I always knew I hated you, but now I finally know why.

uh cause i'm the most right person ever to have existed you fkn nerd DUH

I've never read the NJO series (is that where the Vong war is in the EU?), but all I hear is about how bad and awful it is. Is it really that terrible, or is it exagerated? All I know is that Chewie dies because a moon falls on him (that's how I've heard it explained to me, I have no idea how this actually plays out), and that the Vong exist outside the force. Wasn't there some old JK horror single player level on the vong war or something?

"Yuuzhan Vong"? Is that Vietnamese?

She was the hooker in Full Metal Jacket.

For all its faults, Jedi Academy is actually a rather... fine note to end the SW EU on. Everything after that chronologically is just ggrrraaahahhhhrrrhrhhhbbbbababbaiaiauaananicccccllelealf-

Seems to me I got to some stage where I had to jump around on rocks or some debris to avoid getting eaten by something in the desert (this was a very long time ago but still in this galaxy).

There's some very terrible fan-made EU type stuff that takes place between the two movie trilogies.

Agreed.

Who would spend their precious time to do a thing like that unto others? Disheartening!

A RENEGADE COP!

Having the stereotypical "grew up with Star Wars" childhood, it's been interesting to watch this thing from a born in the 70s perspective. For years our "EU" was some Marvel comics, a holiday special that was awesome (when you were not quite eight yet!), some Star Wars novels with really cool cover but they were full of words (Splinter in the Mind's Eye, Han Solo books, etc.) and weren't great tie ins anyway, plenty of activity books and stuff like that. Oh, there was a cool children's book about Chewie's son. A couple actually. But it all sort of faded way off to the background. I had returned to the US in '91 and just happened to find the paperback of Heir to the Empire. Loved it. Bought the next two in hardcover and ordered the first in hardcover as well. Around the same time I resumed my comic book collecting. Dark Empire? Loved it. Those two series were so well done and led to the successful launch of what is now called the Expanded Universe. Toys started being redone, games started coming out. Great quality games, too. I loved the whole "multimedia" exercise with Shadows of the Empire as well. I remember lugging Jedi Search from Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy all over Yakima, Washington in my cargo pocket during training (I did the same thing with Dances with Wolves another year and it was surreal to read that story while living on the plains of Yakima). I kept up with all of this for sometime, then merely kept up with collecting it, and then there was just too much. Too many, and too expensive toys, too many books, too much everything. Lost interest, couldn't afford to keep up (my first name might be Steve but my last name isn't Sansweet), quality became too inconsistent.

I'm hopeful for the movies, though. One thing that is sad to me though is for virtually my entire childhood I had all of these wonderful fantasy worlds that lived in my imagination. Whether it was Star Wars, Buck Rogers, GI Joe, etc., I could just get lost in my own mind walking to school or in the backseat of a car. Today a kid just gets lost in a smartphone, doesn't care about drawing some cool robot or spaceship they dreamed up. And I bet I would have been the same way if I had all this crap back then. Fortunately, I had to actually pop quarters out of my coin collection, jump on my bike probably imagining a scene from Tron, and then pump them all into a machine named Tron, in a dimly lit, ice cold arcade with a giant Star Wars mural (Command Center, Renton, Washington).

It wouldn't be so bad for kids to be hooked on smartphones if they weren't so dumbed down. Iphone / Android is the new television.

Yeah, for me the best EU stuff was the five Thrawn books and Dark Empire/Dark Empire II. The best were Dark Force Rising and Vision of the Future. I also thought that JK and MotS were really good EU stories.

Dark Empire was kind of hokey, but it was very much Star Warsy. One of my amazing JA mod ideas was to make a single player campaign based on the Dark Empire comics, but with a tighter story, and do the same with the Rogue Squadron comics (which are completely lame).

