The Swedish blog imperhia has published the article Skapandet av knullgubbar where the author speculates how male abusers are raised. The author’s main argument is that adult violence stems from the acceptance of boys’ violence as children. The solution is to not accept boys’ violent behaviour.

The author’s line of reasoning starts with a personal anecdote, where her daughter has been kicked by a boy in school. This was not a single event, but rather one in a series of events of physical harassment. So the author asks her child whether her teacher had done anything about these occurrences, and her child answers that her teacher has opposed the assaults verbally, but the boy has not ceased the abuse.

The author then confronts her daughter’s teacher regarding the situation and the teacher’s answer is that the author’s daughter is popular among the boys, and that she needs to say no more clearly.

It is att this point the author gets angry. Her daughter should not learn to say no clearly, and makes parallels to rape cases where the victim hasn’t said no clearly enough. Her daughter should not have to learn to say no, it is the boy who should cease his dysfunctional behaviour.

The solution is that we should talk to the violent boys. We should not accept their behaviour. We should hug them instead and make them understand that it is ok for boys to cry as well. We should love the aggression away.

Let’s just wait a minute here. I think everyone can agree not to tolerate violence between kids nor adults. Yet, it exists as the author has made clear to us.

I am sure that the teacher has done everything the author asks for: disapproved of violent behaviour, talked to the violator and most probably hugged him at some time or other. Clearly it hasn’t helped.

We can understand the author’s motives and concur with them as well. But when it comes to the acute moment of abuse, neither love nor any meek behaviour will diminish the abuser’s violence. Actually, that kind of behaviour is the ultimate self sacrificing act.

I believe, regardless of the article’s author’s consternation, that the teacher was right. In any situation of violent abuse, there are mainly three strategies that work.

Immediately, as a victim of an assault you must show non-acceptance, by telling or shouting your opposition, or by hitting back.

Secondly, you should make others aware of the abuse. In an acute situation, you may shout for help to bypassers. When it comes to abuse within a relationship, tell everyone you know: your friends, your family, the police, the abuser’s family and friends. Tell strangers, tell anyone who might be able to help you.

Thirdly, get away from the abuser as soon as possible. Ask for help from your peers, friends and family. Though, it might seem not in the situation, everyone is eager to help a victim of abuse.

Now, the attentive might see that the abused daughter of the story has gone through all of these phases, perhaps without saying no strongly enough. Though, she has told her teacher and her parents. It is possible to relegate the boy in question and force him to change classes or school.

If all of these steps has been taken without sufficient effect, there is a fourth step. But before I present the fourth step, I’d like to retrace the situation a bit.

Most of us raise our children to respect others, physically as well as psychologically. But not all children are raised in that way. Some children are themselves victims of abuse, and we know that these children become abusers themselves.

Surely, we can try to teach abused children respect. We can try to hug them and love them and so on. But in some cases, this will not help. Some children will grow up into adult individuals who turn out to be aggressive and beat other people.

Abusers and psychopaths of different kinds see others as prays or predators. They will only listen to the rule of power, and power only. You can only force these people, by showing them that you have more power than them.

The fourth action for a victim of abuse is to show his assailant a power demonstration. The victim needs to bite back and do it hard. Or as Johnny Depp’s mother told him during his childhood. I wish that someone had told me that before I went to school. And I will surely tell my children the very same thing.

If your are a victim of domestic violence and need more help, there is a great TED talk by Leslie Morgan Steiner I strongly recommend.

To anyone who wants to be more efficient.

I have recently discovered a method to raise my personal efficiency, while at the same time allow myself to be lazier.

The method is quite simple. I lay down on my bed an listen to the next tune in my overall playlist. While the song is playing, I ponder what I should do as soon as the song is done. I keep the best choice in my mind, while thinking of other possibilities. When the tune has faded out, I do the best choice.

The method works extremely well because of two main reasons.

First of all, you get a natural time constraint in choosing what to do. You might not choose the best action all the time, but surely you will choose a good enough action at every possible moment, without much of a delay.

The other reason why this method is fantastic, is that rest is naturally built into the process. Music becomes a perfect cue for mental and physical relaxation. Instead of getting exhausted by choosing what to do, the process itself become invigorating.

Therefore, for those who find it straining to choose what to do, this method will be revolutionary. Choosing and resting and the same time will unlock efficiency beyond any know barrier for them.

Do you sometimes find yourself paralyzed because you have too much to do? Do you indulge for hours playing video games, knowing you really ought to do other more important things? Is your daily todolists filled with hundreds or thousands of posts? Then this method is for you. Log in to spotify or your favorite radio station, listen to a song and do what is best for you at that very moment.

To readers of this blog.

I have recently made three major changes to this blog.

Firstly, I have removed the gift page. The reason is simply that no one was interested in free things. Not a single soul. Thus, it was a waste of time. Which is kind of sad, because I like the idea of hosting a giveaway blog. But I guess thrift shops are better markets for non-personal giving.

