America's News Historical and CurrentLog in for complete access to this resource.

Game opponents should target MonopolyChicago Sun-Times (IL) (Published as Chicago Sun-Times) - January 7, 1986Author/Byline: D. B. Killings Edition: FIVE STAR SPORTS FINAL Section: EDITORIAL Page: 20Column: PERSONAL VIEW Readability: 9-12 grade level (Lexile: 1130)

Recently, several self-appointed "consumer watchdog" groups have begun to apply pressure on theFederal Trade Commission to look into problems with a game known as Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons, they claim, influences children to act more violently than they otherwise would,and introduces them to various concepts of mysticism.

Groups such as the Moral Majority and Bothered About D&D are concerned by what they consider to bethe "brainwashing of the young." They argue that the game has a "satanic and detrimental" effect onchildren. They point to the many documented cases of violent acts and suicides among teenagers, and thefact that in many of these cases the people had been fanatical devotees of the game.

There must be a link, they say, between the violent nature of the game and the steadily increasing violentbehavior of some of its players. To combat this, these well-meaning individuals want the game restricted oreven outright banned.

What these groups fail to realize is the danger in their own homes. For there exists yet another populargame that may also provide negative influences on the young.

Indeed, this game has existed long enough that it may very well be already affecting not only our childrenbut the very world in which we live. I am speaking, of course, of Monopoly.

Quite likely, many of the economic woes in the last 30 or 40 years may in some way be attributed to thisgame. Indeed, it's a good bet that many of today's big corporate shenanigans may be a direct cause of thegreed this game inspires.

Essentially, Monopoly is a game of capitalistic endeavor, in which the players buy land and charge a fixedrate to all who happen to land upon it. The more property you own, the more money you make. On theother hand, the more times you land on another person's property, the more you have to shell out. Thiscontinues until either you have so much of the board that no one can move without landing on yourproperty, or you're so far in debt that you can no longer pay the bills.

There is much to be questioned concerning the ideas of this game.

First of all, it contradicts many teachings of the Bible. In Monopoly, it is often necessary to borrow moneyfrom others in order to survive. Yet, Leviticus states that money-lending is a sin, and that money-lendersare not to be tolerated. Elsewhere, the Bible states that "thou should not serve two gods," meaning Godand money. Clearly, this is in direct contradition with the basic purpose of Monopoly, which is to make asmuch mammon as to be effectively filthy rich. It is an annoying oversight that TV evangelists have ignored

Print Document - America's News Historical and Current http://iw.newsbank.com/resources/doc/print?p=AMNEWS&doc...

1 of 3 2015-07-22, 12:53 AM

this direct defiance of the Bible.

Besides moral problems, there is the question of ethics. Clearly, the economic picture painted in Monopolyis not rosy.

True, it's nice when you come out on top, but what about all those you left behind? What about those otherplayers who had to sell out all they had in order to pay their debts? Are they happy at losing all theirhard-earned money?

Monopoly, in other words, promotes the idea that to get ahead, we must be greedy and uncaring, makingall we can on the misfortunes of others. For impressionable young adults, this clearly is not a healthyattitude to have when going out into the real world.

The evidence that Monopoly is affecting our world is staggering. Since 1935, hundreds of millions of copieshave been manufactured. In the United States alone, one out of every two households owns at least onecopy. In terms of people, nearly four out of every five Americans have at some time played the game, manyfor years.

A good example of just how Monopoly has affected us can be seen in the subject of debts. As any longtimeMonopoly player knows, there are times when one must sell some of his most valued assets in order to payoff debts. The result is that an entire generation of Monopoly players has grown up with the belief thatgetting into debt isn't such a big deal, and as a result members of that generation constantly are findingthemselves in economic woe. One only has to open the pages of any newspaper to find such a story.

With the aforementioned statistics in mind, it is easy to see that these people must have at one time playedMonopoly, so there must be a connection between the two.

Big multinational corporations are also an example. Search among the personal games belonging to anymember of the board of directors of Rockwell International or General Dynamics (two defense contractorsunder investigation) and one is more than likely to find a copy of Monopoly.

Therefore, it is easy to see how they could become so crass as to actually overcharge the government!Consider the social implications: We are losing millions of dollars a year to corporations with executivesthat play Monopoly!

With all of this in mind, it is frightening to think what the next generation of Monopoly players will do if thiscontinues.

However, we need not see that day come, provided we act now.

I urge those same critics who find Dungeons and Dragons reprehensible to expand their list to includeMonopoly.

Maybe then we can all go back to some mindful, intelligent, thought-provoking entertainment.

Something like tic-tac-toe.

D. B. Killings is a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Print Document - America's News Historical and Current http://iw.newsbank.com/resources/doc/print?p=AMNEWS&doc...

2 of 3 2015-07-22, 12:53 AM