4A - Thursday, February 10, 2011 1 1The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com C4e fJridhigan &Ut Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com BRUNO STORTINI E-MAIL BRUNO AT BRUNORS@UMI!CH.EDU STEPHANIE STEINBERG EDITOR IN CHIEF MICHELLE DEWITT and EMILY ORLEY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS cj eLIItMnk4 Theplayer prcepio KYLE SWANSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned' editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solelythe views of their authors. M oving (back) 1i0n Bing's housing intiative can repopulate Detroit ith its population dropping below 1 million, Detroit is becoming less and less centralized. To help reverse this trend and create a cohesive municipality, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing introduced a plan last week that would encourage police officers and other city employees to move within city limits. In order to build better police community relations and to improve the con- nection between public servants and the city where they work, Bing's plans should proceed unhindered. If this program proves to be as suc- cessful as Bing hopes, officials should use the Neighborhood Stabili- zation Fund to invest in other housing projects that would encourage more people to migrate to Detroit. a According to Detroit officials, more than 50 percent of Detroit police officers live out- side the city's limits. Detroit is in possession of an abundance of foreclosed and repossessed real estate. The experimental program Bing is introducing is an effort to simultaneously address these two facets. In an attempt to bring police officers back into the city, the proposal will provide funds to renovate these derelict homes which will then be sold to police offi- cers for as little as $1,000. The funds for this project are a part of the Neighborhood Stabili- zation Fund from the federal government, and no part of the program will be funded by tax dollars, according to a Feb. 7 freep.com article. While it's important to help families already living in Detroit, putting money into dilapidated, rundown homes isn't cost effec- tive. Bing's plan will help improve the real estate in the city twofold - it will improve the houses and housing market through res- toration and renovation, and it will fill empty houses that are contributing no money in property taxes. Filling empty houses with police officers will decrease crime in Detroit neighborhoods. Until 1999, the state law stated that all city employees had to be residents of Detroit. But a law that mandates Detroit residency for public service will deter people from working for the city. Rather than reinstating a law similar to the one that ended in 1999 and risking losing city employees, Bing's plan will create posi- tive incentives to get its employees back in the city. This will help build community relations between the city's government and the city's residents, which will provide a more unified municipality. The pilot program is only the first step in the many necessary for Detroit's recovery. Even though police officers are going to help fill vacant houses and maintain a presence within the city, there is still going to be a sig- nificant lack of tenancies. In order to help improve infrastructure and stave off foreclo- sure, Detroit should consider formulating a land bank similar to the Genesse County Land Bank, which would also qualify for funding from the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund. A land bank could help intervene on behalf of families facing economic hardships, and. underwrite abandoned properties in order to distribute them to responsible developers and owners. Detroit needs new innovations and ideas to reinvigorate the city. There are many avenues that Bing can take to improve Detroit, and fol- lowing the success of this program, new infra- structure and a land bank would be the logical next step. My older brother despises the movie "Grandma's Boy." He's a 27-year old video game pro- ducer in San Francisco, Calif. who works for Electronic Arts. whenever I tell anyone about his job the most com- mon response is, "Oh, you mean JEREMY like in 'Grand- LEVY ma's Boy'?" For those of you who are unfamiliar, "Grandma's Boy" is the 2006 movie about an adult game designer who lives in his grandma's basement with his geeky design team. The movie is pretty indicative of what people tend to imagine when they hear the phrase "video game." But let's contrast that image with a different one. This summer, my friend Daniel developed a Facebook Scrabble rivalry with my other friend's mother, Mrs. Hanrahan. The two could play each other with their iPhones over the course of several days. This is the same mother who used to tell us to eat more fruit and go playoutside. But now, Daniel could expect trash talk whenever he walked into the Hanra- han household. The video game world is current- ly going through big changes, and whether you realize it or not, you've probably already taken part. Sure, there is still a large market for games that attract Dungeons and Dragons aficionados and fraternity guys, but the industry is continually looking to attract a wider audience. We can see it in the rise of online games like Bejewelled and Farmville, active games on the Nintendo Wii and novelties like Guitar Hero. Accord- ing to Ph.D. and game designer Jane McGonigal, 69 percent of all heads of households play computer games or video games and 40 percent of all gamers are women. Yet, the "Grandma's Boy" image still persists, and what's more, games - both those for casual and intense users - are continually viewed as a waste of time or a dis- traction at best. In her new book, "Reality is Broken," McGonigal