With Conflict Resolution Day just around the corner (October 19, in fact), conflict resolvers may be interested to know that today marks the official release date of the video game Bully, produced by Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. under its Rockstar Games label.
Bully depicts the adventures of teenager Jim Hopkins as he stands up to the obstacles–social, educational, and physical–that await him at fictitious private school Bullworth Academy (motto: canis canem edit—dog eat dog).
(For a post last year from this blog that covered Bully and pop culture depictions of conflict, please read “Seeing ourselves: conflict and negotiation in popular culture“.)
Many months before its release, angry parents, lawmakers, and educators on both sides of the Atlantic denounced Bully and called for an outright ban on its distribution and sale in protest of its purported glorification of high school violence–before any of them had even seen the game first-hand. One attorney, Jack Thompson, a conservative crusader against violence and sex in the media, is currently seeking to have Bully deemed a public nuisance in violation of Florida law.
Surprisingly, however, media and gaming experts who previewed the game report that Bully in fact has little violence. Clive Thompson, author of the blog Collision Detection, had this to say about Bully in a recent article on Wired.com:
It turns out the game doesn’t glorify bullying at all.
Indeed, it’s almost precisely the opposite.
…Instead, most of your early missions involve you defending the helpless: Escorting weak-bladdered nerds past phalanxes of threatening athletes, or sneaking into the girls’ locker room to retrieve an essay that popular cheerleader stole from a helpless she-geek…
Bully, however, may be subversive in ways that its opponents didn’t anticipate. According to Thompson, Bully functions as no-holds-barred polemic on the rigid social hierarchies and daily injustices that high school life is susceptible to:
Peel back the hood on the ludic violence, and Rockstar’s games have a surprisingly consistent moral view: Those with power will inevitably abuse it. It is a conclusion that would not displease Thomas Hobbes, or even Thomas Jefferson.
That’s why Bully is, in many ways, the ultimate Rockstar game. By turning to high school, the designers have found the perfect locale for exploring the cliquishness, unfairness and brutality of everyday society.
Which proves once again that things are not always what they seem.
When I first began blogging almost two years ago, I could literally count on one hand the number of active dispute resolution blogs in cyberspace. It was lonely out there.
Today, however, I’ve got plenty of company as more and more mediators, arbitrators, and other kinds of dispute resolution professionals plug into the power of the blog.
Just over a week ago I announced that I had added four more blogs to the World Directory of ADR Blogs. Now five more have joined them. One comes from Argentina (the Directory’s first), another from India (another first for the Directory), two from Portugal, and one from the U.S. What follows are their descriptions:
ADR&ODR . Published by arbitrator, consultant, and advocate Praveen Dalal, the managing partner of Perry4law, a professional law firm in Delhi, this blog seeks to spread public awareness about alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and online dispute resolution (ODR) in India. For a example of the solid writing and extensive research that characterize the posts that have appeared on this blog so far, read “Electronic Governance in India: an ODR Perspective“.
Associação de Mediadores de Conflitos. This is the unofficial weblog of the Association of Portuguese Conflict Mediators, created to promote the informal exchange of ideas among those who seek alternatives to resolving conflict. From the web site: “Bem-vindo ao “Blog” (não oficial) da Associação dos Mediadores de Conflitos Portugueses, um espaço informal para troca de ideias entre todos os que se interessam por resolução alternativa de conflitos!”
Conflito: uma oportunidade!This blog, published in Portugal also, irresistibly envisions conflict as an opportunity for personal growth and deepening of relationships. It was created to share information and ideas with all those who are interested in learning more about alternative dispute resolution. From the web site: “O conflito como oportunidade de crescimento pessoal e de aprofundamento das relações…Um espaço ao dispor de todos os que se interessam pela resolução alternativa de conflitos.”
The remaining two were already featured in earlier posts here and here at Online Guide to Mediation. They are:
PrimusLex.com Blog. PrimusLex.com, a free online forum and network for young lawyers worldwide to access and share information and ideas about international commercial arbitration, includes among its resources this weblog which members are encouraged to create and submit content to. This is the World Directory of ADR Blog’s first Argentinian blog. Currently little content has been posted so far, but hopefully this will change as PrimusLex.com gathers both members and momentum.
SHLEP: The Self-Help Law ExPress. SHLEP was launched by retired mediator and attorney David Giacalone to provide the public with news and views on self-help law and pro se litigation. It seeks to empower individuals to solve wherever possible legal problems themselves, helping them connect with resources and information.
If you wish to add your blog or someone else’s to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, please let me know. It’s a commercial-free site, and there is no cost to be listed. The Directory has information on submitting your blog and submission guidelines.
Technorati tags: alternative dispute resolution, blogging, mediation, mediation blogs, conflict resolution
