“We’re not horsing around here…”

“We’re not horsing around here…”

Mark, Brent, and I, recently attended a book signing at Barnes and Noble.
(Thank you Barnes and Noble for your invitation and hospitality)
The persons in attendance asked us some very important questions regarding crime prevention, which we were more then happy to answer.

Actually – the questions they asked us were excellent.

This question and answer session was a reminder to me, that the hours and hours we put into this book, was worth the labor of love. You, the law abiding citizens of this world, who do everything right in life, deserve to know what to do better, in which to be safer from an evil element that surrounds us daily.

Mark and I usually elbow each other in the ribs, or grab the microphone out of each other’s hands if we hear a question we really want to answer, but in this case, when I heard this question, the answer just blurted out of my mouth without even thinking about it.

A man asked us, “Why is it, that today’s criminals are so violent and dangerous?”
As the man said the last word in the sentence, I answered “Video Games”….
(without any hesitation.)

Mark looked at me, and backed away from the podium, kind of like saying “you’re on your own with this one dude”. I looked at Brent for support but he was kind of like looking up at the ceiling with a “this ought to be good” look on his face.

My explanation was this…
Last week, a 17-year old boy was brutally murdered in Sacramento.
The news stations flocked to the school like they always do like sharks after blood, to film the friends and family of the boy, who were distraught and in tears.
(I think they call it RRWAC, or – “Reality Reporting without a Conscious.”)

One teenager was interviewed, and his words are too important not to repeat.

“Yeah it’s shocking, but that’s the society we live in today. My age group is the Video Game Era. There’s no reality. Everyone looks at life like it’s a video game, and if you mess up you can just hit “start over”… Only this time, there’s no starting over. This is the real thing”.

I dig flying.
Planes and Helicopters.
So much, that I can’t get enough of it.
I fly at work. I fly for fun.
I even fly in my dreams at night, unless it is raining.

Mark asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year. I told him it might be cool to have a play station2 so I could get some flight simulator games, for when the weather is bad and I can’t fly for real. Mark (I mean Santa) delivered!

But,
Have you seen some of the games for play station2?
Hey, I’m not knocking the company, I think they have a cool product, but somewhere, someone has to draw the line on the game content.
I was just looking for a couple helicopter or flight simulator games…

I was standing at the display case surrounded by 10, 12, and 14-year olds also looking for games. You know what’s funny? Hearing kid’s talk when their parents are there and hearing those same kids talk when their parents are not there.

I’m sorry, but there is something wrong listening to a 14-year old tell his buddy,
“Dude, this is the shit, let’s get this mother _ ucker”.
I guess I was staring because one kid looked at me and asked his friend
“What’s his _ ucking problem, you know him? I was forced to do my silent hardcore Sipowitz stare which they couldn’t take for more than 5 seconds, and they left, but walking with a strut portraying to be much older.

Man oh man, Mark and I would have never talked like that around an adult, let alone, one we didn’t know! But worse than that, kids are being programmed that pointing a gun at another human being is no big deal,
Shooting another human being is no big deal.
The grunts and groans of the guy who gets blown away are way too real.
Wait, I’m out of ammo. Hit a button and reload.
Hit another button and carry a grenade in your other hand.
Hell, if I kill enough of these bastards I’ll win……I’ll win…..
What will I win?

Kids my niece’s ages, know more about “guns and blowing people away” than I do.
And I’m a cop…..,
I am prepared to take someone’s life by lethal force, but only if
My life is in danger,
My partner’s life is in danger,
Or a Citizen’s life is in danger.
That’s the real world rules, and I know the consequences of my actions.

But these “kids” doing real drive by shootings – killing innocent people…
These “kids” who walk through the very school they attend and kill their fellow students…These “kids” who will kill another kid in cold blooded murder……..feel nothing. No guilt. No pain. No regret. No remorse. No emotion.
They don’t have any idea what those consequences are.

