After reading this post on Kotaku, I was surprised to find that some people had a problem with Portal 2. In a world where Duke Nukem: Forever is finally about to see the florescent lights of your local GameStop and Rockstar's L.A. Noire features an up-close and personal meeting between you and some pubic hair, you would think that an game where no one dies, (unless you suck at puzzle solving or count an artificial intelligence as a 'someone') no one gets naked, no one uses drugs and the worst swear words you hear are "damn" and "hell"; would be celebrated as a bit of fresh air in a stuffy room. You would think that... but you would be wrong. Apparently, parents of an adopted girl contacted a news station in Charlotte, NC when they were "shocked" (SHOCKED I TELL YOU!) to hear Chell's arch-nemeses poke fun at Chell for being adopted. Chell's nemeses (I know their names but I am trying not to spoil too much) also make fun of fat people and the mentally retarded... but the parents of the little girl don't seem too concerned about that. Since their child isn't overweight or mentally challenged why would they? right? I mean, it's not like they should care about issues that don't directly affect them. RIGHT?
Of course, the news station and the parents both gloss over the fact that when they asked their daughter how she felt about it she dismissed it completely. The news station glossed over it because her not being upset by it didn't make for a good story and her parents glossed over it because they look like oversensitive, over reacting retards (to those of you reading this article who are retarded please accept my sympathy, I respect you and the struggles you have to endure in life and wish you the best)
She told them she didn't even notice. I am sure this little girl did notice and I hope she wasn't hurt by it because she seems like a sweet, well adjusted little girl. But, that's just it, she is well adjusted and handled this like I would handle someone saying something hurtful to me (like when Cori says I am wrong about something). By IGNORING it!
Let me be clear about something, I am not saying these two people don't have a right to be offended. This is America, you have the right to be whatever the hell you want to be. You can be a giant baby all your adult life, still use food stamps after you win the lotto and hell you can even put in a prayer request for Osama Bin Laden at your local church (I will punch you when I find you though). While you enjoy all of these wonderful rights don't forget that I also have the right not to care. Which, in this case, I don't.
Like this brave little girl, I too have had people say mean things to me (both in person and in a video game...CORI!!). And I have done what every normal, well adjusted person learns to do... IGNORE IT! Now, dear reader, before you start claiming "she's just a little girl" or "why should people have to ignore it when someone says something that offends them" look at the slippery slope you are quickly traveling down. Next, people will have to be sent to sensitivity training when they say something is "stupid" because it might offend the stupid people. People who hate cats and prefer dogs will have to internalize their displeasure when someone starts talking incessantly about what their darling little minx cat did yesterday or face jail time. Comments will be linked to IP addresses and people who comment negatively on my articles will be hunted down and shot like common house cats (SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR CATS PEOPLE!... I DON'T CARE AND I HATE THEM!).
Learning how to pick your battles in life is one of the most overlooked but useful skills a parent can teach their child. If people perceive you as easily annoyed by the littlest things and can't stand it when you complain about the smallest discomfort in your life every chance you get, then they will stop hanging around you or continue to push your buttons just to see you crack. This is a FACT! Instead of running to News organizations (who by the way, will be the only people who will still answer your phone calls after you have driven off everyone else in your life) her parents should be teaching their daughter that in life, people are going to say mean things to you but It doesn't make what they said true. If you simply shrug off their insults and keep pressing on you will succeed and people will respect you for that. Yes, occasionally you have to stand up for yourself. Like when someone tries to take what rightfully belongs to you. Or when someone tries to physically hurt you or someone you love. Someone saying something that simply offends you doesn't count. If everyone ran to the TV news every time someone said something that offended them every channel would be a 24 hour news channel of human interest stories (oh wait, that's exactly what the 24 hour news channels are... now it makes sense why I don't watch them anymore!). People would stop working hard because they could simply complain every time the going gets tough and someone would come along, cob their bottom, and make their life easier.
Time to wrap this up. Parents, teach your children not to be whiny little tattle tales. Little girl, who's parents ran to the TV station, keep on trucking you brave little soul. I salute you!
