Monday, September 08, 2008

Politics...ONE MORE TIME!!!! :)

While this blog will always deal with my passions (games, movies, comics, kids, politics, spirituality, religion,etc) I have to admit, it’s been a bit lopsided last week with all the political talk. It’s tough cause there are only 50something more days till a pretty important election and if you are a political junkie like me, it tends to stay on your brain.

BUT I’m gonna get some other posts going this week- one on game saves inspired by the great gamasutra article that ran the other day. Also gonna post a cool pic- I think- of some Disneyland employee cleaning puke out of a ferris wheel car. I took it when me and my oldest kid were at the park last week...never actually seen that before at a theme park :)

So we’ll get back to some more fun and game making stuff in a day or two, promise! ☺

BUT I did want to post a few last words about the political stuff, at least for now, just to get some stuff off my chest. Here we go:

#1- THANK YOU guys, haters and supporters alike, who posted well thought out, well researched comments on the previous posts. I have always said I am open to changing my mind on all kinds of things (from God to politics to Dc Vs. Marvel…although truth be told- much as I love DC- you got a much better chance of getting me to vote for Bush again before I take DC over Marvel…)…but you guys really made me think and made me do some more research and really open my mind more to both sides. Heck, BECAUSE of some of you more conservative folks, I even went out to get the TIME issue with McCain on the cover so I could learn more about the man. Check it:


And yes, I dig Mercs 2 alot....graphics need some love and there are bugs galore...but a 5/10?!? Come on Gamespot...what the hell?!?

But back to McCain:

So to the conservatives and/or pro-McCainers, thanks for that. I hope at least a few other readers got as much out of it as I did.

#2- What have I learned? Well, the reality is, you NEVER know the whole truth. Even when the damn candidate HIMSELF stands in front of 40 plus million people and tells you something, it don’t mean it’s true. And this goes for Obama as well as McCain. Here’s just two examples of things I found totally depressing and disheartening on both sides:

OBAMA SAID THIS A FEW WEEKS AGO:

"The fact is that although we have had a president who is opposed to abortion over the last eight years, abortions have not gone down.''

Turns out- best as I can tell- that is not true. Click on this...

So that sucks right? Lying sack of shit, yes?

But

McCAIN SAID THIS A FEW DAYS AGO:

"Obama says Iran is a 'tiny' country, 'doesn't pose a serious threat.'"

Turns out- again, best as I can figure- not true. Click me!


And it goes on and on and on. The whole Palin opposed the BRIDGE TO NOWHERE bit? Sort of true but not really…turns out she was for it for long enough for a lot of the financial and political damage to be done. But you’d never know that from listening to Sean Hannity or reading much of the news. As for Biden saying that McCain has changed his position on invading Iraq, well from what I’ve found, it turns out he really has not.

And so while I know it's obvious and should come as no surprise that politicians lie, I guess for some reason, it’s just so damn easy to get caught up in the my team/your team bullshit because they are telling you SO MUCH of what you want to hear. And some of them are so damn good at pitching and spinning that you just get caught up in it. At least I do/did. Cause look, when Obama hits the stage and talks about a better life for ALL of us and making the country respectable in the eyes of the world again and he does it so well, you just WANT to believe him. Or at least I do. When Palin talks about fuck the media, she is here for the people, well for folks who feel they are not represented in the media they see every night on tv, well hell, I can see how you would WANT to believe her as well.

And so all these lies, just to get my vote....well, it just sickens me.

But I won’t become apathetic. I’m just going to work harder to find out what is true and what is not before I make up my mind. And while I am pretty sure I will vote for Obama, it’s the first time I’ve considered McCain in a serious light. He probably won’t get my vote if some of the more extreme stuff I’ve heard about Palin turns out to be true, but thanks to a lot of you readers, I’ve opened my mind to the possibility of at least considering him. And so for that, I say thank you.

By the way, here’s a great site I found that does not seem to swing left or right that has journalists go thru speeches and interviews with the candidates and determine what is true, half true, or a fat out lie.

Politifact.com

Ain't the net grand?!?!

