The idea for this came from a DM (direct message)  I got on Twitter. One of the tweeters asked me to join her Mafia family. My first thought was okay it just a game why not.

But as I started the process to go enroll. I thought of the application Owned that is on Facebook and other sites. I thought about how I felt that that application was one which promoted unhealthy views of human relations. It brought to member the idea of slavery which is still alive and well even in the United States.

There are children, men and women to this very day which are being trafficiked in the US by major crime syndicates and we don't hear about it. We often hear about the Immigration problem but we don't hear about the silent victims of human traffiking.

Mafia movies have had a lot of popular in Hollywood. Currently people have praised Cable shows like the Sopranos. In Bayonne, it was like a criminal offense if you missed an episode. There were the films "The Godfather", "Goodfella", and "Casino". Too many to mention in this piece right here.

The idea is that we are not exposed to the voice of Italian American who have found these things helpful in spreading negative stereotypes about their community. Yes, La Cosa Nostra exist, but is it something to be promoted?

According to Wiki "The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily, and the first such society to be referred to as a mafia. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct. Each group, known as a "family", "clan" or "cosca", claims sovereignty over a territory in which it operates its rackets - usually a town or village or a neighborhood of a larger city."

Cooperative efforts are to be welcome, but the methods of terror and abuse which the Mafia is known for do we want to associate ourselves with them? Do we want to be seen as condoning their criminal activity?

It's not just about the Mafia. It's about the Gang Lifestyle in general. It doesn't matter whether it's triads or the yakuza. They all promote anti social activities.

The Grand Theft Auto series is a runaway success. The thing is that it promote values that the antithesis of the moral and values we need to be instilling in our family. Mafia Wars is another application that parents should look at.

I'm not saying to ban these games or apps. I'm saying that we need to raise awareness that they may be causing more problems than joy. "As a man thinketh so he is" If we feed ourselves violence, abuse, and disregard for the rights of others what can we expect our society to develop into.