really a winner for the content much I don't think but the comments. So thanks to everyone who viewed, liked, commented and shared, I really appreciate it =)

Do marijuana defenders really know how healthy it is?

This one after people in my Leadership class. I swear people can be so ignorant -.-


Not long ago, my Leadership class had a little discussion about marijuana. One individual said "_weed cures cancer_," another said "_you cannot become addicted to weed_" and a few other absurd defenses. This lead me to wonder if people actually know about marijuana and how "healthy" is really is.

First, marijuana does not cure cancer, it gives people cancer just like cigarettes. Marijuana is known to help the pain associated with cancer but smoking anything can give you cancer, especially marijuana because you're putting smoke into your lungs, holding it for as long as possible, letting it get into the lung tissue and destroy it before finally exhaling. It also can cause oral cancers like cigarettes.

Marijuana is a drug and you can become addicted just like any other drug. People believe because marijuana doesn't have addictive chemicals such as nicotine that you cannot become addicted but it's not the marijuana, it's the person. They develop a dependence on the drug so they need more and more to support their habit no matter who they hurt.

It is also possibly linked to childhood problems if a pregnant mother smokes marijuana such as: problems with decision making, memory and the ability to remain attentive. It is unsure if these problems will persist through adulthood but it is possible that more problems will occur while the brain develops.

Although I am not a marijuana defender I do believe it should be decriminalized and treated like alcohol; do it at home or special bars and don't drive while under the influence. I doubt this will ever be the case unless a pro-weed party gets into government but I doubt that will even happen.

Your thoughts? Arguments? Feel free to write a comment on your opinion on weed and the effects and legal status.

How far is media willing to go for the ultimate story?

Nothing really to say about this one. I'm just hoping it can hit people about people like paparazzi

This past Saturday I learned about R. Budd Dwyer and how he took his own life on national television during a press conference. I also found the video and was surprised when the cameraman didn't even jump or anything after Dwyer pulled the trigger of his revolver and actually zoomed in on his face to show the blood pouring from his nose and the wound in his head.

Any _normal_ person would normally look away and respect the man but not this cameraman, he tried showing everything he could and for what? To shock audiences at home? Traumatize the viewers including children? Or thinking he could sell the tape to someone for the ultimate footage: A well liked politician committing suicide on live TV.

R. Budd Dwyer was a Pennsylvania politician who was convicted of receiving a bribe from a Californian accounting firm to try and get a multimillion-dollar contract to determine compensation to each employee after Pennsylvania discovered state workers had overpaid federal taxes due to errors in state withholding. Throughout the entire trial he stated he was innocent but was ultimately facing 55 years imprisonment and a $300,000 fine.

January 22, 1987 at the age of 47, R. Budd Dwyer while still in office took his life with a .357 Magnum revolver because he could not handle the sentence which many people including himself believed was a set up by conspirators against him.

Fortunately, his wife was able to collect full survivor benefits because he was still in office at the time which totaled over $1.28 million. A spokesperson for Dwyer said that he possibly committed suicide to preserve the pension for his family because their finances were ruined due to the legal defense costs.

There are many other tales of media trying to get the ultimate shot by any means with no respect for the people, like Princess Diana, the media was just swarming the car after her death trying to get a shot of the Princess in a bloody mess.

So, do you think the media has any morals at all when it comes to getting a story no matter how gruesome it may be?

New articles

Bonjour, comment sa-va?

I have just recently written 3 new articles -in the same day no less, that'll keep me from writing for a good two weeks =) I'll post them each as individual posts starting with this one about growing meat in labs, or I like "test tube meat"

Would you eat test tube meat?

Can PETA, Vegetarians and Vegans finally eat meat now? Nicholas Genovese, a biological engineer along with researcher Dr. Vladimir Mironov may have finally found a way to actually __grow__ meat.

Supported and funded by PETA themselves, they have spent the last 10 years researching and trying to figure out how to make an artificial meat _in vitro_. 

Now, you may be thinking "How could they grow meat without a living animal?" Dr. Genovese had this to say "Skeletal muscle fibers, we put them together, they fuse ... this is the main element of any meat."

Is it really that simple? Well, it may sound simple enough but it does seem fairly complicated as it took them 10 years to find how to do it successfully.

The advantages of something like this is that it could significantly reduce the greenhouse gases created by the various animals being held for food and also can prevent the ill-treatment and suffering of these animals. So far, there isn't really any negative effects, at least if it's grown in a lab, we know what's going inside us. With farm meat you never know if you're eating growth hormones or antibiotics, it's just meat.

So, does this stand a chance of being the "meat of the future?" or just a waste of 10 years? 