argues that common perceptions of video games are flat-out wrong, cit- ing research showing that gaming is often very beneficial. She goes as far as to say that games can offer peo- ple many things that the real world can't and that gaming's new mass appeal shows how reality is broken. Take what you will from someone who has worked in the industry, but McGonigal does provide lots of useful information that challenges common perceptions about the role. of video games in society. As evidenced in the anecdote. above, games like iPhone Scrabble are helping to shape relationships by providing new forums for social interaction (bear with me here). As with Facebook, these interac- tions obviously aren't a substitute for the face-to-face interactions people experience with those close to them. But games likely forge new relationships that would hardly be commonplace in any other scenario - like competition between a col- lege student and his friend's mother. As McGonigal puts it, "If you haven't pwned your Mom, you're clearly missing out." Another useful piece of research shows that people who play games during work breaks are more refreshed than those who participate in activities that are less mentally strenuous like watching Internet videos. When faced with a challenge in a video game, participants can see the direct outcome of their actions, which makes games more satisfy- ing than real work in which one's individual agency to effect outcomes is more diffuse. This psychological benefit has spillover effects - games make real work more enjoyable. In fact, McGonigal sites a study from the University of Hamburg that found "70 percent of (high-level executives) regularly play casual computer games while working." Video games are much more than a societal blight. In a column at.. the beginning of the school year, I argued that socially conservative critiques of technological change are frequently reactionary. If you listen to people's arguments against Facebook or BBM, they point out things that are different from the past more often than things that are clearly negative for society. I believe video games serve as the ultimate example of this phenomenon. But the research is real and robust - games are much more than a drain on our societal well-being, and more people play them than ever before. While there are drawbacks to mass game consumption, the ben- efits are too often overlooked. Games aren't just for the realm of low-life grandma's boys, and you could save yourself some stress if you stopped thinking about them as such. -Jeremy Levy can be reached at jeremlev@umich.edu. LETTER SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Will Butler, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer, Melanie Kruvelis, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Teddy Papes, Asa Smith, Seth Soderborg, Andrew Weiner LUCY HAN | I Ronald Reagan isn't worthy ofpraise on his birthday Franz and Pap their readers that African apartheid 1985, after thous infected and died. TO THE DAILY: Reagan who arm I wish sometimes that I could move to the Laden during the fantasy world that conservatives like Busi- 10-year invasion is ness School Senior Alexander Franz and LSA I'm sorry, but in Senior Jonathan Pape inhabit. (The real Rea- dent isn't worthy o 'gan, 2/6/2011). In the conservative utopia, tax his birth. Reagan's cuts pay for themselves and former President against the poor,s Ronald Reagan is the next best thing to Jesus. murderers abroad However, human beings don't inhabit the con- been consistentlyI servative Never-Neverland. We live in reality. The Right's obsession with Reagan has cre- Jared Goldberg ated this mythic figure that never existed. The University alum information either glossed over or ignored by Franz and Pape is quite revealing of the con- U o servative mindset. Reagan was the most over- rated president in the history of our republic, to put it kindly, and was a prolific war crimi- suggestionS nal, to put it more accurately. The People's Park protests in 1969 at Uni- TO THE DAILY versity of California, Berkley were not made In reference to violent, as Pape and Franz imply, by the stu- for disabled stu dents and other protestors. They were made campus travel diff violent by Reagan's ordering of California and the follow-up Highway Patrol officers and the California disabled after sto National Guard to suppress them in an event share your frustra known as "Bloody Thursday." Hardly some- individuals, in pa thing to take pride in. cal challenges, to His massive tax cuts, which benefitted the clogged crosswalk wealthy predominantly, exploded the deficit the winter season and tripled the debt to nearly $3 trillion by the The University time he left office. Those beloved tax cuts may Disability Concer have been a boon to the wealthy, but inequality unteer organizati grew astronomically. Unemployment in 1981 to everyone - is grew to 10.8 percent. we can improve Reagan didn't return the United States to campus communi prominence. He helped the wealthy at the numbers on our expense of the poor and working classes. and instructions f While Iran-Contra was a passing footnote for problems: http://v Franz and Pape, I will call it for what it was: report.html. an unconstitutional power grab. Congress We also welcos wouldn't allow Reagan, through the Boland tions that pertain Amendment, to directly aid the Nicaraguan can be submitted, Contras, paramilitary groups that engaged We very much car in massive human rights abuses. So, in order ity for everyone o to get around that whole pesky separation of and one of the chis powers thing, he illegally sold weapons to Iran and used the money to support groups that Anna Ercoli Schn routinely