Every generation thinks that the following generation is missing out on things, & they're probably right, but the following generation typically has more access to things that we could'nt even have imagined as children. They may begin discarding handwriting for typing, they may discard toys for video games, & they may toss aside pencils & paper for Photoshop, but they'll still write stories, they'll still develop their imagination, & they'll still become artists & scientists. It may not be how we did things, but it may very well be better, in many ways. Yeah, they may be fatter, but healthcare is better & they're smoking less.

How many things do the older generations miss out on because they dismiss them as being something that "kids these days" are into?

^ Exactly.

Flappybird, maybe. Can't think of much else.

I find it hard to convince my dad to get to watch or play anything that is new (newer than 2005) and was or is popular. It took me forever to get him to play Battlefield 2. He refuses to try playing 2048 or flappy bird, and absolutely hates minecraft, and therefore won't share a game with me in it. :saddowns:

I find it hard to convince my dad to do those same things.

God damn it Antony.

Wow, talk about black comedy.

Anyway, the whole my dad won't play with me thing or what do old people miss out on are not really related to what my intended point was. Of course everyone's experience is anecdotal, but from mine I worry about how children's development is being harmed by this propensity to allow them to spend so many excessive hours swiping on phones and tablets and consume so much media. The only serious response I would have to Antony above is perhaps the older generation being so much less inclined to use internet based media would be missing out on many other perspectives of current events. Beyond that I can't think of much that would constitute really missing out on anything.

So to swerve back to Star Wars, just came across this. While the last one is pretty damn funny, thank God they dropped number four.

Sorry, don't know how to play this video :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGrzs8yrxuo

Well, the older generation is also embroiled with a propensity toward racism, obesity, and general ignorance, so maybe trying new things would be a good stepping stone for them to open up to the possibility that their entire way of life is destructive toward themselves and others.

Cool. We'll just introduce them to GTA.

My dad resisted, but I was able to introduce him to reddit... especially the world news section... now he prefers it to Fox News.... progress?

Being dismissive and suggesting an obvious cultural extreme isn't going to get us anywhere.

Well, you managed to get him to prefer a more varied source of info. So, sure, I would consider that progress. It's remarkable how if you can convince a person to not be afraid of something that's different than what they're used to in one aspect of life, suddenly they seem more willing to be open in other areas as well. Just imagine if reddit could end up being some sort of bizarre gateway to compassion for your dad.

This irrelevant tangent with your anecdotal experience isn't really getting us anywhere either. Your stereotype of the "older generation" should be considered as ignorant as you consider those that aren't into whatever kids are into that you propose would make them better people.

My original thought process that led to this topic was that Star Wars, among other things, helped inspire my imagination as a young boy and since we didn't have media sources of instant gratification we made our own toys, we drew and colored and read, we played outside all more than what I see happening with many children. And that includes my own that I routinely chase away from the electronics but feel that he still does too much of.

So, if you feel that there is a strong argument that allowing children to veg out on smartphones, tablets, and TV leads to a better childhood then feel free to make it. If you still want to make this about the "older generation" and what they are not participating in and how that makes them lesser people, please expand on that since your broad generalizations don't really make any point.

And what the hell is this reddit thing anyway?

Front page of the internet.

Oh, I'm not suggesting that electronics lead to a better childhood. I'm suggesting that having troglodytes for parents leads to a worse one. It's crucial to make that distinction.

That, my acquaintance, was a joke (although I've never bothered with it).



So you really don't intend to make a point.

Massassi, this is a good illustration of the sort of thing I would have gotten embroiled with in the past but will now simply dismiss. Here is someone posting things I disagree with but there is no value to arguing the issue. Sadly, nobody has commented on the video I shared. Of course, it is the weekend. Perhaps others will add to the discussion soon.

Well, I actually don't have to make a point anymore, since you've illustrated my point for me very effectively be reacting to a differing viewpoint with a combination of dismissal, condescension, and obliviousness.