Thanks again for reading and I hope ViewsHound can accept it. If not, I'll just scrap it. =)

First Article on Suite101

Hello. I've decided to try and make more money writing by writing for multiple sites. I've signed up for Suite101.com and just had my first article published here. So my plan, maybe, is to post my opinion articles on ViewsHound and all others on that site unless I could actually find a site that is willing to pay up front for articles like mine. Thanks =)

Link again

Why are gays so hated?

Next up on the list of growing articles, my article on gays. Riiiight.... Here


There's so much hate in the world yet there is no reason for it. Today I want to focus on gays and their struggle to fit in with our society.

Thursday May 26, my school held an annual Day of Silence where students can go the whole day without talking to actually speak out against homophobia but I just wish didn't have to do this to begin with because the hate just should not exist.

The Bible says "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." But why must we follow the Bible? To me it's a fictional novel written by man, not a higher power so why must we follow it? Because other humans are too weak to believe that man runs the world, not a higher deity and that priests, pastors etc. are too damn charismatic and can win over people like nothing and introduces them into the hatred of others.

They are not always to blame mind you, parents and other adults can also pass hatred onto their children and warp their minds into believing that gays are the scum of the earth and deserve to be hung. I do tend to use graphic scenarios and harsh words at times so bear with me.

I was lucky enough to be born and raised away from hate, I was taught that everyone was equal, I was not taught colour, I was not taught sexual orientation, I was not taught of males and females, I was raised to find out on my own so I didn't have opinions in my head of what to expect if I met someone who was not the same as me and now I try to make sure people get the rights they deserve.

I was a member of my school's GSA or Gay Straight Alliance for a year before I realized they didn't really get much done and never returned for a second year but at least we did try to help change people but that's a lost cause seeing as a bunch of teenagers are not exactly gay friendly at times.

"Don't ask, don't tell", a great slogan. People do not need to know if you are gay or straight, people's private lives should be private because no one needs to know.

Gay pride parades though, they are great and I find humor in it, a bunch of gays running around having a grand ol' time just makes me smile.

But onto the topic that's the most controversial to me, gay marriage. Religious groups hate this idea, Conservative politicians hate the idea because they do not want gays to have the same rights as everyone else because it will go against the Bible and it's too Liberal.

One definition of marriage -
the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.

The correct definition of marriage -
the legal or religious ceremony that formalizes the decision of two people to live as a married couple, including the accompanying social festivities: to officiate at a marriage.

See the difference? One is the traditional man and woman which so many people are for completely and the other mentions nothing of gender, the one people gay or straight are struggling for. Why can't we just give in and let everyone marry? In Canada we have no problem with gay marriage, sure the religious would say we're ruining traditional marriage but I say so what? Traditions fail sooner or later, time to move on. Life is too short for people to try and deny people their right to love.

Love may be blind but so are humans. Once you open your eyes maybe you can see the beauty behind love no matter if it's with the same sex or not.

Music from the 1900s and today. What happened?

Hello there. I wrote a new article about my favourite music and my resentment for todays music. Waiting to see if they will publish it. If not, here's the product I wrote.


I'm a 90s baby born in 1993 and I grew up listening to AC/DC, Kiss, CCR, Great Big Sea, Loverboy, Meatloaf and so on, 3 decades of great music and suddenly that's starting to die out.

Sure we've got rock bands like Hedley, Billy Talent, Linkin Park and Green Day but they're just not the classic rock I grew up with and even they're dying out! So what are we left with?

Disney. Yes, The same people who gave us Micky Mouse, Peter Pan, and countless princesses are also giving us Miley Cyrus, Selina Gomez, Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers. And throw Justin Bieber in there and even though he's not owned by Disney he fits in this category. Now, "tweens" and other females from high school to women with children the same age as these "stars" all go crazy for them, mainly Bieber for reasons I and hundreds of men in the world will never understand, really, women would gladly turn into pedophiles for a chance at Justin Bieber.

Now I want to know how? How did this so called "pop" invade my TV and radio? I used to love Much Music but now I can't watch it. Not to be prejudiced or anything but Blacks don't even rap or do hip-hop on there anymore! They also sing pop because they're more or less targeted towards the women and men who appreciate it.

I forgot to mention other bands that like to call themselves "Metal". Sometimes I wonder about the validity of this being called music. At times it involved fast drumming, grinding guitars and people who scream into a microphone and no, it's not called singing. This music does not sound at all like music, it sounds like someone gave a baby instruments and told them to start playing.

The original metal also from the 60-90s was no doubt the best. From Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Metallica, you could understand the lyrics and they weren't about ripping someones throat out and eating their entrails which is the vibe I get from metal today.

