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EvInReaLife
5 Apr 2008, 09:38am
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht01pdf/ht01423.pdf

HB 1423 would restrict or outright ban the sale of violent videogames to anyone under the age of 18. Which means, by the way, that a 17-year-old who can get in to see Hostel: Part II would be forbidden by law from buying (or renting, one supposes) the violent but less graphic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

According to the proposed bill, violent videogames are pornographic and have no redeeming social merit. The vid-critics claim they exist for one reason and one reason only, so kids can experience the vicarious thrill of killing. Now, what does and doesn't have social merit is always an interesting question, one I can discuss for hours. But what makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous. Not to mention undemocratic.

One of HB 1423's cosponsors is Rep. Christine E. Canavan, of Brockton. ''I think this legislation is a good idea,'' she told the Boston Herald. ''I don't want this constant barrage of violence on young minds and for them to think it is all right.'' It's a good point...except that it seems to me that the games only reflect a violence that already exists in the society.

Nor will I argue for the artistic value of stuff like God of War, or 50 Cent: Bulletproof, where looting the victims of gang violence is part of the game.
And if there's violence to be had, the kids are gonna find a way to get it, just as they'll find a way to get all-day shooters like No Country for Old Men from cable if they want. Or Girls Gone Wild, for that matter. Can parents block that stuff? You bet. But most never do. The most effective bar against what was called ''the seduction of the innocent'' when this hot-button issue centered on violent comic books 60 years ago is still parents who know and care not just about what their kids are watching and reading, but what they're doing and who they're hanging with. Parents need to have the guts to forbid material they find objectionable...and then explain why it's being forbidden. They also need to monitor their children's lives in the pop culture — which means a lot more than seeing what games they're renting down the street.

If HB 1423 becomes law, will it remain law? Doubtful. Similar legislation has been declared unconstitutional in several states. Could Massachusetts legislators find better ways to watch out for the kids? Man, I sure hope so, because there's a lot more to America's culture of violence than GTA 4.

What really makes me insane is how eager politicians are to use the pop culture — not just videogames but TV, movies, even Harry Potter — as a whipping boy. It's easy for them, even sort of fun, because the pop-cult always hollers nice and loud. Also, it allows legislators to ignore the elephants in the living room. Elephant One is the ever-deepening divide between the haves and have-nots in this country, a situation guys like Fiddy and Snoop have been indirectly rapping about for years. Elephant Two is America's almost pathological love of guns. It was too easy for critics to claim — falsely, it turned out — that Cho Seung-Hui (the Virginia Tech killer) was a fan of CS:S; I just wish to God that legislators were as eager to point out that this nutball had no problem obtaining a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Cho used it in a rampage that resulted in the murder of 32 people. If he'd been stuck with nothing but a plastic videogame gun, he wouldn't even have been able to kill himself.

My two cents

PotshotPolka
5 Apr 2008, 10:42am
We should ask Bill to make a map portraying the Capitol Building, and design skins for all the congressmen that support this bill, and get zombie mod on their asses :laugh:



And then have teh Suits on your doorstep 17.67 minutes later with search warrants.

Italian Jew
5 Apr 2008, 02:54pm
lol

This is why you cannot take Congress seriously...

Sure, they want you to go to war to experience violence and gore firsthand, but when you try to experience it virtually, OH NOES!!!!!

With the amount of people who play Halo, Counter-Strike, BF, Half-Life, etc. it is a wonder we don't have a couple billion homicidal maniacs in this world shooting people, smashing them with crowbars, stabbing them, etc.

:thumbdown: to all those old farts who think they know what is right...

PotshotPolka
5 Apr 2008, 03:35pm
After zombies attack the world, the survivors will be rallied by us, teh lozers that have trained for years in solitude, waiting to show the world what we can do when given a shotgun, a bookshelf, and a soda machine.

Italian Jew
5 Apr 2008, 03:46pm
word

Dracula
5 Apr 2008, 03:51pm
Ya its stupid what they say would we not all be crazies by now?

Captain Colon
5 Apr 2008, 06:03pm
Elephant Two is America's almost pathological love of guns.
Uh, no it isn't. If America had a "pathological love of guns" we wouldn't have the National Firearms Act or the Gun Control Act, and we never would've had the assault weapon ban that banned certain guns because they LOOKED like assault rifles.


