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<blockquote data-quote="Col_Pladoh" data-source="post: 161012" data-attributes="member: 796">Okay, and my quick and dirty summary of the matter.Christan *fundamentalists* object to RPGS in general and D&amp;D in particular for a lot of reasons--&quot;magic&quot; is one, the &quot;demons and devils&quot; are another. These sects also object to to school books in which there are questions that are not answered, pictures without a caption, not to mention evolutionary theory. Such persons call the gamne form &quot;mind-controlling,&quot; and that is truly ironic. as they are the ones who seek to do just that.Isn't it amazing that so many people are quite unable to discern the difference between fantasy and reality?!Pat Pulling blamed D&amp;D for her son's death, but in a newspaper interview she stated he had played the game for two years without her knowing it. So transferring guilt from her own parental failings to a game is understandable if not honorable.The news mediam as typified by &quot;60 Minutes&quot; sensationalized the &quot;D&amp;D-related&quot; deaths (suicides mainly) for commercial reasons, of course. Ed Bradly shook sensationalized newspaper clippings under my nose as if they were incontravertable proof. The interview was cut and pasted too, so as to get their desired slant on questions and answers. (Would I could re-do that session now...)After that segment aired two of the mothers of sons who had committed suicide, supposedly because of D&amp;D, took the time and trouble to write me personal letters in which they stated that was absolutely false.&nbsp; Copies of those missives were sent to the producers of &quot;60 Minutes,&quot; and they refused to mention them, or revisit the topic. No ad sales that way, eh?The media has lost iiinterest in D&amp;D as it has no sensationalist value any longer. No deaths have been linked to it--legally or even logically. There have been no &quot;Satanist cults&quot; uncovered--although that is what Pulling went about, giving &quot;expert&quot; lectures to small-town police departments on such &quot;dangers.&quot; The BADD organization she founded flopped, brought in no income.Televangelists still try to make some donation hay by attacking RPGs and rock music. I saw a truly disgusting program in which the &quot;pastor&quot; warned about POKEMON, which led to MtG, which led right to the demonic D&amp;D, and then hell! All avoidable, of course, if you donated some cash and got their tracts speaking out against those games. That wasn't the most frightening, though.One absolutely bizarre preacher on a local station was showing videos of rock groups performing, using slow motion and stop action to &quot;prove&quot; how the singers were &quot;casting sorcerous spells&quot; and being &quot;possed by demons&quot; in the course of their performances. How did he know this? Because &quot;someone who had been a Satanist, listened to this music, cast sorcerous spells, and had been possessed by demons himself&quot; told him how to tell when such things happened. Very scientific that, and certainly proof as solid as that used in the past to discover witches and warlocks.That fellow was surely a book-burner, and in my estimation he would have liked to have encouraged burning of other sorts too, were that allowable.To sm up, the detractors of RPGs and D&amp;D are sincere (and narrow-minded, bigoted) religionists of fundamentalist sort, cynical people seeking to profit from attacking the game form, and/or else folks quite unble to distinguish the difference between make-believe and reality.Gary</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Col_Pladoh, post: 161012, member: 796"] Okay, and my quick and dirty summary of the matter. Christan *fundamentalists* object to RPGS in general and D&D in particular for a lot of reasons--"magic" is one, the "demons and devils" are another. These sects also object to to school books in which there are questions that are not answered, pictures without a caption, not to mention evolutionary theory. Such persons call the gamne form "mind-controlling," and that is truly ironic. as they are the ones who seek to do just that. Isn't it amazing that so many people are quite unable to discern the difference between fantasy and reality?! Pat Pulling blamed D&D for her son's death, but in a newspaper interview she stated he had played the game for two years without her knowing it. So transferring guilt from her own parental failings to a game is understandable if not honorable. The news mediam as typified by "60 Minutes" sensationalized the "D&D-related" deaths (suicides mainly) for commercial reasons, of course. Ed Bradly shook sensationalized newspaper clippings under my nose as if they were incontravertable proof. The interview was cut and pasted too, so as to get their desired slant on questions and answers. (Would I could re-do that session now...) After that segment aired two of the mothers of sons who had committed suicide, supposedly because of D&D, took the time and trouble to write me personal letters in which they stated that was absolutely false. Copies of those missives were sent to the producers of "60 Minutes," and they refused to mention them, or revisit the topic. No ad sales that way, eh? The media has lost iiinterest in D&D as it has no sensationalist value any longer. No deaths have been linked to it--legally or even logically. There have been no "Satanist cults" uncovered--although that is what Pulling went about, giving "expert" lectures to small-town police departments on such "dangers." The BADD organization she founded flopped, brought in no income. Televangelists still try to make some donation hay by attacking RPGs and rock music. I saw a truly disgusting program in which the "pastor" warned about POKEMON, which led to MtG, which led right to the demonic D&D, and then hell! All avoidable, of course, if you donated some cash and got their tracts speaking out against those games. That wasn't the most frightening, though. One absolutely bizarre preacher on a local station was showing videos of rock groups performing, using slow motion and stop action to "prove" how the singers were "casting sorcerous spells" and being "possed by demons" in the course of their performances. How did he know this? Because "someone who had been a Satanist, listened to this music, cast sorcerous spells, and had been possessed by demons himself" told him how to tell when such things happened. Very scientific that, and certainly proof as solid as that used in the past to discover witches and warlocks. That fellow was surely a book-burner, and in my estimation he would have liked to have encouraged burning of other sorts too, were that allowable. To sm up, the detractors of RPGs and D&D are sincere (and narrow-minded, bigoted) religionists of fundamentalist sort, cynical people seeking to profit from attacking the game form, and/or else folks quite unble to distinguish the difference between make-believe and reality. Gary [/QUOTE]

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