In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the entertainment industry today, ruling that minors had the right to purchase violent video games. The following comes from the LA Times.
…”Like books, plays and movies, video games communicate ideas,” said Justice Antonin Scalia in his majority opinion Monday. And he said there was “no tradition in this country of specially restricting children’s access to depictions of violence… Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed.”
The decision, coming on the term’s last day, highlights a consistent theme of the high court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.: Freedom of speech is almost always a winner, even if the context is unusual…
Last week, the court struck down a Vermont law that barred the sale of private drug prescription records. The court said the data was “speech” and could be traded in the “marketplace of ideas.”…
I guess I’ll have to go and check out Grimm’s Fairy Tales again, I don’t remember the graphic depictions of prostitutes getting their heads blown off with shotguns after being raped.
I’m not typically one to say that we need to restrict information from kids, or anyone for that matter, but the idea of six year olds playing first-person shooter games strikes me as wrong. And, yes, I’ve read the reports that state there’s no conclusive link between those who enjoy kicking someone’s brains out on their computer monitor and those who do it in real life. I just know that it’s absolute bullshit to suggest that these vibrant, bloody, moving images of murder are somehow comparable to the woodcut illustrations that accompany Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It’s like saying that kids should be able to buy copies of the porn film Airtight Granny because Three’s Company plots often revolved around sexual innuendo.
OK, as long as I’m ranting about today’s kids, can someone tell me how old people need to be to buy pot from Michigan’s so-called medical marijuana dispensaries? I saw a few kids that couldn’t have been any older than 16 going into a place the other day, and, while I’m sure that they had terrible carpal tunnel from having to constantly pull their baggy jeans up, and turn their baseball caps sideways, I’m inclined to say that they should have to suffer for a few years, like the rest of us had to. (I should add that I didn’t see these kids come out with pot, so the manager of the place very well could have asked them to leave. I just saw them go in and approach the counter, in their Insane Clown Posse t-shirts.)
Anyway, back to video games, I’d like to think that the Supreme Court is really doing this in order to safeguard freedom of speech. I’d like to think that the rights of kids is really something that motivates them. I can’t help but think, however, that it has more to do with what Walmart and the rest of corporate America wants. If they really gave a fuck about free speech – real free speech – wouldn’t they have torn down Bush’s 1984-inspired, barbed wire-enclosed “Free Speech Zones”? Wouldn’t they be fighting to protect the rights of whistle blowers? Given the evidence, I think it’s pretty clear that, despite what they say, they only love free speech in so far as they can use it as an excuse to further their pro-corporate agenda.
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I was walking home from the Brewery, when all of the sudden a rowdy group of dope smoking mudlarks ran by and grabbed my beret and called me a pussy!
In their early forms, many “fairy tales” were absolutely brutal. Consider, for example, the story of “sleeping beauty”.
In early versions, she is woken not with a gentle kiss from a prince, but he rapes her and she gives birth to two children, one of whom sucks her finger, drawing out the piece of flax that had put her to sleep. She and the prince are secretly married, but his other wife becomes jealous and orders first the children and then the mother cooked and served as meals (either to herself or to the prince, depending on the version), but is instead served various wild animals. When she discovers the trick, the jealous wife prepares a pit of poisonous snakes and other venomous creatures, but the prince discovers it and the first wife is thrown into the pit in Sleeping Beauty’s place.
In the Grimm version of Cinderella (“Aschenputtel”), the stepsisters try to trick the prince by cutting off parts of their feet in order to get the slipper to fit, and in the end pigeons peck out the stepsisters’ eyes, leaving them as blind beggars for the rest of their lives.
In many early versions of “Red Riding Hood”, the wolf tricks the girl into eating her own grandmother, has sex with her, and then eats her. In the earliest printed version, by Charles Perrault, the story ends there. A common euphemism in 17th century France was that a girl who lost her virginity had “seen the wolf”.
Then there’s Bluebeard, a story often omitted from modern fairy tale books, about a nobleman who kills wife after wife and keeps their corpses hanging on hooks in a locked room in his house.
Damn, Madler. Do you do birthday parties?
To tell the truth, I am more concerned about a blogging parent with a young child who is familiar with a porn film titled Airtight Granny than any about some silly old Supreme Court decision.
How could I forget “Snow White” (“Schneewittchen”)! In the Grimm brothers’ first edition, the villian was not a step-mother, but her own mother. As punishment in the end, a pair of heated iron shoes are forced onto her feet, and she is forced dance until she drops dead.
Looks like I need to give the Brothers Grimm another chance.
As for the Supreme Court, I don’t believe they should be deciding cases upon German folklore. Kids shouldn’t have easy access to games in which they assume the roles of mass murderers. I don’t give a fuck what some twisted Germans told their kids in the Dark Ages.
And how hypocritical is it for them to say that kids can virtually participate in violent acts, but not even see an image of a real female breast?
