Regardless of how uncomfortable it makes some people, Michelle Obama and her husband are not going to stop telling kids to put away the video games and get some ambition. White kids, black kids, purple kids, it doesn’t matter. They see video games as a cultural wasteland and harmful time-sink that is ruining people’s health and diverting their energies from more productive endeavors, like reading or getting out of bed. I am in broad sympathy with them on this issue.
As for telling black kids that it’s a better ambition to be a doctor or business leader than an athlete or rapper, the statistics bear that out. Very few athletes actually get paid to compete. And very few rappers sell enough music to make a life-long living.
Every time the Obamas lecture kids, people race out to criticize them. You may want to defend your Call of Duty: Black Ops II habit, but you know you’d rather your kid read a book.