Fake Thug, No Love.

"Say hullo to my li'l friend!"
I challenge you to find someone over the age of 13 that does not know where that infamous quote comes from. It's true. You've all seen it. Hell, I've seen it at least 7 times myself but really...how much with the gangsterisms? If I had a dollar for every time I saw a celebrity on MTV Cribs showing off Scarface in their DVD collection or the floor to ceiling poster of Tony Montana- you might catch me giving a tour of my not-so-humble abode on the next season. I know that our culture has a thing for outlaws. Those who thumb their noses at the establishment while licking that same thumb to count the cash. The obsession runs as far back as the days of Jesse James. I mean, who doesn't want to be Billy Bad-Ass at least once in their lives? At 15 years old, even I fancied myself as one of the tough-talking, rough-walking Gangsta Bitches that Apache so eloquently rhymed about. And then I grew up. The over-sized jeans and bandanna were traded in for knee high boots and carefully coiffed hair. I still had quite the temper and a penchant for firearms, but more or less I became a lot more ladylike. I retired that frame of mind before catching a case or getting Buck 50'ed in the street. That was the evolution of Bug. I understood that reality is a far cry from what Hollywood seduces us with. The money, the power, that life is a fantasy. Being hardcore has little to do with big talk or what people call you. Which leads me to something I take issue with.

A near and dear friend of mine recently introduced me to an online game called Mobsters. He explained that you climb the ranks in this virtual life of crime and can eventually become "A Boss". I'll try anything once, so after some urging I finally checked it out. At first it was interesting. I was able to expand my mob and steadily began to build wealth and complete some missions of robbery and so on. And then something strange happened. I caught myself logging on to bank money that my properties were accruing, attacking rival mobs and just flat out wasting time that would be well spent doing something else. Then came the ridiculous exchanges online. The threats, the flexing of the Internet muscles. I bore witness to some of the silliest comments and ignorant behavior I have ever seen. So 2 weeks in, I shut down my application because This Bug will not be associated with anything so foolish and absurd.

I'm not saying that anyone who continues to play this game is shallow. For a while I definitely found it entertaining. But there are some people out there who idolize that lifestyle so much, that it is more appealing to them than their own law-abiding existences. To me, that's just sort of sad. And not sad in a boo-hoo sort of way. I mean sad in the pathetic, get-a-life way. If I cared enough, I'd direct these misguided minds to Crime Library so they can read up on the fates of their coveted heroes. All dead or still in prison. At the end of the day it's just a GAME. The real criminals are not on Myspace all day making empty threats under strong sounding monikers. They're in board meetings making offers that can't be refused via conference calls. Now that's Gangsta!