Secondly, I have disabled comments. The spam has been a true nuisance. An overwhelming majority of the comments on this blog have been spam. It has been a terrible moral-crushing time sink. I’m glad to get rid of them. But that is also kind of sad, since I believe in the power of interaction and discussion, to heighten creativity and build knowledge.

Therefore, I have a suggestion of a new way of handling blog discussions. Whenever someone wants to reply to anything I have written, my recommendation is to post the reply on their own blog, and get a ping back from the article they are referring to. I believe that by creating a network where everyone is responsible for their own statements on their own platforms, together, we will create a fertile soil for discussion and creativity.

Thirdly, I have decided to introduce my articles, by addressing them to whatever audience I believe might be interested in the article. I am not entirely sure this is good SEO.

Still, I believe it is necessary. The reason is that this blog spans a wide array of topics. I don’t think there is one single reader who is interested in everything I write about. Therefore, I need to give some kind of service to my readers. They need to know if the text is meant for them or not.

Also, this thought of addressing audiences stems from an idea I have had about recommendations. I’d like to build a recommendation site which is specialized in recommendations only directed to people. I.e. “this film is for those who like beautiful photo, but not for those who want a lot of shooting” or “this book is perfect for those who want to ponder about a moral dilemma, but not for those who require a well-written book”. Such statements give the readers much better feel for what the narrations are about, than almost any other kind of statement.

I am not completely sure that addressing the audience is a good thing to do. But I need to test it for a while, and try it out before deciding wether to discard it or not.

Review

You can safely read the review before playing the game.

The Last of Us is breathtaking. The game’s atmosphere is close to overwhelming. Naughty Dog have certainly put their work into the game’s scenes, to make them scaring and nervetripping. Both sound and light are well-made, and enhances the gaming experience to heights to the very top tier of today’s gaming.

Simply put, The Last of Us is the best game up to this date in the horror/action/zombie genre. The scenes are balanced and well-paced. Although you don’t think about it consciously as a player, the mix of action scenes with slower environmental gaming scenes with astonishing beauty creates an impression of great art.

But the astonishing atmosphere and well-paced scenes comes with a hard price. The game’s quests and scenes reeks of linearity (in a bad Max Payne kind of way). The game constructors have decided what way the player must go, and what he must do. So when I play, I do them, but when I know where I am supposed to go (i.e. where my co-characters go) I search everything else first, making sure not to let any supplies remain untouched. The illusion fades.

The Last of Us is an action game, and I should say something about the in-game conflict resolution as well. The game is constructed with stealth in mind. It is preferable to have a low profile and sneak as much as possible. The crouching with as little noise as possible gives a continuous feeling of suspense. And be sure that action will break loose from time to time, and give you your alotted amount of shooting and molotovcocktailing.

Conclusion. The Last of Us is a must-have game for most ps3-gamers. It plays on several different registers, and have a variety of scenes which provides suspense, action and adorable milieus. With its enhanced stealth mode, it delivers much more than any common fps or tps. The theatricals are quite ok, as well as the story. With all the benefits of this game, it is easy to overlook its sometimes tedious linearity. Simply put, The Last of Us is the best horror/action/zombie-game there is today.

Reflections

Spoiler alert. I will spoil the game in this section. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you complete the game before continuing reading. I am not joking.

So, what’s up with the ending? From a theoretical narrative perspective, it’s an easy one. There is no arc in Joel’s character. He stays the same from his daughter’s death until the credits.

Why on earth doesn’t the player get to choose whether to let Ellie go through with the surgery or not? Most certainly, had Bioware constructed The Last of Us, that choice would have been there. But Naughty Dog is not Bioware, and The Last of Us is a linear game.

The fact is that had Naughty Dog chosen to let the player choose whether to let Ellie go or not, they had to put much more resources into the development of the game. If you want to make such choice crucial, you need to implement a lot of background info on that one.

Think about Deus Ex(2000) which had three separate endings, depending on the moral choice of the player/character. To make this choice a real one, and not a pseudochoice, the programmers built in hundreds upon hundreds of small bits of info and arguments for and against the different choices. These bits and arguments was implemented into in-game newspapers, emails, dialogue and even the small subchoices the player made in order to complete quests before the grand finale.

So, if Naughty Dog would have chosen to give the player one choice within a game otherwise completely linear, they would have had to put in a lot more resources to represent the two sides of being selfish or sacrificing your loved ones to the firefly organization. Had they removed these resources from what they did good in the game, perhaps the tradeoff would have been bad.

Though, there is one fact which overrules every other, when it comes to letting the player make the story’s most important choice or not. It is an economic fact as well. It is not about creating a game, but creating a franchise. Because, with Ellie alive, a sequel is possible. And in the end, gaming companies creates video games to make money.