The point that apparently needs made is there is no intrinsic value whatsoever in encouraging a child to play outside instead of play inside, read on pages instead of screens, etc... If you're concerned about your child being lazy or unhealthy, maybe you should encourage your child to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports, or to take up physical fitness as a method of self improvement while stressing the importance of maintaining one's health. If you're worried about your child being dumb, then maybe you should encourage the child to question what it reads and verify that it's true, as opposed to worrying about which format the child uses to acquire information about the world it will live in for the next several decades.

But you're missing the forest for the trees. Stonewalling your kid on what kind of recreational activities it is allowed to participate in based on the fact that they weren't available to you as a child is you being a troglodyte. Your assumption that your failure to connect with younger generations is due in some part to their use of technology is as well. Suggesting to your child that it is in some way improper to take part in common childhood recreational activities is just a great way to raise a child who will develop a personality disorder which you will then blame on the stuff you tried to prevent your kid from doing.

Yep, it took me a very long time to stop caring about being banned here. Now not posting here is completely by choice. Best wishes to all.

Steve

So, in other words my dear oxygen consuming lump of organic matter, you don't actually know what reddit is about, and my comment still applies.

Central hub of mental deficiency.

In other words, the front page of the Internet sounds accurate.

So, having had the last day to digest this I suppose I'll make an earnest attempt to respond.



You're points being the "older generation" has a propensity to be fat, racist, and ignorant and live destructive lifestyles and that troglodytes probably shouldn't raise kids. I didn't dismiss your opinion. You're more than welcome to it. The crucial distinction here is that I was dismissing being involved in any sort of argument on the matter. You apparently didn't agree with my opinion on young children obsessing with digital media and countered with dismissive posts about old people.

But refusing to involve myself in that argument provoked another one. I do apologize if my posts seemed dismissive to you. I just figured if you didn't care to elaborate, I wasn't going to be bothered discussing it further.

So, you decide to lecture me on parenting. While I don't proclaim to be an expert, I've been doing it for quite some time. I can acknowledge that trying to be a good parent is the hardest job I've ever had. Among other things, you have to be the bad guy when you don't want to be. My son often acts as if he's in trouble when I don't give him permission to use electronics. Then after he's had a great time playing or spending time with me with remarkably improved behavior I've asked him if he can't see the difference. None of this means he's totally restricted, I posted that I feel I still allow him too much time.

Being a lousy parent is pretty damn easy, by comparison. Just let your kid do whatever they want. Then, if you're a really good lousy parent, squeeze some time in there to beat the hell out of them every once in a while.

Oddly, in your rant/lecture you suggest many of the things I actually do. I certainly don't feel obligated to explain myself to you. However, I will tell you that we recently finished a soccer season, Steven's just become a Bear in the Cub Scouts, and I've ordered a couple books that I intend to share with him over the summer. I should be planning some sort of outdoor activities for my week long summer break as well.

So, I really don't understand what prompted all of this based on my observation that children obsessed with digital media are harming their development (while I didn't put it in those specific terms it was certainly implied). That's certainly not a position unique to us old troglodytes as many child psychologists warn against the same. Certainly you don't dismiss them all as well.

Perhaps you were having a bad week or assuming things about me based on your own experience. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and since the rest of my interaction since returning has been positive I'll choose not to overreact to this incident. I refuse to fight with people here again, period. Nothing personal, it's just not healthy.

"many child psychologists warn against the same" [citation needed]

Why is there a citation needed? It's not some obscure, hard to substantiate matter of opinion. It's easily referenced with a simple search as I confirmed before making the statement.

If it was a matter of opinion, it wouldn't need a citation. You made a claim, back it up. The burden of proof is always on the person making the claim.

I've made a claim that I don't feel obligated to substantiate, just as I didn't feel the need to require the person I was talking to to substantiate his claims. Perhaps the nature of my presence on this board now comes with strings attached.

You don't have to substantiate it, just like no one has to believe you. It's the crux of your entire argument and you know very well people don't hold your word to mean much around here. Citing a source shouldn't even need to be mentioned, it should be a given.