I’ll never forget the 3 teens riding around in a stolen car one night.
They crashed into a ditch and one of the kids broke his back but was still alive.
Do you think the other 2 friends called 911 to save their buddy?
No, one of them called his father who responded to the scene.
Dad’s decision was to “dump the kid’s body into an irrigation canal” and get the hell out of there. Just like taking out the trash huh dad? Out of sight, out of mind.

That’s parent of the year material!

Game over.

Why was it so easy for me to respond “Video Games” when asked why today’s youth is so violent?

What else explains it?
Hollywood glorifies killing with movies directed at the younger age group.
Some producer / director sits back in his mansion counting his millions while in the real world, some young kid blows away another kid at school, along with a teacher, because he saw it in the director’s movie.

You think that movie producer feels the pain felt by the victim’s families and friends?
I think that’s right up there with drug dealing! The drug lord sitting at the top of the triangle couldn’t care less what his drugs do to those at the bottom of the pile.
All that matters to him is getting that almighty dollar.

Movies.
Video games.
Music.

Man, I would love to drive by one of our active high crime areas where shootings, murders, fights, and drug dealing take place on a regular basis, and just once hear the “fellas’ listening to some classical music. Some Mozart. Even elevator music would be a nice change of pace.

Maybe classic rock and roll.
Jazz maybe?
Some old school would be cool.
But no, what do I hear when I get out of my patrol car? Rap.
Listen to the words in some of those Rap songs, and you tell me there’s not a connection with violence there.

The artist sitting at the top of that triangle doesn’t care about the gun slinging, crotch grabbing losers trying to emulate him. The artist doesn’t care about the carload of losers doing a drive by shooting, listening to the killer music while killing innocent victims who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The artist only cares about the 17.95 each loser paid for the CD.

Hey Rap Star, if you’re so miserable about your life, why don’t you sing about ways to change it or make it better, rather than drag hundreds of kids you influence down into the gutter you’re so angry with.

I’ll never forget the words of a wise friend….
“So many people are angry at a world, that isn’t the least bit angry at them…”

Movies,
Video Games,
Music,
And let us not forget the almighty substitute parent of the era….
Television.

How many hours a day do your kids watch TV?
Gotta love the trend of “Reality TV”
My word for it is pollution.

Joe Millionaire – How do you win a woman’s heart…. Lie to her!
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé – No comment needed
The Mole – Win at all cost using lies and deceit.
Survivor – How did we become so enchanted with deceit and back stabbing?
The Intern – Such joy to hear Trump say those cold hearted words with such glee..”You’re fired”.

The Simple Life – Paris and Nicole, thank you for showing millions of kids everywhere,
“How cool it is to not to take anything serious in life.”
No work ethic, no class, no responsibility, nothing except me, me, me, me, me…

The bachelor.
The bachelorette.
Average Joe.
Meet the parents.

Television has made a mockery out of marriage, honesty, compassion, morals, respect, pride, teamwork, and ethics; – man the list goes on forever.
And what is the trade off for this?
Money, ratings, and a whole lot of bad headlines in the paper.

You don’t think that has an effect on our kids and how they view life?

Jenny Jones.
Ricky Lake.
Jerry Springer.

“Our show today, “husbands who left their wives for the 14-year old baby sitter, and then left the baby sitter for their younger step sister……”

Can television get anymore bizarre?
“My 8-year old smokes, steals, and has sex with older men…..What do I do?”

They ought to change the name of that episode to,
“My 8-year old is out of control – because I’m a bad parent and I let her smoke, steal, and yada yada yada…… Who’s the damn parent here?
Answer – the 8-year old!

What is really sad is we hold the power to all of that and we don’t do anything about it.

Just once, I would love to see a Jerry Springer episode where a freak of nature starts yelling smack to the audience, and the entire audience does the right thing by simply getting up and leaving the room without saying a word.

