Are Computer Games Fascist Propaganda?
The Fascist State desires to have citizens of a certain type: namely, 
obedient. A questioning, wondering, thinking citizenry is by definition 
a threat to the Fascist State.  
 
The thing we must remember, also, is that in general fascism is 
something the majority of people desire: they wish to be ruled by a 
strong hand, they wish to obey, they wish to lose the omnipresent 
burden of self and the painful options of choice available in a truly 
free society.  

Computers, I am beginning to think, and specifically computer games, are 
a cultural expression of a desire to give up free will and be ruled by 
autocratic fascist forces.  

Let's consider the model of most computer games. The player must go on a 
virtual journey, killing monsters, collecting valuables, advancing 
levels, and finally defeat some evil baddie at the end in order to win 
and make it into the list of high scores.  

At each step the player must do only one of a very few things or his 
character, his avatar, will die. A computer game is generally not a 
venue for creativity, but for learning specific response mechanisms, 
without which the player's avatar will most certainly die.  

(It should be noted there are a very few computer games that do involve 
and encourage creativity; but their lack of popularity proves my point: 
no one wants to think during his time off.) 

Consider the effect this sort of learning has on the human mind, 
especially the developing young mind. The lesson is clear: to succeed 
and get ahead, there is a narrow band of options that will take you to 
the top. Any deviation, any creativity, anything resembling free 
thinking or exploration will lead to inevitable failure.  

Computer games are also highly addictive. They are designed to be. You 
always want more. Dying only makes you want to play again and get 
further ahead, like a lab rat in a maze, obediently solving the puzzle, 
all for the sake of a digital piece of cheese that does not even exist 
in the real world.  

It is as though an XBox were some sort of pagan deity, before which we 
sit cross-legged, bowed, as though in worship or prayer, with a joystick 
(the word: a joy stick!) between our legs, attempting to please the 
god-in-a-box, receiving a steady IV drip of calmative anti-psychotic 
digital drug each time we kill a monster or collect some virtual 
treasure. 

This is true of computer use in general as well. The convergence of 
fictional computer games and computer-aided real life should not be 
underestimated. Information in general now becomes that anti-psychotic 
drug: what else can explain the unbearable itch to check your email 
every five minutes?  

Why waste hours chatting on instant messenger when you could pick up the 
phone and just call the person? With skype you can call anywhere in the 
world for about $.02/minute -- is it really "just to save money" that 
you IM? Or is it to spend time, to get rid of time, to force the digital 
hour hand to move faster, to obliterate the hours that might otherwise 
be spent thinking unspeakable thoughts, engaged in the horror of self- 
examination?  

There is, of course, no ultimate satisfaction to be found in computer 
games, any more than television or summer movies provide the catharsis 
of true drama. The aim of all three -- computer games, television, and 
the summer blockbuster -- is to leave you wanting more, craving more, 
tickled but, at bottom, never ultimately satisfied.  

It is only by putting the citizen on a hamster wheel of always-craving- 
more that he can be kept tame, kept down, kept submissive.  

This sort of entertainment, or rather, propaganda, creates the sort of 
citizen the United States of America wants: obedient, unreflective, 
compliant individuals who don't ask questions, salute the flag, and 
worship Jesus. Hallelujah.