I don't have room to post the entire article this jerk wrote, there are twenty-two pages of nonsense. I can rip apart most if not all of this mans arguments, even though he is apparently a psychologist. Rather than waste twenty-two pages on the crap I will place the following link: �Article� The Author is also an anti Harry Potter nut.
"Now, obviously not all of this can be laid at the door of D&D. But in the 1970's, it was one of the major cultural phenomena that planted the seeds that have sprouted into Harry Potter and all the occult books and movies."
People who don't understand that a game is a game, or a book is a book, are the problem here. If not for people like this man, he would have nothing to write about. Harry Potter was a book made for people to read. It wasn't meant to turn everyone into a Satanist. No sane person could think it was. I my opinion psychologists to be sane. Otherwise how can they analyze other people�s sanity?
The first argument he makes is that role-playing originated as a psychological tool. Thus if it is used as a game, some how it will alter you, and you will become the character you portray. That�s ridiculous. Tools can work for more than one job. Tools don�t have to be used for the purpose of fixing something. I can use a screwdriver to take something apart, so I can look at it. I don't have to then fix it. I can also flip a screwdriver around in my hand. That�s not hurting me in any way. As long as someone is not an idiot, they can distinguish the difference between fantasy, or a game, and life. The people who can't are the same people who think The Matrix is real. There are about four people who think that. According to him, it would be evil then. Some people cannot distinguish reality and fantasy. A psychologist should understand that.
The main argument hidden somewhere within the twenty pages of useless words is this. Since D'n'D does not automatically include Jesus Christ, it is the devil. D'n'D is a game meant for the masses. Lots of people in the market for this game would not like it if it did. Most things that exist don't point everything they have at Jesus. That doesn't make them evil. Half of the time it makes them less evil. If Jesus was put in D'n'D for example, it would lead nowhere but blasphemy. He points out how there are multiple gods in D'n'D. There are also multiple gods worshiped in the real world. If Christians stop playing D'n'D they would still have that to deal with. According to this man, everyone is going straight to hell. He even makes some points that at a later point basically say he too is going to hell. But he seems to think so much of himself, he must think there is no hope for anyone.
Really no game is safe from this mans (anti-) logic. Few games are filled with a "praise Jesus" message. In Paul Rasband�s words, D'n'D isn�t anti-biblical it is non-biblical. This is a great point. Just because something doesn't tell you all about Jesus all of the time does not make it evil. I'm surprised this man is using the Internet; it isn't dedicated to the message of Jesus. He is going to go to hell, for having anything to do with it.
"Defenders of D&D often complain that it is only a game. Playing chicken with cars is "only a game" until someone gets killed. So is Russian roulette! I am frequently told to "get a life" or write about something more important than D&D, like social justice or world hunger. The devil would sure like that."
Yes, I'm sure the devil would like it if you solved world hunger rather than ratting on a game he has nothing to do with. What?! His argument makes no sense. Playing a role playing game is the same as shooting yourself. Exactly the same.
"Concerning the metaphor about Russian roulette or "chicken," some D&D defenders have said that it is a ridiculous or extreme comparison."
I can't imagine why. He says D'n'D kills your soul, whereas these "games" only kill your body. Makes sense, 'cept the whole "killing your soul" part. he goes on to call D'n'D players anti social and other such things.
"Then Freeman reveals his true colors. He is against Biblical Christianity:
'Ultimately Pat Pulling had only one allegation remaining that anyone would listen to - and even then only fundamentalist Christian groups were willing to believe it. Fantasy role playing games, they asserted, were occult indoctrination tools that lured white suburban teens into horrific satanic cults. Furthermore, these cults were everywhere. The popular "fortress mentality" of certain religious groups - the belief that the world is a wholly corrupt, evil place that only their faith protects them from - latched onto this "evidence" of Satan's power. Proof that the world was in Satan's grasp could be found by demonizing every aspect of pop-culture.'"
He clearly misunderstands and generalizes right there. Because he is a fundamentalist he is offended. Thus all Christians must be. Or they aren't Christians. If you don't agree with everything he thinks, you are not Christian. That sure is an anti-Christian point of view. Christians are supposed to be accepting. He accepts nothing that didn't come from his mouth. I don't mean to speak for every Christian, as he seems to think he can, but I have a feeling a whole lot of them would think he is a fundamentalist jerk.
Making connections between some of the things he says he basically puts everyone on top of a giant "greased daemon on roller skates" that is heading for hell.
The only argument he answers is the stupidest one he could find.
"This problem is that the cosmology of D&D is fundamentally anti-Biblical. Many of the defenders of D&D make the common mistake of assuming that because there are roles in the game for "clerics," this makes the game all right. They make this mistake because they equate Roman Catholicism and its robed clerics for Christians. They do not understand that one can be a cleric (Muslim, Buddhist, etc.) and not be a Christian.
They even tell me that these clerics are supposed to have noble virtues and standards of conduct. I am also informed by irate DMs that in their games virtues such as self-sacrifice, heroism and persistence are rewarded and extolled. That is all well and good. But it will also take you to hell faster than a greased demon on roller skates."
He says there are many religions of clerics. True. He says they are all going to hell. He basically says if you talk about them in any way that isn't negative you are going to hell. Even though his point is refuted, he restates it to prove his point. He says that the game teaches horrible vales, and makes you love Satan. These people say their games reward good actions. He just restates well, you are going to hell. I would like him to find one person, have a conversation, and not come out thinking they are going to hell. If they thought something was blue, and he was colorblind, and thought it was another color, i think he would condemn them to hell.
"D&D player (14 years old) Tom Sullivan, Jr. got into Satanism and ended up stabbing his mother to death, arranging a ritual circle (from D&D) in the middle of the living room floor and lit a fire in its midst. Fortunately, his dad and little brother were awakened by a smoke detector; but by then, Tom, Jr. had slashed his wrists and throat with his Boy Scout knife and died in the snow in a neighbor's yard. (1/19/88, Amarillo, TX)."
I'm not making light of that event. I'm just pointing out this mans logic. Apparently D'n'D killed this boy. But using his logic, I could just as easily say Boy Scouts killed him. It was, for example a Boy Scout knife. He was in Boy Scouts. Maybe that�s where he got the idea. As he is dead we don't know. But there is just as much proof that D'n'D killed him, as there is that Boy Scouts did.
I was going to tear down many things the man said, but I decided to do
this from a purely informational stand point. Thus I will not throw on
labels for every stupid thing he said. You can see them for yourself.
If
you want, you can see the footnotes I put on my copy of the article,
altough I would hope you wouldn't.
In Closing: I shouldn't be able to rip apart a "psychologists" arguments...
Brought to you by Rusty.
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