The Dark Emporium of Earthly Delights

Hi! I'm Leon: an incendiary, opinionated, egotistical and all-round repulsive soul that's currently in his senior year at the University of Western Australia. I'm blunt, caustic, charming, brutally-frank and eloquent all at once. I speak my thoughts out loud and dress strangely. My sexuality is (apparently) nebulous and frequently subject to speculative second-guessing. I abhor religion, but respect individuals' search for the truth.

The above is more of a read-before-consumption than it is, say, an exercise in vanity. If; however; you leave your reservations at the door, then I can guarantee that we'll have a raucously good time together by the fire.

I write about life, men's (and occasionally women's) fashion, computer games, and maybe even love. I follow pages I adore and I occasionally reblog things that impress me or make me laugh.

If you are easily-offended, stubbornly-religious or morally and politically-conservative, then I would advise against reading beyond this preface. This is a space for me to consolidate my thoughts and to capture the brightest of moments. Some of these thoughts are radical, others beautiful, but most are ugly, vitriolic and indignant.

For I am human.

More Video Game Witch-Hunting

As expected, certain members of the mainstream media have already pointed the finger at video games after it was revealed that Anders Behring Breivik (a self-identified right-wing Christian conservative) was a player of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft before he decided to shoot and/or bomb over 90 people in Oslo, Norway.

It’s unsurprising how this tragedy has re-ignited the ludicrous moral panic aimed at computer games. It’s also unsurprising that there have been no criticisms of his religious and political affiliation, whose influence on his criminal act holds far more plausibility.

Still, regardless of the fact that he’s a conservative, gamer or Christian, his heinous act was arguably the product of a psychotic mind.

It’s ironic that a lot of the accusations levelled at computer games as an agent for violence originate from the Christian Right. If Christian political lobby groups such as the A.C.L. are so committed to subverting intellectual and social progress, I can only wonder why they are tolerated, and why there isn’t a powerful lobby dedicated to mitigating the influence of historical fiction and scientific fantasy in contemporary society (Creationists, and ‘Young-Earth’ folks, I’m looking at you).

A mentally-sound gamer is fully capable of distinguishing between on-screen renditions of violence and actual harmful violence. Additionally, most games are passive activities performed for few reasons other than the enjoyment.

It’s ironic, because this is more than I can say about most religions, whose adherents believe in highly-implausible fairy tales, and read from a book of historical fiction that compels action in the real world with scriptural (and anachronistically-illogical) justifications. All for the approval of an imaginary friend in the sky, and for boons in the afterlife… which probably doesn’t exist anyway.

What right do people such as these have to criticise or question the gamer’s grasp on reality?

If there’s one failing of individuals that I hate foremost above all else in this world, it’s hypocrisy.

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