#3- SHE’S A MILF, DEAL WITH IT- I don’t and won’t take this back. There are PRO Palin supporters saying the same damn thing. Perhaps you live somewhere where calling someone a MILF is the equivalent of calling someone a bitch or a ho’ or a prick or something. Where I am from- and I live in the burbs and am surrounded by moms all day, many of them very hot- being thought of as a MILF is a compliment. Is it crass? Sure, but come on, look at the address in your address bar. You know where YOU chose to come visit, yes? So sure, it’s crass. But it’s not some big deal to me. She’s a total MILF and I’d be happy to fuck the shit out her, even if she loses the election. ☺

#4-FOR THE RECORD- People have attacked me for saying, "I am a liberal so that makes me intelligent". The video in question is a few inches down, so please watch it again if you are so inclined. Anyone WATCHING it and listening to what I was rambling about would clearly take from it what I intended...which was: 'being a liberal, of COURSE I think the ideas I am spouting are intelligent and if you are a conservative, you will think my ideas are stupid.' I think I was pretty clear on that but some of you reading this blog- no offense- are stupid fucking idiots who have little to no reading comprehension skills and clearly you don't have any video watching skills either.

#5- THE PROMISE- Here is my promise to you, in writing. In interviews with me about our games and on our website and when promoting the game, you will ONLY get Jaffe the game designer. I respect the fact that if you click on an interview with me that is suppose to be about T-...err, the GAME we are making- or a game we HAVE made- you don't want or need to hear my ramblings about politics or movies or being a dad. I appreciate that and respect that. If you come HERE you're gonna get all of that stuff and more- and for FREE no less!!! :)- but I will not force it on folks who simply want to enjoy our games. There are SO MANY people who make the games I work on and many of them do not share my views, not by a longshot. But the games we make are as much theirs as they are mine and as they- ultimately- are yours. It is not fair to ANY of us for my views to taint the games we make. So that is my promise to you. Come here for the personal; Jaffe stuff. But I won't talk personal stuff anymore with the press...only games...unless it's a specific interview that is supposed to be about JUST ME and I am not promoting a specific game.

What I CAN NOT control is if a game site picks something up that is not game related from my blog and posts it. But please- if you see that- know that that is not my doing.

Ok, sick today but trying to do a map for the guys in Utah thru this foggy head…real slow going. Gotta run- chat soon and more game posts on the way!

David

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

I could never find an answer to this question David, and I've always wanted to know. Did you like the Dark Knight? Your comparison to DC and Marvel reminded me of this.

David Jaffe said...

Liked the Dark Knight- thought it was a GREAT movie. Did not fall in love with it like most cause I had a few issues with it and I don't get off on the whole Batman vibe. But it was a GREAT, GREAT movie, well written, smart, entertaining, and very rich. Only saw it once and will catch it on Blu Ray I imagine.

Anonymous said...

T- err.. the GAME we're making. Why do you do that? with all do respect, everyone knows it's Twisted Metal for PS3. you said you're in a sweet tooth state of mind, and you're 'doodles' of the game show stadiums and tracks and car-like figures. TM:HO had the code in it, and now the title of the game starts with a 'T?' are you just trying to excite us for the game and it ends up being something else? or is it really Twisted Metal? If it really is Twisted Metal, why hide it? everyone already knows that it is. what's the secret?

David Jaffe said...

I have never said we are making a Twisted Metal game. Ever. Just for the official record. :)

David

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you liked it. What did you think of Heath Ledger? I personally couldn't stand the Tim Burton films.

Anonymous said...

sorry man. just asuming. it's just all of the clues. and if ur not, what was the point of the code hiden in TM:head on, that says 'twisted Metal is on psthree"

sorry to get so edgy about this, but i've been playing alot of TM lately and i'm just so anxious. TM was the first game i ever played and it would be awesome to see it on the nex-gen console. thanks for listening.

Anonymous said...