Right now I'm listening to music on my TV where they just play music on a black screen for the most part. One channel I'm listening to is "Classic Rock" the other is "Remembering the 80s" where the good stuff is and believe me, it hasn't failed me once.

If you were given the opportunity to go back in time and destroy any trace of pop and make sure the classics were the future of music, would you take it?

Be sure to leave a comment or even an article about your opinion and your answer to the question =) Enjoy yourselves and make sure Rock and Roll never dies

Next Article: Are we losing our sensitivity towards others? UPDATE

Hello, I was recently on Facebook and saw a comment someone made on a group and it gave me inspiration to drop my other two articles I was working on to write an article about it and you get to be the first to read it until ViewsHound accepts or rejects it.

THE UPDATE:

It was just published not long ago, along with the RMS Atlantic poem which will be a sure loss. Wish me luck ;)


**First some background information**:

I was attempting to write my next article to submit to *ViewsHound* and decided to take a break and go on *Facebook* and there is a group on there that you can 'like' called "When I was your age, I was raising Pokemon, not babies" which I originally thought was just a page you click like and never see again but I was wrong, this actually it more about world news and things and the person who runs this page wrote:

*64% of Pakistanis didn't want Osama Bin Laden to die, 84% don't like the U.S...yet we give them BILLIONS of dollars in aid.*

Now that doesn't seem all that bad right? Well I had no problem with that, it was the comments people left towards the people of Pakistan including

"*they dont diserve a PENNY from us. Yay lest support the terrorists then send our troops over to be killed by the guns, mines, and bombs THAT WE payed for. lets destroy em and build em back up! what they shud do is nuke them mother f**ks and TAKE their oil.*"

I obviously responded back with a fairly long paragraph - and proper spelling - mainly about his insensitivity towards the people of Pakistan and greed of some Americans. But have we as humans lost our way of being humane?

First, we have never been strangers to being inhumane towards other people. We've been torturing, killing, burning and pillaging since we were just starting out as a race and we still are even today. The first example I could think of about nuking a country was Japan back in 1945 after the USA dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as revenge for Pearl Harbour. They obviously killed thousands of innocent men, women and children on that day which was most definitely a disregard to the people of Japan and Japanese people living in North America. Another example was the My Lai Massacre where American soldiers purposely killed innocent civilians by shooting them no matter who they were, even children, babies, and elders were murdered. This massacre also involved rape, beatings, torture and mutilation.

Two classic examples of insensitivity towards other cultures, Japan and Vietnam. If you watched old episodes from Looney Toons from the '30s and beyond you could also see racism and stereotypes towards everyone from Asians (a couple shorts about Japanese people), Blacks (Blackface), and Mexicans (Speedy Gonzales). I like to categorize insensitivity into two categories: Hatred, so you would rather want them dead, and Humour, just finding the comedy in stereotypes. Both are wrong in their own ways sure, but one is just to try and take the edge off of a serious topic and find the humour rooted in it.

Back on topic. This guy who posted the comment is wanting to send nuclear missiles to Pakistan and basically kill everyone there, innocent or not, young or old and then take the oil for their own "need" because Pakistan is just there, no one likes them so we don't need them or I assume these are his views anyway.

There was also that "Slut Walk" people were going on because of a police officer who said that if women didn't dress the way they did they wouldn't get raped, that's an example of insensitivity towards women here at home.

I personally believe that we as humans are most definitely turning insensitive towards others because of age, gender, etc. and we must battle this so we can finally live in peace with everyone without more bloodshed and emotional scars.

If they do reject it, I will be posting revised versions of this story because that's what it is, a story and not really an article.

Stay thirsty my friends ;)

Another Winner!!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to shout from the rooftops my second winner on ViewsHound!

The article Bullying: a harsh reality, the one that took 2 redos before it was accepted was chosen for the Bronze article of the day! I won another $20 USD which will probably be $15 CAD lol. I guess being turned down twice was actually a good decision =)

So thanks to everyone who helped me win this, I know it wasn't the Gold but hey, I'm unemployed and $20 can be good for me =P

You can scroll down a bit to find the article or go here: http://www.viewshound.com/lifestyle/2011/5/bullying-a-harsh-reality

Woot!

Hello whoever may be reading this!

This morning my mother came into my room to wake me up for school (trust me, alarms will not wake me up, I've tried.) and tells me that I won the photo of the day on ViewsHound! I was very happy although I didn't show it because it was a good 5 seconds after waking me up and I was freakin' tired.

