More Existentialism On The PS2 & Ron Moore

A quiet Friday.

So far the bulk of it has been spent in quiet recreation. There was the educational aspect of Battlestar Galactica, which more or less means I listen raptly to the commentaries and think “Gee, Ron Moore’s like one of the smartest writers in television today” and envy the fact that I’m not him. Also, just for the heck of it we had dinner at one of our old dining haunts when we lived in our former apartment. The guy who runs the Indian food stall actually remembered us and noted he hadn’t seen us for a few months. I guess it’s nice to be recognized and remembered…

But mostly we’ve been taking turns tackling Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 1, yet another in a long line of Atlus demonic RPGs that examines the purpose–or complete lack thereof–in life, and wonders aloud if God really does exist, and if God exists, is he really all that great, and isn’t it about time someone really stuck it to him. Frankly I’m amazed that America even tolerates such blatantly anti-Christian sentiments in video games, but since the series addresses these themes in surreal images with minimal gore and no sexual element, it slides right under their radar in the same way that Heavy Metal gets past censors here because they think “It’s a comic book.”

Kind of funny to me how potentially, the SMT series of games can corrode Western values in impressionable minds far more than something like GTA San Andreas, but because it stays away from “flashier” content like sex and violence and instead heaps questions and scorns on the entire Christian faith, this is somehow far more acceptable. The United States apparently would rather die than expose their children to some skin or some gun play, but hey, let’s let these video games turn their children against fundamental cultural tenets, that’s perfectly harmless.