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/27/BA9Q1K37ED.DTL#ixzz1QZqpTnbF
Context.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/27/BA9Q1K37ED.DTL&ao=2#ixzz1QZrDbVvU
I’ve read some of the Grimm tales (go figure) and as cmadler says, yes, they are quite horrifying. Having said that, the extreme violence against women in some of those games is what concerns me the most. Even the “heroic” women tend to be portrayed unrealistically (see: Lara Croft…although I may have my own Lara action figure that is used when the crew & I have action figure drinking parties. Might have added some fluff around the mid-section though :)). In my FB status update, I mentioned that while I appreciate the ladies getting their panties in a bunch about some breastfeeding woman being told to leave a bus, I would REALLY appreciate it if women got our collective panties in bunches over stuff like THIS; to wit, the portrayal of women in certain video games, rap songs, movies. Where’s the outrage for stuff like this?!
I’m truly confused by this ruling. By and large, I’m support the idea that adults should be able to read/watch/experience mostly whatever they choose — aside from material which exploits non-consenting adults, or minors.
On the other hand, there are already (rightly, I think) a multitude of precedents for placing limits on what minors can read, watch, do, purchase, etc. — based on the valid assumption that, because they are not yet adults, they cannot be expected to have a sufficient level of maturity to handle these “adult” aspects of life. Within a range of ages (say, 16-21) we don’t allow young people to smoke, drink, drive, vote, watch certain movies, etc. So, why should extremely violent video games be any different?
Also — while I’m not surprised that corporations continue to create and distribute such violent/offensive “entertainment” (anything to make a buck, right?) I can’t imagine why any parent would allow their children to purchase and/or consume it. That’s, of course, assuming some parents even know what their kids are buying or doing — which is a whole other problem.
I’m not a prude, and I don’t think kids necessarily benefit from being shielded from all that’s negative or unpleasant in the world … but I can’t imagine anyone thinking it’s a good idea for young people — who often are quite insecure and impressionable — to be spending so much time immersed in, and interacting with, such violent and graphic imagery.
In the words of the late, great John Denver
That which is denied becomes that which is most desired, and that which is hidden becomes that which is most interesting. Consequently, a great deal of time and energy is spent trying to get at what is being kept from you.
It’s not clear that kids subjected to this kind of material are unaffected.
From Scientific American.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=are-violent-video-games-corrupting-2011-06-27
Seems the writer of this above article has no influence on what his family purchases at the store. Get some balls and say no the purchase instead of wanting government to do everything for you! Pathetic! when you get old, will you want big government to wipe your rear end also?
Definition of a typical libtard:
“The principal feature of American lib-tardism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things–war and hunger and date rape–liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things… It’s a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don’t have to be brave, smart, strong, or even lucky to join it, you just have to be libtard.”
– P. J. O’Rourke:
Here is your typical liberal, Barack Obama supporter:
1. http://noiri.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-obama-got-elected-by-these-voters.html
………and then we have this:
2. http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=4zRbe3kv70A
3. http://weaselzippers.us/2011/03/02/video-leftist-wisconsin-protesters-cant-explain-what-theyre-fighting-against/
This is why the country is in the mess we are in. These are the typical people who support and vote for Democrats. Why do they vote this way. A simple answer of one word: “Entitlements”. The Party of Free!
4. http://noiri.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-and-why-obama-got-elected-idiot.html
5. http://dailybail.com/home/meet-chairman-bernankes-replacement-happy-hour-in-santa-cruz.html
6. …………..and then we have this typical moonbat liberal, Joy Behar: http://weaselzippers.us/2011/03/16/lefty-loon-joy-behar-im-sure-the-people-in-concentration-camps-made-jokes-about-each-other-and-the-nazis/#comment-86451
7. At $174,000.00 per year plus expenses, Linda Sanchez (D), California just can’t make it from week to week! Pathetic!
http://www.ihatethemedia.com/congresswoman-linda-sanchez-demands-her-paycheck-during-shutdown?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ihatethemedia+%28I+Hate+the+Media%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo
8. Now we have your typical liberal/Democratic Congresswoman: http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=43579
9. Twelve (12) reasons why people voted for a Democrat in the past:
http://visiontoamerica.org/story/top-12-reasons-why-your-friends-may-have-voted-for-a-democrat.html
10. Wisconsin capital, Tea Party, 4/15/2011 where left wing trash show their true selfs and the lowest form of morals and principals.
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/04/16/new-civility-leftists-protesting-tea-party-rally-i-wipe-my-ass-with-the-american-flag/
11. The liberal, Democratic Party, known as the Party of Food Stamps has now entered a new “low” in morality and here is why:
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/04/20/liberals-hit-new-low-keep-digging-attack-paul-ryan-because-his-father-died-young-resulting-in-survivor-benefits/
12. http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=43998
13. http://weaselzippers.us/2011/04/20/liberals-hit-new-low-keep-digging-attack-paul-ryan-because-his-father-died-young-resulting-in-survivor-benefits/
14. “If we can’t get our entitlements from the government, then we will steal them”! http://www.theblaze.com/stories/flash-mobs-of-bandits-and-looter-in-d-c-yes/
15. Here are e-mails of your typical left wing liberal Obama supporters who hate people of other political beliefs while they are suffering from the tornadoes. How low-life can these people get?