Hey, how's it going. just wondering if ur planing on picking up Far Cry 2. I saw the trailer with the african 'barra barra' music and thought it was fannominal. what are ur thoughts on the game david, just curious.

sarahandsteve said...

at least you have a more open mind about the politics!

and when it comes to the candidates, you can only assume they are all lying all of the time. you just have to go with who is the better liar i guess! haha.

and i'm surprised you would go for obama at all. i'm pretty sure you fall in that tax bracket where he'll actually be raising your taxes...

and sure, obama will save me a little bit in tax, but he'll raise my employer's payroll taxes. and then my employer can't afford me. and then i get fired. i see unemployment going up if omaba is elected and follows his tax plan. what's your take on that?

Thomas John Lloyd Kastner said...

I don't understand why people get angry when you call Palin a MILF. Personally, I don't find her that attractive and I wouldn't want to have sex with her but I guess I can understand why one might.

One thing kind of bugs me, you keep calling McCain a conservative. The mainstream media and Republican Party would want to have you believe that McCain is "conservative" but if you look at his platform he doesn't represent anything a traditional conservative would. It seems that unfortunately these Neo-Conservatives (which are essentially a few steps short of being fascists) have bastardized what it means to be a conservative. George W. Bush ran off a more traditional conservative ticket of a sensible foreign policy, no nation building and a return to sound money but obviously the complete opposite happened. Yea you can insert various religious rhetoric every now and then but that really isn't part of being conservative at all.

Something that bugs me even more is that both Obama and McCain still wish to have an interventionist foreign policy that continues to isolate us from the rest of the world. More money to Georgie to protect that oil line, more money building and maintaining our over 700 military bases overseas. They also refuse to even discuss the federal reserve system. Did you know that since the federal reserve system has been implemented in this country the value of the dollar has dropped 95 percent? They are literally stealing from the poor.

Interesting article, has been written by Thomas E. Woods, is called The Lifeblood of the Empire. I think he does a pretty good job at explaining how there really isn't that much of a difference between Obama and McCain besides on issues that really don't matter all that much except to the media. Besides that there used to be a time where the President wasn't responsible for all these issues. Ya know, back when America actually had a decent checks and balance system. But the republic seems to be dying.

I figured you might appreciate the read since you seem to appreciate politics.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods96.html

David Jaffe said...

My take is I don't care if you raise my taxes as long as the money goes to good causes- infrastructure, health care, public schools, military. I am 1000% fine with taxes going up a bit if it means our country becomes stronger. Money is just stuff, but quality of life- for as many as we can provide- is- to me- a lot more important.

Anonymous said...

Have you gotten to try spore yet? or are you not much for PC games?

Anonymous said...

Personally, I liked the first Batman movie. The second Batman movie started going downhill. The subsequent ones were absolutely pathetic, although I liked Jim Carey's acting... he belongs in The Mask, not Batman.

For the record, Tim Burton only made the first two Batman movies. For their time, they were darker than the usual superhero movie... but the new ones are needed to bring the franchise back up to our times. I thought Dark Knight was awesome, if not a bit too long.

Regarding the Obama comment and raising taxes... if you really look at the figures, Mr. Jaffe's taxes might be raised if he makes more than $250,000 per year. If that's the case, his taxes might raise by a couple hundred dollars a year at most. Nothing earth-shattering. It is what can be expected after Bush spent the past 8 years putting us into such a big debt.

Anonymous said...

I'm an "older" single parent and even though I've been attracting a younger croud I'm all about the MILF's :) There isn't one I've met yet that is offended to be considered one.

McCain is a war hero, He will always have my respect, and he has worked for his intrests even when they don't support his party. I don't deny he want's what he feels is best for America, and I don't think he would throw us under the bus for a little more coin or political power.

That said I also think the country needs to shift gears and motivate the next generation, Obama is a Maveric, He came from obscuruty to noteriety in one Primary. I feel though he may not have the experiance he can bring about the changes that are needed. The President is the representative and it's those that support him will be the ones working to make these chages happen. I truely belive the man can inspire a nation.

Anonymous said...

The Tim Burton films were really corny if you ask me and very poorly done.

Anonymous said...

Oh and just for the Record with respect to the notion of the Democrats only want to raise taxes.