What would old Jerry say?
What would the panel of screaming illiterate loser guests say?
What would the producers say?
What would the advertisers say?

What we would be telling “Jerry” is, put on a good show and we’ll be there.
Dip so low as to market cheating, deceit, and violence, and we’re out of there.

But golly gee…… for some reason we are compelled to watch loser-1, pick up a chair and try to hit loser-2, for saying the wrong thing to loser-3.

I just watched an awesome flick called Seabiscut.

An underdog horse with an underdog jockey both do pretty well for themselves.
But then the underdog jockey gets hurt right before the biggest race of the team’s career.
The horse owner wants to scratch the race, but the underdog “Johnny” swallows his pride and tells the owner to have his long time rival jockey “George” ride the horse in the race.
George wins the race and becomes the new star of the show.
A few races later, Seabiscut gets hurt and goes lame.
Now Seabiscut and Johnny both have a leg in a cast and everyone says their racing days are over.

Johnny helps Seabiscut get better and the horse is once again race ready.
Johnny is not race ready but wants to ride anyways despite the risk of never walking again.

The owner wants George to ride because he looks at Johnny as being a son, and wants to protect him from being crippled.

The owner asks the doctor for his advice, who tells him Johnny could never walk again if something went wrong.
The owner asks the horse trainer, who tells him Johnny could never walk again if something went wrong.

The owner goes to rival George who tells him…… (Get ready for this)
Rival George, who could have been greedy and kept a winning ride, simply said,
“Better to break a man’s leg than his heart”
This guy knew how much it meant for “Johnny” to ride “his horse” in this race and he did the honorable thing by stepping aside.

Could you see George doing that in a reality TV show called “The Jockey”?
Of course not!

First of all George would have been the one to put a hit on Johnny, to have his leg broken, and then a rival horse owner would have paid George off to throw the race and purposely injure Seabiscut, followed by an offer to switch teams.

In the real flick, Johnny gets his wish and gets a chance at a comeback.
George gets another mount in the race, and Johnny and George are once again rivals.
The gates open, and the horses are off, leaving the viewer sitting on the edge of the seat for what looks like a heart breaking loss. Johnny isn’t holding up to well with his bad leg.

Johnny and Seabiscut fall way back.

George is holding his own in the middle of the pack, but knows he doesn’t have a chance of winning.

George also knows every little thing about Seabiscut, and that all the horse needs to win, is to go eye to eye with another horse producing an unexplained drive of determination and magic.

George falls back, gives Johnny some encouragement, and Seabiscut gets an eyeful of what he needs to go on and “dust” the rest of the field. Yup, almost a tear-jerker.
Just from somebody having some heart and “doing the right thing.”

Now, in the reality show “The Jockey”, George would have so much hate for Johnny, that he would have held back until Seabiscut was right alongside, he’d pull out a 9mm, put a cap through Johnny’s head, and then shoot Seabiscut for spite.

George would ride over to Seabiscut’s owner, kill him for letting Johnny ride, and then carjack someone in the parking lot for their ride. George would lead police on a high speed chase, get into a shootout wounding several officers, and then gets arrested.

George’s lawyer would feed on the sympathy of the jury by reminding them George had ADD and a poor upbringing as a child, and that he was truly sorry for what he did.
George would get off with credit for time served, and probation, which he violates by doing a string of bank robberies and …………

“Better to break a man’s leg than break his heart.” (Aka, “Do the right thing”)

To the producers, writers, and cast of Seabiscut…….. I take off my hat and salute you.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a quality high caliber movie such as this one.
If we had more Seabiscuts in this world,
If we had more Johnny’s and Georges in this world,
If we had more quality Television, Videos, and Movies for entertainment,
This world would be a much better place.

What about you? Seen any good movies lately?

Don’t “horse around” in life……
Do the right thing the first time around.
Sometimes, there are just no second chances….

Stay Safe America,

Jim Lambert
NetCops PSI