Most certainly, Naughty Dog has already contracted the main actors for a sequel or more, to repeat the winning concept. It is possible to whine about it (”There is no arc! There is no katharsis!”), but even though they didn’t make as complete symbolic narrative as Red Dead Redemption, they can repeat The Last of Us. And repetition is the key to success. Think about the Uncharted series with just Drake’s Fortune. Or Assassin’s Creed. Or Warcraft for that matter.

Let us all look forward to the sequel. But please, Naughty Dog, create arcs for the main characters next time.

If someone asks me who I am, my answer is: I am nobody. It has been my answer for several years and will continue to be my answer even though I have seen Charles Mansons answer to the very same question.

Then why am I nobody? Because I have failed at reaching any kind of societal status? No, I’d say it’s the other way around. It is the fact that I am nobody, that has led me to my present status. But why then do I continue to be nobody? The simple answer is that the gain is far more rewarding than the loss.

To cut it short, it doesn’t matter who you think you are. What does matter is what you do. Do you love others? Do you try to help them? These are actions most people can succeed at doing.

Acting in accordance with ones own morality is what life is about. So persons who try to be someone, in others as well as their own eyes, by compromising their own morality are sad twats. They have to live with their double standards, and thus cannot live life at its fullest.

Thus, the answer to the question why I’d rather be nobody than somebody is that actions are more important that identity. Moral is more important than identity. Harmony with one self is more important than harmony with the surrounding society.

Recently I have come across the tv show Game of Thrones. And I must say that I am impressed.

I seldomly find amusement in tv shows. For some reason, they do not address my feelings except on very rare occassions. Twin Peaks succeeded in doing that. Seinfeld, Simpsons and Friends are humorous shows which moves the heart. But otherwise tv shows are mostly plump and boring. And I blame the scripts, which in many cases are not wellwritten enough to be aired.

But when me and my girlfriend ran out of unseen episodes of How I Met Your Mother, I had to find some other TV show that we could watch together. And after disregarding some unpromising shows we started watching Game of Thrones. Now we cannot stop.

To my surprise, I find GoT well written. The scriptwriters have used the TV medium as best as they possibly could have. They know how to use conflict. They know how to present simultaneous events. They know how to raise the stakes. They know how to breed unpredictability. They know how to manage a great cast.

Though, Game of Thrones is not a show for the weak of heart. There are quite explicit sex scenes, heterosexual as well as homosexual. There are a lot of gore. When people die in battle, GoT is on the verge of being a splatter movie. And the story also covers many tabooed themes, which I will not spoil in this text, but some people might find them shocking or even appalling. And since the show do not hesitate to cross borders, we who watch, never know for sure what will happen next. This uncertainty is exciting to some and repelling to others.

Therefore, if you are not easily offended by narratives, I highly recommend Game of Thrones. You might be provoked to continue watching.

Declaration. From now on, I will no longer care. About what? the presumptive reader might ask. I will no longer care about anything. Surely an overstatement, but nevertheless I will minimize my caring of everything.

Backgroundstory. I have cared. My whole life I have cared. I have strived for exceptional quality. In everything I have done, I have strived for, not perfection, but exceptional quality. And sometimes people have noticed and have appreciated my achievements. Most of the time the essence of my quality mark has been overlooked. Sadly, I would have added until an hour ago. But now no more.

I have reached the comprehension that quality matters little. Well, people say they care about quality. Institutions praise quality. Companies can not stop telling their outside world how much they care for quality. But for real, most of the time quality is an obstacle in the way for efficiency. People do not have the ability to notice quality when it is found. Most of the time, what people call thinking is just a slight breeze on the surface of immense sea of prejudice. Which is understandable for reasons I surely will explain in a distant future. Nevertheless, my striving for quality has led me to the lowest of the lowest position in society. I, a genius, who always tries to do better than best, to outperform my own achievment, to develop whatever process I am working on, is considered to fit a place where the mental capabilities is more suited for people with lower iq than 100.

I have come to the understanding, that if I stop caring, I will succeed much better than before. This will surely have consequences. First and foremost in this blog. I will no longer care about what I write here. I have cared, which inevitably has led to the smallest production possible. My striving for quality has been a barrier in my way to success. From now on, the articles written in this blog will no longer have any theme of any kind. These articles may be about anything. Which anyone who is the least blog savvy knows is blogging suicide. But I will no longer care about that.

I will no longer care about small typos or mispellings (that one was intentional). I have not the time to reread what I have written. I will tolerate using pidginese Swenglish any time of the day.

The last time I listed the books I must write to reach inner peace, they counted up to 140. I have no longer the time to reread whatever I have written, to reach some quality which noone ever cares about anyway. Because neither do I care.

If you can stand the lack of quality in my writing, then you are more than welcome to follow this blog. Of course you are welcome to follow this blog though you can’t stand the lack of quality. But now you have been warned. As if you will read this. Noone reads the posts here at this time, because noone cares about quality.