Now, the photo was a sunset from my deck which I can put into this post at the end. It also had the silhouette of an eagle carving we have.

What ViewsHound had to say? "Warm tones and great use of the silhouette to frame the scene."

Coming from professionals, that's a damn good compliment if I say so myself ;)

Thank you ViewsHound for picking me as a winner, and thank you viewers for reading my articles and looking at my photos, I'll enjoy the prize money ;)

Bully: a harsh reality update


So they published the article which is great =) But they also changed a bit about which makes me think they just got tired of me screwing up the writing and they just edit it for me lol. Either way I'm happy although I did not place in the articles of the day but I doubt they would really let me win twice in one day anyway.

Next up:


I have got another photo queued in so that's due to go live May 20, 2011, tomorrow if you're reading on the 19th. As for what it is, I will leave it to you to find out .

Thanks again for reading.

Poem: RMS Atlantic

As a little extra, I'll post this poem I wrote about a Nova Scotia shipwreck I'm hoping to get published on ViewHound (I'm quite an advertiser am I not?)  I know it's not great or even good but a piece of work is a piece of work.


In the stormy night off Nova Scotia
The ship built so fine
Steering its way to the harbour
Ignoring the lighthouse shine

12 miles off course
Headed west of the dock
With plenty of force
Came a terrible shock

No note of the waters
No lookout to be seen
Men, women, sons and daughters
Soon came to a horrible scene

The Marr’s Head,
The deadly rock
Wanting them dead,
Put them all on the block

Of 900 on board
500 had died
Blood of the dead poured
While 300 survived

All women and children perished
All but one little boy
No memories will be cherished
No more small presents and toys

A crewman wasn’t a man
He went by the name of Bill
He could have been an Ann
Who came from the Ville

Being one of the guys
A right crew favourite
She looked up to the skies
And remembered to savour it

April 1, 1873
Marked the date
She descended to the sea
Taking the people and taking the freight
Taking it all and taking the weight

The weeks have come
The weeks have gone
The mood was glum
When the bodies were drawn

Many ships before her
Fell victim to the land
At the bottom, without a stir
Buried beneath the sand

The ships keep sailing
The sea keeps taking
Humans are failing
And the ships are breaking

Twenty five thousand wrecks
Scattered all around
Broken ships, broken decks
Waiting for the next to be downed

Bullying: a harsh reality

Now, this is what really made me excited: The following article was rejected from the ViewsHound.com website twice for reasons including the writing style wasn't formal enough and not enough depth into the background. Finally though they accepted it after 4 days (!!)


Bullying is unfortunately a common part of today’s life, and has been for a long while. It can be seen just about everywhere; schools, workplaces, and even public places such as malls and coffee shops.

Bullies, typically use three basic forms to torment their victims: physical, verbal, and emotional bullying.

Physical bullying includes punching, spitting, hair-pulling, kicking and slapping. This is the form that leaves physical evidence of abuse. If Johnny walked up and started hitting Joe in the face, that would be physical.

Verbal bullying includes name calling, yelling, and threatening. While it leaves no physical bruises, it results in a mental scar that is harder to heal. If Sally calls Suzie names behind her back then that is a form of bullying, even though it may not be said directly to Suzie.

Emotional bullying mainly occurs towards family or people in relationships. It can include threats of violence, suicide or even leaving the partner if he or she doesn't do what the other wants. If Jack tells Jill he is going to commit suicide if Jill leaves him, he is emotionally bullying her by trying to make her feel guilty in order to get his way.

Unfortunately suicide isn’t uncommon among people who have been bullied. Jenna Bowers, a beautiful, talented singer and songwriter from Nova Scotia, committed suicide because her peers were bullying her using the internet – cyber bullying. She was not alone; there were a several cases within a couple of months here in Nova Scotia.

Cyber bullying can take many forms. You may be familiar with a popular website called _Formspring_. Due to its option to allow users to remain anonymous while asking questions, the site has really opened the doors for even more cyber bullying.

What I personally would like to see is more laws against bullying. In my school, for example, if you are caught bullying you get a couple of days of suspension before you are back into normal classes, where you can just start bullying again. I believe older individuals, from middle school age and up, should be charged for bullying. If this was you, how would you react?

Thanks my friends for reading and please help battle bullying wherever you may be.

Should there be tougher laws for criminal minors?

This is my second article, written May 16, 2011 and went live May 18, 2011. This one relies heavily on personal opinion so I'd love to hear some

The Canadian law says that children under 12 years-old cannot be prosecuted for the act of _Mens Rea_, Latin for "guilty mind". In other words, they cannot be prosecuted because they don't know right from wrong.