Ive been around 2 see the economic resuls of 4 changes in Policy from a Demo Prez to a Rep Prez. From Bush Sr. My income went up about 5% but my taxes were cheap and my Medical was free.

Under the Clint's My Taxes went up, My Medical cost me but My income nearly doubled in 8 years.

Now under Bush jr. My Medical continues to sour with a 150% out of pocket increase and My income hase only gone up another 5%. The Tax relief ony goes to pay down the debt I accumulate because my expenses keep going up.

So even though I know Obama will increase some taxes this can and has stimulated growth which stimulates jobs and the economy as a whole.

just another .02

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Hey Jaffe. At this point in time could you hazard a guess whether or not the... unspecified... game you guys at Eat, Sleep, Play are making could have a 'Collector's Edition' bundle? Considering the legacy of the assumed franchise and this being its first fore into the current console generation I would assume so. Do you think their will be a good chance of a CE/SE or is that something too far gone to even think about?

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to comment on the notion that "obama will save me a little bit in tax, but he'll raise my employer's payroll taxes, and then I get fired."

The reality is, unemployment is at a high already, yet employer's payroll taxes aren't going up. The reality is, what hurts an employer MORE than payroll taxes is the inability to turn a profit.

Gas prices are so high that companies that ship physical goods have to raise rates to stay afloat. In turn, this means that companies which rely on physical goods being transported have a higher cost of doing business. To offset this, the prices of the goods are raised.

However, if consumers are hurting financially, they can't afford these higher prices, so they find ways to cut back. As a result, businesses are pinched from both ends. So, in an effort to find solutions, they lay off employees or higher cheaper overseas firms to handle certain infrastructure (call centers, programmers, etc...)

What Obama proposes would raise taxes on business, yes... but it would also lower taxes on the bulk of consumers. If consumers can afford once again to, well, CONSUME (buy stuff)... then companies will start making more money and will be able to afford the higher taxes they are paying and then some. At that point, the focus will be on competing and trying to gain more market share... which means money will be poured into things like marketing, ultimately driving consumer spending up even more.

As long as consumers have spending money, they will continue to spend. This is the problem Bush tried to solve with his tax rebates, but the question remains... why tax the people and then give some back? Why not have lower taxes to begin with?

The gas problem is always going to play a factor into things... and I believe it is one of the biggest factors into the latest unemployment figures... so it is also an issue which needs to be addressed, and soon.

McCain talks about drilling for more oil... and SOON. That's great and all, but if you do your research, you'd realize that this type of process takes YEARS. Even if they start on DAY ONE of McCain being President, it likely wouldn't produce any results until after McCain has finished his first term.

We can't sit around for that long waiting for the gas problem to be solved. Obama's solutions are much shorter term, to get us out of the predicament we are in... but he is also in favor of the longer term solutions. The reason McCain isn't so much for the short-term solutions is because he knows that these, in the long run, would spell the end to the era of petroleum companies. I think McCain is in the oil industry's back pocket. It's no surprise that Palin's husband works for British Petroleum.

Anonymous said...

Everyone should just respect each others political views and get over with it... Seriously, U think when these guys win theyre gonna help the country? They just want to be in the President Wall watchmacallit.. noone is gonna take Army out of Irag, Noone is Gonna Decrease Taxes, THERE JUST A BUNCH OF MORONS WHO F*** ALOT OK! THEYRE BIG FUCKING LIARS! THANK U

Anonymous said...

I hear you're from Alabama, David Jaffe. I'm from Birmingham, and looking into the objective facts of each candidate makes the campaign bullshit painfully apparent to me, and the Republicans tend to come out as the #1 bullshitters in my mind just because of the ridiculous right-leaning slant of this state that's automatically in the pocket of the Republican ticket no matter what kind of lies they tell.

Did you follow politics enough before you moved to liberal commie California to tell a difference between the two states? Is California just as extreme as Dixie but in the opposite direction? I wonder if it affects your vote differently to be in (what I would imagine to be) a very different political environment.

Anonymous said...

