What I Learned At Work And How I Feel About It

Before I moved to Seattle, I used to work as a shift lead in Hollywood Video
For those people that know me, they know that I have certain, shall we say, opinions about the world and how it works at large. They also know there are times in my life where something come to my attention (or is refreshed into my mind) and I have to say something about it or burst with frustration.
This is one of those times.
I used work at Hollywood Video. Why would anyone want this seemingly thankless job in the retail industry? Well, the hours suck and the pay is shit but the job is fun more often than not and I save a ton of money in rental fees cause I just take everything home for free.
So, Lauren, what the fuck is this about? Why are you sitting here talking about your job for?
Well, in my line of work I have the chance to observe the population at large and have determined that the world is going to hell. Being where I work has made me more secure than ever in my thoughts that 75% of the population should NEVER be allowed to breed (and yes, I use the word breed with purpose)
Most parents, most people for that matter have no business trying to raise children. I have mothers come into my store and rent rated R horror movies for their screaming brood of children, none of them over the age of 10. Why should a child be exposed to murder and the unadulterated gore of the modern horror movie? Should your child really be watching See No Evil before they're old enough to be in middle school? Hell, they rate the dame things for a reason, making the job of picking an age appropriate movie foolproof for the modern parent. WHAT THE HELL PART OF RATE R-NO ONE UNDER 17 DO YOU MORONS NOT UNDERSTAND???
I had a mother come in the store yesterday and rent the game Narc for the ps2 for her son that couldn't have been more than 8 years old. I informed her that the game was rated 'M' for strong language, strong sexual content, use of drugs, use of alcohol, and violence. This woman sat through my entire explanation and said, wait for it, "I know, he plays stuff like that all the time" I wanted to haul across the counter and smack the woman as hard as I could. What decent and responsible parent rents something like for their children? Who want their child simulating mass murder and drug use, not to mention sex before their old enough to really comprehend what the hell their doing? I mean, it's like their saying "Yes, I want my child to be comfortable with the idea of mass slaughter and be entertained by this thought. I want my 7 year old to see parts of the female anatomy that he shouldn't be familiar with until sex ed in high school."
What sort of person thinks that way? You're either sentencing your child to live a life of deviance and moral deficiency or the electric chair. No child can live like that and come through the experience unscathed. When you force children into an environment where they're exposed to adult stimulus, they learn to take on more than they can handle and often misunderstand what they're shown. Example: I was walking to a friend's house some years ago and passed in front of an elementary school. I saw two children out front with bicycles, age appropriate to the school, no more than 11, and one was bragging to the other about getting laid over the weekend.
what child knows what getting laid is short of what they're shown on movies and in video games. Children don't really know what it is to have sex and those that do can't fully appreciate it (or even achive an orgasm) before they go through puberty. Even then all that's fixed is the orgasm part. Children are being raised in such a way now that some of them will never really comprehend making love or know what sex means short of achieving personal satisfaction. Serial fuckbuddies, meaningless sex, anonymous multiple partners and unwanted pregnancy. These are the results of this lack of personal responsibility.
Violence is also another issue when it comes to our children. We're teaching them violence in video games, buying them toy guns and other action figures who's whole lot ion life is to hurt and destroy and most parents don't stop to think what effect this is having on their children. When you buy your child a toy gun (at any age) you send the message that this is an ok thing to have in their life. And what do children do with toy guns? (even if it's pretend) They shoot things. What message does this give your child?
Teaching a child to shoot and be comfortable with guns only makes them more likely to be comfortable with violence and death (even if that's not what you intended) and in the long run makes them more likely to turn to violence when faced with a problem. Am I saying all children that play with guns will someday turn to violence? No, no one could make a call on that with any amount of certainty but what I am saying is that its likely.
We are a generation of children raising children. What 16 year old is capable of knowing how to raise children?
And really, with all of the better, more helpful toys in the world, why would you resort to one that corrupts a child's sense of innocence? And, lets face it- children need all the help developmentally nowadays that they can get. Most children who are in middle school cannot read at an elementary school level.
And this brings me to something else- the billboards on the side of the road encouraging parents to read to their children 15 minutes a day. 15 minutes? Are you kidding? If more parents read to their children religiously, more children would be instilled with a love of reading and it's been clinically proven that children who read a lot do better in school. Why not take more time than 15 minutes? What do you have to lose. Of course, the sad thing about this is that most parents, at the end of the day, can't be bothered.
And then again there are commercials to have your child be active for at least 30 minutes a day. What is this trying to tell us, oh yeah, I know: GET YOUR CHILD OUT FROM IN FRONT OF THAT DAMN VIOLENT VIDEO GAME AND GET THEM OUTSIDE BEFORE THEY GET FAT AND JOIN THE DISTURBINGLY HIGH PERCENTAGE OF AMERICANS THAT ARE OVERWEIGHT! Not only do sports increase physical fitness but it also encourages a child's sense of self esteem and teaches children to interact in a healthy manner. In other words, it makes sure your child can relate to his peers and get along with them in a good way. And it keeps children away from harmful influences and activities. And it's a damn better babysitter than the boob tube.
I guess this crisis of parenting isn't the work of the parents alone. Yes, in the end they choose what they do and allow but some of them honestly weren't raised to know better. It's the society that makes this degrade in morality seen and accepted. Instant gratification is the norm now and our society is giving in like horses to the barn. Microwave, IM, cell phone (which is an entirely new rant, let me assure you.) It's enough to make you scream. And we're teaching our children to rely on these things (school children with cell phones? children creating sex chat rooms on Yahoo IM- again, another rant for a whole new day)
It's the folly of a generation and it's all downhill from here

Day 49 - 316 Days to Go