Personally, I believe this should not apply in all cases. Obviously not ever minor is alike, and some are bound to know right from wrong. Myself, I knew right from wrong before I was 12. I knew that theft was wrong but I did it anyway - although it was Rice Krispies Squares in primary school, but wrong nonetheless. I know that I'm just one person and can't speak for anyone else, but I feel it is important to recognise that some minors know that stealing, bullying and sometimes even murder are wrong, and could have a guilty mind when carrying out those actions.

In my law class in high school we watched a film of an 11 year-old child who was committing numerous crimes, including theft, breaking and entering, drug use, bullying and assault with a deadly weapon (a revolver). In the film he says "They can't touch us, we're under 12" clearly indicating that he knows he's doing wrong, and he knows that he won't get into trouble because the law says he can't be prosecuted. I know it's just a movie, but it is based on a true story and I suspect there is some truth in it.

Mary Bell was a child killer. She, along with a friend, killed another child by strangulation when she was 10 years-old. They then broke into a nursery leaving notes claiming responsibility, but police passed it off as a prank. The second murder occurred when Bell was 11 years-old, again by strangulation, but she also used razors and scissors to mutilate the body. She was finally arrested a few months later and sentenced to an indefinite sentence of imprisonment for psychopathy and was released after 12 years.

What I would like to know is why so soon? She was diagnosed as showing "classic symptoms of psychopathy" and being a high risk to other children. Did she grow out of it at 23? It shows why we need tougher laws, because if a child kills two people and the law says we need to let them go, then something is obviously wrong.

Willie Bosket, who murdered in the 1970s while a minor, knew that the law would prevent his punishment. It was his crimes that changed laws in New York, meaning that children as young as 13 years-old could be charged in adult courts.

You know now that I think that, under certain circumstances, a child should be held responsible for _actus reas_ (the guilty act) along with _mens rea_, but what is your take on the situation? Are the laws fine the way they are? Are they too strict, or not strict enough?

The school system: does it really work?

This was my first article I've ever written! I wrote it May 14, 2011 and I was quite proud of it =P

Being a high school student I've always wondered about the school system - if it really works for the student, and if they really think at all about your abilities. I first passed it off as being a rebellious phase, but coming close to failing math on more than one occasion I started to wonder: do they care about my abilities or do they just teach how they're told to teach?

In Canada, if a student gets 40% in a class (an ‘F’ in American terms) then they fail the class, no questions asked. Luckily, if it's English or math they can take the next level down, until they reach the level they can pass. But what about other subjects?

A lot of students in my school, knowing they will fail if they go into the conventional education system, decide to enrol in the Career Education Program (CEP). This program allows them to get straight into a trade such as mechanics, wood working, or cooking. So luckily for them they're pretty much set right up to graduate and even win academic awards for their smarts.

Now, I'm not saying everyone in CEP is "dumb" or "stupid". I'm sure they're smart in other fields, such as the trade they are studying. I've been labelled as stupid by the people I call friends because I haven't got a math mind. It's mostly my attitude: I know I will never use it, so it's not important.

My concern is with classes such as social studies, science and technology, in which not everybody has the mental capacity to learn as quickly as others. Passing these subjects is mandatory for a student to graduate. As they treat everybody the same, some are bound to fail because they’re being taught above their level, and not in way which is suitable for them as an individual.

So, how about the schools in your area? Whether it's another part of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom or even Japan? Do you see the same sort of effect where students are taught how the school board expects, or do they adapt the teaching to help students on their own level?

Introduction

Hello, my name is Matthew Maclean. I'm 18 years old in my final year of high school and my goal of this blog is to try and bring awareness to my articles that I attempt to get published on http://www.viewshound.com/. As of now I have two articles published, one being published tomorrow (May 19, 2011) and two pictures.

I should explain my articles: I am more of a writer of things that involve opinions such as ways to stop and prevent bullying, whether children under 12 should get away with crimes and whether schools are doing their job of teaching everyone on the level of individuality.

I greatly welcome constructive criticism about my writing ability and how I can improve to be more beneficial to myself and the readers alike so it looks professional and formal and also so people can understand what it is I'm writing. I will also accept any insults that come my way as long as they are logical and don't sound like "ur a stupid reterd hu cant rite 4 beanz" Those (Ha, writing that made me spell 'thouse' at first) comments will be ignored. Also, by insults I mean more of a debate of your views and then mind, and so on and so forth.

So I hope to see lots of traffic here of people who are genuinely interested in what I have to say and not people who are here to troll or advertise their own blogs only. You can advertise but leave a comment about my blog first ;)

Thanks and I hope I can get you to come back again =)

-Matthew