That's a great site David thanks. I think many of the cases of politicians "lieing" aren't meant to be deceptive and you have to ask yourself - do they definitely know they are lieing? I don't think either examples you gave were deliberate lies. If you listen to Huckabee you can tell he is a bit of a joker and the line about Biden getting less votes for president than Palin got for mayor was probably hyperbole.

I also think that changing your mind (i.e. flip flopping) on something is usually good, it shows a science type brain rather than a religion type brain. With new evidence you can reevaluate your position and you should be happy to be proven wrong if it brings you closer to the truth.

I don't think it's right to call McCain a war hero. What did he do above and beyond the call of duty? Being captured doesn't make you a war hero. In the same way being disabled doesn't automatically make you "brave" though that's what everyone says. Look up "McCain war hero".

I am shocked and dismayed that you like that kid rock song, it is among the worst lyrics of all time, and as a piece of music it has nothing good or original to offer.

stalepie said...
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Anonymous said...

wat do u think of Prince of Persia, the new one ofcourse David???

Anonymous said...

Stareclips & Dave

I really didn't feel like you backed up your assertion that it was better to tax businesses and not people at all. Based on my understanding of economics, the country gains nothing by attacking the source of jobs.

However, David Jaffe might be able to share some light on this since he is a business owner. So Dave, if you have a moment, could you shed some perspective on this?

I'm interested in all angles, but just to get to the point, would you be able to invest more in people if your business had no taxes?

Anonymous said...

I guess I should clarify, my first paragraph as at Stareclips, not Dave. I don't think he gave an argument about which is better, I just want to hear his opinion.

Unknown said...

"the fact that if you click on an interview with me that is suppose to be about T-...err, the GAME we are making- or a game we HAVE made-"

K hurry up my PS3 is collecting dust.

stalepie said...

Berlin’s streets get electric charge
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39230/113/

O'Reilly: Spineless Politicians and Oil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX8Nv2rHxQ0

:DD :o( :P ^_^ <3 :3 :(

stalepie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
stalepie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DF334 said...

While we are on the whole DC Vs. Marvel I do share your views. So many Marvel characters will wipe the floor with ALL OF THE DC UNIVERSE!! One note: DID YOU SEE THE BATMAN GAME THAT IS COMING OUT NEXT YEAR FOR THE PS3 AND XBOX 360?? LOOKS VERRRRRRRRRRY INTERESTING!

stalepie said...

I always feel ashamed and embarrassed. I wish I was friends with Matthew Lesko.

maartyrr said...

its so sickening to see how easily people sway and how much each party attacks the other with low blows....look at this now

http://news.aol.com/elections/article/palins-church-promotes-gay-conversion/165471?icid=100214839x1208754009x1200530665

its so scary that this woman could be our next president...

Rob Shock said...

Thanks for the link to politifact. I will use it well.

Anonymous said...

Yooooo Jaffe! Just gotta say I thought it was ridiculous what Kotaku did and yes, even got banhammered for calling them out on it.

Anonymous said...

if you like politics i really really recommend you to watch the series "yes minister" and see how full of lie politics is...

Anonymous said...

So, Kratos in which side is?

[img]http://www.andorstudios.com/chewrafa/imagen/mc-kratos.jpg[/img]

Only joking, politicians need more humour on their lives xD.

Anonymous said...

I know you've never 'said' that you are, but that doesn't 'mean' that you are.

Unknown said...

Is it more important for you to express your opinion on politics and piss fans and potential consumers of your new company off in the process (any kind of political choice is going to piss people off) than to stay away from such a sensitive subject and keep things in a "videogame" state and appeal to everyone?

I am going to buy whatever game is awesome, but there are those out there that will refuse to support anything or anyone that opposes their beliefs, or refuses to support someone that calls them a "stupid fucking idiot."

Maybe its part of your appeal and it will bring more attention to your company and your work, I don't know which is more impacting. Either way, I still come to the blog interested in what's going on, although I have to admit I am more interested in your work as a game director than your political opinions and regurgitation of your political favorites, the media, etc. I can get that everywhere else.

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