kidnapped, tortured, executed and Disability IssuesI raped civilians. Sciences Library e also neglected to inform their hero supported South d. He ignored AIDS until ands had already become . Let's not forget that it was ed and trained Osama Bin Soviet Union's disastrous nto Afghanistan. the real world, such a presi- of such praise 100years after legacy will be class warfare support of racists and mass and an ideology that has proven wrong. is alert to snow and improvemets Y: the article on snow travel dents (Snowstorms make scult for disabled, 2/4/2011) letter (The 'U'failed to help orm, 2/8/2011), we totally ation with the difficulty for rticular those with physi- maneuver over the snow- ks and street corners during 1. of Michigan Council for rns - an all-campus vol- on with membership open always alert to ways that accessibility for our entire ity. We have listed central website for emergencies for lodging complaints and www.hr.umich.edu/ability/ me non-emergency sugges- to disability issues. These online on the same website. e about creating accessibil- n campus. It is our priority ef reasons for our existence. itzer Librarian, Taubman Health Let WikiLeaks peak The first time I heard of WikiLeaks was back in December 2010 when news broke out that the organiza- tion leaked United States diplomatic cables to the public. My first reaction was alarm: What a breach of national security! Who's behind this? Isn't this espionage? Those responsible must be punished! But as I obsessively followed the news on WikiLeaks, my mind changed. First, it hasn't broken any laws so it hasn't commit- ted espionage - many will argue that WikiLeaks is, by legal definition, a journalistic organization whose rights to publish state secrets are protected by the rulings from New York Times v. United States. Second, they haven't "dumped" 251,287 cables. They partnered with five media organizations including the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, l Pais, and Der Spiegel, which selected which cables to publish. Those publications then redacted the cables as necessary and sent them back for WikiLeaks to publish. Therefore, only about 3,000 of the 250,000 documents have been published so far and no grave national security concerns have been raised. Third, WikiLeaks revealed serious issues in U.S. diplomacy. Perhaps those who closely follow international history and news already knew most of what's detailed in the cables, but the public - the people who are supposed to monitor government activity'- weren't aware. Does the public know that the U.S. State Department ordered its diplomats to collect credit card numbers, passwords, fin- gerprints and even DNA from the United Nations leader- ship? That oil giant Shell claimed it had inserted staff into key positions in the Nigerian government? That the U.S. partnered with China to make sure that little gets accom- plished at Copenhagen? That U.S. tax dollars have been used to fund child sex slavery in Afghanistan? The cables also revealed many actions done in the name of "national security." One example concerns Tuni- sia. Those paying attention to international news know' that Tunisia recently had a massive uprising that resulted in its president of 24 years fleeing the country. The dip- lomatic cables show that the State Department knew of the Tunisian president's corrupt acts as early as 2006, but because of Tunisia's support for the War on Ter- ror the government did little to address the concerns of oppressed citizens. This resulted in anti-American sen- timents among Tunisians, who thought their resistance would be futile since the U.S. would aid President of the Tunisian Republic Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to the end. Similar events occurred in Egypt. Egypt President Hosni Mubarak has held his post for 30 years and is widely known for his cruel rule. But because of his sup- port for the War on Terror, the U.S. viewed that it could do little to advance real democracy in Egypt. In the end, this behavior has fostered anti-American sentiments among Egyptians who see U.S. support for Mubarak. The billions of dollars in foreign aid spent in buying U.S. cor- porations' military equipment don't help either. The pattern is clear: counter-terrorism efforts are rais- ing anti-American sentiments. Tom Malinowski, Washington Director for Human Rights Watch and an expert in U.S. foreign policy, writes on foreignpolicy.com that WikiLeaks "did more for Arab democracy than decades of backstage U.S. diplomacy." He also mentions that cynicism runs ram- pant in the State Department. His diplomatic friends often say something along the lines of, "Sure, our dip- lomatic engagement with country X won't make human rights better, but neither will sanctions or public criti- cism or anything else." This cynicism isn't only unnecessary, but harmful. The Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings against their oppressive governments show that those people want real democracy, and any effort to stymie it, no matter how well intentioned, may ultimately harm U.S. inter- ests in the long term. The revelations show that many actions are taken in the name of the United Stateswithout its citizens' knowl- edge of exactly what the actions entail. Do we want to let the world think that we don't support democracy? That we would support dictators and let millions of people suf- fer, all in the name of U.S. national security? Perhaps Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves nei- ther." This judgment is up to the people to decide - all the raw material is available on the Internet. The truth is the best disinfectant, and I'm only thankful to WikiLeaks for its commitment to it. Lucy Han is an LSA senior. a I a