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Here is our favorite quote from Blago's letter:
"Our society already restricts children’s access to things like tobacco, alcohol and pornography because we know they pose a serious risk to child health and development. We should do the same for what is one of the fastest-growing threats to children in this modern age: violent and sexually explicit video games."
With each passing day, Blagojevich sounds more like a fundamentalist preacher. Ever since Blago started talking about video games and their horrible side effects, we thought his condemnation wrong-headed. But then he wouldn't fucking stop and we started to wonder if video games really could incite youth riots and orgies. But then we read an article discussing the video game debate in an August issue of The Economist.
We're in love with the article's second-to-last paragraph and will quote it in full after the jump.
"Another analogy can be made between games and music—specifically, with the emergence of rock and roll in the 1950s. Like games today, it was a new art form that was condemned for encouraging bad behaviour among young people. Some records were banned from the radio, and others had their lyrics changed. Politicians called for laws banning the sending of offending records by post. But now the post-war generation has grown up, rock and roll is considered to be harmless. Rap music, or gaming, is under attack instead. 'There's always this pattern,' says Mr Williams of the University of Illinois. 'Old stuff is respected, and new stuff is junk.' Novels, he points out, were once considered too lowbrow to be studied at university. Eventually the professors who believed this retired. Novels are now regarded as literature. 'Once a generation has its perception, it is pretty much set,' says Mr Williams. 'What happens is that they die.'"
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When will Blavo do some real social good by banning posts by Sam Bakken for both minors and adults alike?
Fucking shit! Now I won't be able to buy grand theft auto for anotehr 4 years! I just want to fucking rape people and shoot at cops!!!!!
"What is this world coming to?" is the phrase that comes to mind when you see/hear of behavior that would have been unthinkable, unglorified, or repulsive years ago .. whether it be disrespect, drug use or deadbeat dads, on-demand porn, or terrorism.
The more we're oblivious to what exposure to certain things does to us (not just kids) now, the more the downward spiral of all that is good perpetuates.
I think it's sad that the government has to tell our kids what's right and what's wrong because the parents are too busy/lazy/drunk/apathetic.
I think it's sad that gmes like GTA exist in the first place. I'd love to know what the developers think they're doing. I'm sure they'd say "it's just a game! Lighten up!" Seedy motherfuckers.
I wish there were a hell.
What's sad isn't that games like GTA exist, or that former drug dealing gangstas like 50 Cent are around ... what's sad is the millions of dollars we feed into this low road part of our culture. People joke about how growing up in the 70s/80s was this terrible time period in America, blah, blah, blah. I'll take the Minutemen and the old Atari 2600 any day over the crap that's being peddled now.
I'd take a time where people didn't fall for blatant censorship under the guise of "saving the children".
minutemen! minutemen!!!! bring back the minutemen!
Disrespect, drug use, deadbeat dads, porn, terrorism...I'm pretty sure all of these things have been around longer than anyone on this earth has been alive, much longer in fact. I'm reminded of a quote from Harry Truman:
"The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know"
All I'm saying is that maybe technology changes the form or the delivery, but 'good' and 'bad' in all their forms have pretty much always existed.
Dear Rod: I don't want to live under a Nanny State. Thanks anyways.
If this video game bill will mean my kids of less likely chance of turning out like Bakken I am all for it! (No disrespect Bakken chicagoist would not be the same without you)
"I'd love to know what the developers think they're doing."
I think they think they're making video games for the enjoyment of adults.
"I'm sure they'd say 'it's just a game'"
Actually, I'd bet they'd say "It's a game. And a story. And escapist role playing. And a layered piece of art." Violent art, to be sure, but it's surely not the first example of that.
i think games like these are awful. i don't think we can look at them and say they are 'just games.' i think they do perpetuate a culture of violence against women, cops, each other. i think that we need to look at a society that continually is needing to top these things and which is letting children view these things as acceptable and no big deal.
war games, games where THE OBJECT is to smack down hos and kill cops and be the criminal rather than to 'get' criminals, games featuring gratuitous sex and violence. this is not something i think we can pawn off as something we had 'back in the day.' this is no pong.
HOWEVER, the idea that we should be regulating these things via the government and that blah blah's biggest goals as governor should be to keep us away from violent video games and tattoos is also abhorrent. this seems equally absurd and scary. as much as i don't like what i'm seeing and hearing on tv and radio these days, i'm a first amendment lover.
when dialogue about these things is first to go, we have much more serious problems at hand.
To call a game like GTA "art" devalues legitimate art. Kill Bill was art. GTA was a couple slackers sittin' around thinkin', "Oh man, we could make this game where you kick the shit out of hookers and shoot cops and steal cars and shit and just kill everybody" because they knew kids would eat it up.
What we really need to do is figure out why people like the idea of killing people so much. That's pretty fucked up when ya think about it. The developers might've just had crappy parents, sure, but I find it hard to believe that all the kids who play GTA were raised wrong. Is it just one of those taboo things?