It was too easy for critics to claim — falsely, it turned out — that Cho Seung-Hui (the Virginia Tech killer) was a fan of CS:S; I just wish to God that legislators were as eager to point out that this nutball had no problem obtaining a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Cho used it in a rampage that resulted in the murder of 32 people. If he'd been stuck with nothing but a plastic videogame gun, he wouldn't even have been able to kill himself.
If he'd been properly diagnosed and adjudicated mentally defective by the court, he wouldn't have been able to kill himself or anyone else either, since he'd be involuntarily committed. Blaming non-existent problems doesn't fix existing problems; you're doing the same thing the people who wrote that law are doing, but with a different scapegoat.

Slavic
5 Apr 2008, 09:52pm
Uh, no it isn't. If America had a "pathological love of guns" we wouldn't have the National Firearms Act or the Gun Control Act, and we never would've had the assault weapon ban that banned certain guns because they LOOKED like assault rifles.


If he'd been properly diagnosed and adjudicated mentally defective by the court, he wouldn't have been able to kill himself or anyone else either, since he'd be involuntarily committed. Blaming non-existent problems doesn't fix existing problems; you're doing the same thing the people who wrote that law are doing, but with a different scapegoat.

Oh' Snap!!! O no she didn't!!!

lolz I really don't care I don't live in Massachusetts, and we already have a system for taking violent games out of the hands of children. What we need now is a way to make parents cooperate with this system properly.

If a parent can buy a 17 Rated game for a minor, then I want to buy cigarettes for minors, because they will pay freaking $1 per cigarette!!!! There is an untaped market out there, individually wrapped cigarettes for minors.

Italian Jew
5 Apr 2008, 11:24pm
lol

Sounds like a good business endeavor. Could be a fundraiser of sorts. The girl scouts will no longer sell addicting cookies...they will sell cigarettes and various other individually wrapped addicting drugs! :rlol:

EvInReaLife
6 Apr 2008, 08:01pm
lol

Sounds like a good business endeavor. Could be a fundraiser of sorts. The girl scouts will no longer sell addicting cookies...they will sell cigarettes and various other individually wrapped addicting drugs! :rlol:

ftw!

Italian Jew
6 Apr 2008, 08:14pm
The boy scouts will then start pimpin' out hookers... you've never seen a boy/girl scout gang fight outside of a grocery store like the ones they will have....

LegalSmash
6 Apr 2008, 08:32pm
This proposed law, much like every other law that the fucktard congress has attempted to pass abridging the freedom of expression in media will be an epic fail.

An example of this are the "parental advisory" stickers on the compact discs: complete fail.

I believe ONE time, AFTER I was 18 was I EVER questioned as to my age to purchase a CD. Every other time, from age 9-18 I had not once been asked in any of the many music stores that I frequented over the past two decades of my life.

Same with video games. Mortal Kombat 3 on SNES was rated M, I bought it at 13 with no questions asked as an "electronics boutique" (remember the FULL name?).

This is another circle jerk chain-flush bill to take the collective country's mind off the things that matter, economy, shitty airline prices, and the price of flour.

If anyone wants an examination of the law, Ill be able to do that after exams.

Molotov
7 Apr 2008, 08:15am
I think I was ID'd once for a video game when I bought it at shortpump in richmond. Honestly I get ID'd more for buying spraypaint then for videogames or cigarettes. :thumbdown:

Italian Jew
7 Apr 2008, 09:28am
lol, I got ID'd when I bought F.E.A.R. in Richmond (kinda sucked btw). I must look young for a college kid I suppose...

Slavic
7 Apr 2008, 03:33pm
Only time I was id'ed was when I went to buy a Nine Inch Nails album, when I was 17. I was pissed that they didn't allow me to get it.

PotshotPolka
7 Apr 2008, 04:22pm
I believe honestly videogames are good for kids, they let them vent tension, keep them physically unfit so that they pose little threat, and make them think shooting a gun is as easy as clicking a mouse button.

I like to think I'm a bit stronger than I used to be but I couldn't even cock and load my uncle's Taurus .45 :closedeyes: