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Guitar Anti-Hero III
December 17, 2007 3:30 PM
In case you've not heard of "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock," stop the nearest teenage guy--but make sure you have a half hour so you can listen to him rave about how cool it is.
It's a video game--selling frantically--in which you get to be a member of a rock band--Metallica, the Beastie Boys, or others. The game comes with a plastic guitar, with buttons in place of strings. If you can keep up, the music comes blasting at you. Miss your chords, and there's something lacking.
Which leads to the following tale of online woe:
A man, who describes himself as k_lid from the Toronto area, says he moved heaven and earth to find the game as a Christmas present for his 15-year-old son Isaac. By sheer luck, he found it--right before he found his son smoking marijuana out back of the house with two friends.
Out the door went the friends--and as punishment, k_lid posted his son's still-unopened copy of Guitar Hero on eBay.
"I am now finding it hard to justify rewarding him with this gift after he so greatly disappointed me," he wrote. "I know smoking a joint isn’t the end of the world, but if you can convince me that he deserves the gift, then I will end the auction. You will have to be very convincing. I am an elementary school teacher and I know that rewarding bad behavior is just asking for more of the same...."
And so began a phenomenon. The posting, according the eBay's counter, got more than 75,000 hits, and 42 bids--jumping from $50 to $100 to $150 to--take a breath--$9,100.01 before the auction closed last week. The high bidder was Australian. PC World points out that outlandish bids often come from people interested in the publicity.
"The auction has been getting somewhat out of hand, to say the least," wrote k_lid in a followup post. He says he gave his son the option of ending the bidding, but Isaac decided it would be "stupid" to cancel.
"I am not: “sadistic”, “publicly humiliating my son”, “power-hungry”...or any similarly bad things - especially when it comes to my son," he wrote. "Think of the auction as me “joshing him”, as friends often do, in addition to letting him know that he seriously disappointed me." (Read the full posting HERE.)
Does the punishment fit the crime? A lot of people clearly have strong opinions.
December 17, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (46)
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That two people here would even advocate turning in the 15 year old kid for smoking pot blows my mind. I would guess they don't have kids of their own. I wonder if they realize that giving up the kid results in a CRIMINAL RECORD!!! Would you really wish that on your kid? I'm sure he would thank you mightily for teaching him such a great life lesson at 15 when no one will hire him as an adult because of his record. If that's your idea of providing the right guidance for your kid and doing everything in your power to give him the right skills to be successful in life, then I'm glad I never had you as a parent. Oh, and if it is true, please don't have kids. They will be seriously damaged goods, and we've got enough of those people mucking up the gene pool as it is.
Still, our Dad in question did the right thing, unless, of course, he's like many other hypocrites in this world who actually smokes pot himself on the side. In which case, the appropriate thing to do would have been to confiscate the weed and keep the game for himself. Psyche!
Posted by: ShockedAndAwed | Dec 17, 2007 5:56:27 PM
He was punished,not because pot is illegal or bad for adults,but if this is an educated man,he knows pot is not good for teens(works differently on a growing brain then an adult).I love his method, sent a strong message to his son-Dad loves you :)
Posted by: whistleb4dawn | Dec 17, 2007 5:56:58 PM
Wait a second , I thought smoking pot & being a guitar hero were synonymous. I'm pretty sure they are. & I am really not joking.
Posted by: TZARAH | Dec 17, 2007 5:57:15 PM
Way to go Dad; hit him where it hurts. He needs to know you are serious and I hope the mom is on the same page with you. In my case the punishment would be laid down on the kid and then the next day he would be pardoned by the doding mom. That's why I'm divorced and my kid smokes pot whenever he wants. Not really! But, I found that a little follow through goes a long way, though probably the threat in this case all that's needed. I'm positive you got his attention with that one.
Posted by: Mr. B | Dec 17, 2007 5:58:07 PM
I agree with the punishment. For you people saying he should turn his own kid in? Wow, i'm speachless. That happened to a buddy of mine when i was in highschool (im 33 now). He hasnt spoken to his parents since and last i saw he was still doing drugs. (5-10 years ago). I'm glad my parents chose to discipline me themselves. A criminal record can ruin your life and seeing you parents being the ones responsible for it, sheesh. He smoked a joint, he's not selling crack.
Posted by: cramer | Dec 17, 2007 6:02:32 PM
First, you do not have to "move heaven and earth" to find Guitar Hero III. Try Amazon, it's $50 and you get free shipping to boot.
Second, this guy was not disciplining his child. He was seeking publicity for himself. Disciplining your child does not involve bragging about it on eBay.
Posted by: LosersGame | Dec 17, 2007 6:05:25 PM
all my potsmoking friends and I are scientists and 4 of them have PhD's.
so maybe smoking pot isn't that bad as long as it doesn't interfere with your studies. Guitar Hero probably interferes with studying more than pot does.
Posted by: steve | Dec 17, 2007 6:10:36 PM
Shadow - I would NOT put the 9K into a college fund for the kid. THAT would be rewarding him for the bad behavior. I'd use it to pay bills, etc.
Posted by: Tom | Dec 17, 2007 6:12:09 PM
I think in the future we will find pot decriminalized once all the people who don't know anything about stop laying down the rules. It is better than & better for you than any pill a doctor can give you for depression. Jah provide. Praise Jah! RastafarI & I.
Posted by: TZARAH | Dec 17, 2007 6:25:13 PM
I love playing guitar. I played this Guitar Hero thing & it is no way near the joy you get when you play an actual guitar. I have no hankering to play this game after playing it with a bunch of people who don't actually play guitar & seeing how exited they were. Bottom line, put your time & effort in playing real music. It's soothing & rewarding.
Posted by: TZARAH | Dec 17, 2007 6:29:50 PM
i love it! after what i just went through to find and purchase a Wii, my daughter better not even try it! as a matter of fact, i'll just give it away for FREE! to one of her cousins!
Posted by: gaby | Dec 17, 2007 6:44:19 PM
Thank you excellent parent! Now really finish off the lesson by putting that money into something that is necessary, like a college fund, or having your son go with you to a non-profit rehab clinic and helping you donate some of those dollars (and letting him see where addiction to drugs can get you...). Good job, Dad.
Posted by: jlconsultants | Dec 17, 2007 7:21:09 PM
Sounds like a hoax to me. If he wanted to punish the boy how about just returning the game back to the store he bought it?
What lesson in making 9 grand off your pot smoking sending?
Posted by: InOhio | Dec 17, 2007 7:22:38 PM
Another Internet hoax, who cares
Posted by: Joel | Dec 17, 2007 8:22:02 PM
I vote he give the money away to a needy family. That should further get the kid.
Posted by: Sandra | Dec 17, 2007 8:28:10 PM
Disappointed You?
HeLOo. It's not about you, dad!
Are you confusing Christmas with being what you think a good dad is? Oh, wait a minute, you're not concerned with being a good dad.
Good parents don't use the word punishment. Sometimes they have to be strict disciplinarians, but I can't go into that here. Why do you think he was smoking pot. Ever bother to talk with him about it?
Posted by: Zhozi | Dec 17, 2007 11:43:48 PM
Alright to Dad. An adult raising a kid. Good parents are hard to find now days. Punishment is a good word.
Posted by: gracie | Dec 18, 2007 1:36:01 AM
i think this a good thing and to you have said ill things against this MAN raising his children and all that crap about not useing the word punish i'm not so sure you are correct and justified in your judgment of him,..i don't know about you but i came from a home with very strict rules,... and a few hefty a** whippings and i turned out just fine. how ever there are alot of kids out there who's parents never hit them and they turned out good too.pot smoking doesn't always mean that you are out there dileberatly trying to hurt your parents or to disaapoint them in any way ,.. some kids get caught up in the moment with their friends and the subject comes up. maybe he wanted to check it out or maybe it was peer pressure.. no one but that child knows for sure what the reason was. but that doesn't make his dad a bad father maybe he did teach his child that these things are wrong and then the child did it anyways. that is being preventitive.good for you old man,.. way to go.keep on doing the things you have been with your son and may he grow to be the man you want him to be,... and mostly the man you are. happy holidays
Posted by: storm | Dec 18, 2007 3:30:17 AM
Yeah, over $9K? Sounds fishy. Anyway this thing is actually pretty stupid. Seriously...just get a real guitar. It reminds me of a 'Simpsons' episode where Bart is playing a virtual yard work simulator and Marge says "You can be doing real yard work at home", or something like that.
Posted by: Bob | Dec 18, 2007 8:16:59 AM
So, Steve, what have you and your pot-smoking PhD friends discovered or invented that we may have heard about? Oh yeah, you only said you HAVE PhDs, you didn't say you actually use them.
Lori; It would not have been punishment of the guy had never told his son what he had gotten him, but since he did, selling it instead is punishment.
MadisonMonroe1; Actually, I think this IS a failry humorous punishment, as Dad is going to come away with over $9,000 more than he spent on the gift. If they can't both laugh about that, there's something wrong with them.
Zhozi; You've just told everyone all you know about parenting - NOTHING. There ARE books on the subject. Maybe you shhould read one. Disciplining a child sometimes requires punishment.
Posted by: Bob | Dec 18, 2007 3:53:21 PM
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