Just Because You Can

Our society is self obsessed and it's getting worse

Let me start this with a couple of things. I am 100% for property rights. It’s your property, go ahead and paint your house pink and line your lawn with flamingos. I am also 100% for smart government. If your city says you can’t paint your house pink because it will change the value of your neighbor’s house, then move to the beach or the country or work to change the rules. I also love Christmas. I love trees and Nativity scenes and bows and wrapping paper and making gifts. If I did not have children to feed, my house would look like Clark’s from Christmas Vacation. Now that you know where I stand on these things, I want to discuss the Halloween decorations down the road from me. Stay with me, I’m not Karen, it’s their house, they can do what they want.

The house down the road from me puts up Halloween decorations every year. The house was built in 2020, so the decorations have been going on about 3 years. Each year they add a little bit more. Last year they added Georgie from It. He was facing the storm drain and had his back to the road. It was creepy last year, this year it is even creepier. The large clown lights up and has teeth. My daughter thinks it is motion sensitive and follows you as you drive by. The yellow boy has markings on his face that look like he has been attacked, he’s facing the road this year, and now there is the clown from It in the grass. The skeletons climbing up the house this year are fun. I don’t mind those. Let me say this nice and loud for all the haters to hear…..IT’S THEIR PROPERTY, THEY CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT.

My issue is bigger than the scary decorations. My children are just that, children. We have worked hard over here to keep our children innocent as long as humanly possible. My kids are not small adults. Their brains are not yet fully developed. While they aren’t fragile, they are young. We let our kids play outside and roam the property and the neighborhood. We were not afraid of “stranger danger,” the stats on that are in our favor. We were not afraid of broken bones and stitches. In fact one orthopedic doctor told us that kids heal like lizards grow tails. (true story) What we were careful of protecting was their minds. Not in a homeschool don’t read Harry Potter kind of way, but in a “once you see something you can’t unsee it” kind of way. For example, Katie Couric showed a clip from the Exorcist on day time TV. My then 7 year old had turned on the TV at 3pm to watch a DVD and saw this. I did not believe him that it was on daytime TV. Then he drew a picture of what he saw. Yep, they showed it. We didn’t let our kids play first person shooter video games or horror games or watch horror movies. (the older boys now play Call of Duty they have jobs and can buy the stuff) Full disclosure, we aren’t perfect.

How did I get here? My children, and a few of my friend’s children are still afraid of things that go bump in the night. There aren’t many of them left. I know many people whose little kids are dressed as zombies for Halloween, and have been watching horror movies since they were eight. My children are bothered by the decorations. To be honest, so am I. I don’t watch horror movies or torture porn. I like a good zombie movie and a thriller, but not horror. (Dawn of the Dead and A Quiet Place)

Where we are as a society can be summed up in these decorations and the amount of complaints I see on HIP White House about the driving. We are living in a age of first person shooter games. Hear me out, every person is the main character in their story, only now instead of supporting characters, we have NPC’s (non player characters).

NPCs don’t have feelings. They don’t have homes. They don’t have children. They only exist to serve the main player in the game. The NPC serves you coffee, directs traffic, gives you someone to honk at on the freeway, and feels nothing when you redress them on social media. When you are the only character, you answer that text, even when you are driving. You run the red light because YOU have to get somewhere. You block the intersection because YOU are the only important car on the road. You put up decorations that YOU like, it doesn’t matter what the children in the neighborhood think. You drive well over the speed limit because it’s not your road, and if you run into a pole, that doesn’t affect your internet or electric lines.

Video games were a thing when I was in high school. My friends played, I didn’t. I sucked at them. (still do) Phones weren’t a thing when I was in high school. I had four kids by the time the iPhone came out. I hate phones and what they have done to our young people. I have fought the phone culture with my own teens and for the most part feel like I have lost. Video games aren’t the devil. Screens however, are the beginning of the downfall of our society. People can now do and say things they would never do or say in person because the screen has taken a large part of our humanity. You are talking to a photo of someone that may or may not be real. This is changing our culture. When you are the only person in your story, the NPC can’t be harmed. Loot, attack, kick, punch, kill, it doesn’t matter when you are the only player.

At this point, I’m sure you think I’m making a stretch. Am I? Watch the way people drive. Watch how they dress their kids at Halloween. Watch how they treat each other on Social Media. It’s not a stretch. We are in trouble.

Looting Violence

I’m already outnumbered. It’s already on HIP White House how great these decorations are. Remember, I never asked for them to be taken down. My name is Nikki, not Karen, this is just one girl’s opinion.