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/04/29/wapo-commenters-bashing-tornado-victims-gods-wrath-for-the-christian-right-teabaggers-gop/
16. Patriotism is the last ditch effort/refuge used by the liberal, Democratic Party, better know as the “Party of Food Stamps”.
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2011/05/patriotism-is-last-refuge-of-liberal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FromNyToIsraelSultanRevealsTheStoriesBehindTheNews+%28from+NY+to+Israel+Sultan+Reveals+The+Stories+Behind+the+News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo
17.
……..and the typical Barack Obama supporter: http://weaselzippers.us/2011/06/17/sign-the-petition-to-ban-job-killing-atms/
18. Special Reprot #6: http://fangsout.tripod.com/abledanger/
I don’t typically quote the Family Media Guide, but here are their write-ups on 10 video games currently available to 5 year olds.
Resident Evil 4–“Player is a Special Forces agent sent to recover the President’s kidnapped daughter. During the first minutes of play, it’s possible to find the corpse of a woman pinned up on a wall–by a pitchfork through her face.”
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas–“Player is a young man working with gangs to gain respect. His mission includes murder, theft, and destruction on every imaginable level. Player recovers his health by visiting prostitutes then recovers funds by beating them to death and taking their money. Player can wreak as much havoc as he likes without progressing through the game’s storyline.”
God of War–“Player becomes a ruthless warrior, seeking revenge against the gods who tricked him into murdering his own family. Prisoners are burned alive and player can use ‘finishing moves’ to kill opponents, like tearing a victim in half.”
NARC–“Player can choose between two narcotics agents attempting to take a dangerous drug off the streets and shut down the KRAK cartel while being subject to temptations including drugs and money. To enhance abilities, player takes drugs including pot, Quaaludes, ecstasy, LSD, and ‘Liquid Soul’–which provides the ability to kick enemies’ heads off.”
Killer 7–“Player takes control of seven assassins who must combine skills to defeat a band of suicidal, monstrous terrorists. The game eventually escalates into a global conflict between the US and Japan. Player collects the blood of fallen victims to heal himself and must slit his own wrists to spray blood to find hidden passages.”
The Warriors–“Based on a ’70s action flick that set new standards for ‘artistic violence,’ a street gang battles its way across NYC in an attempt to reach its home turf. Player issues several commands to his gang, including ‘mayhem,’ which causes the gang to smash everything in sight.”
50 Cent: Bulletproof–“Game is loosely based on the gangster lifestyle of rapper Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson. Player engages in gangster shootouts and loots the bodies of victims to buy new 50 Cent recordings and music videos.”
Crime Life: Gang Wars–“Player is the leader of a ruthless street gang, spending time fighting, recruiting new gangsters, looting, and of course, more fighting. Player can roam the streets and fight or kill anyone in sight for no apparent reason.”
Condemned: Criminal Origins–“Player is an FBI serial killer hunter in one of the first titles for the Xbox 360. Game emphasizes the use of melee weapons over firearms, allowing players to use virtually any part of their environment as a weapon. The next-generation graphics provide a new level of detail to various injuries, especially ‘finishing moves.'”
True Crime: New York City–“Player is a NYC cop looking for information regarding the mysterious death of a friend. Player can plant evidence on civilians and shake them down to earn extra money.”
What we need now is a game based on William Hickman. All the Ayn Rand buffs would buy one for their kids.
Are you sure it wasn’t Dwayne Hickman that Mz. Rand fantasized about?
And, Taters, I commend you on your first comment here. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the first time since you started leaving comments here a few months ago that what you had to contribute actually makes sense given the context of the post. I disagree with what you had to say, of course, but at least the comment was relevant. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about your second comment. Please try to stay focused.
I was proud of Tater Salad, too. And then he had to go and post the second one. Like Mark, I didn’t *agree* with the first one but it was well written, clear, concise, cogent. The second comment likely took a lot of time to put together but lacked the focus and brevity of the first post. Really, using a word like “lib-tard” is just pathetic. But again, nice job with the first one.
See what I did there? Positive-negative-positive…they taught me that in Teacher School you know
I would absolutely love for the government to wipe my ass when I get old.
Glen:
As far as I know, the MPAA ratings are completely voluntary and not legally binding. Hollywood, sensing a regulatory backlash against it, proactively created the system to appease those who sought legislation against it.
I am sure that localities have their own rules regarding “obscenity,” however one may wish to define it, though I am no expert.
There is no room for laws against minors watching anything in a free society, in my opinion. There most certainly should be laws against the possession and production of child pornography and human/animal snuff films, but to recommend laws that dictate what people can and cannot see is a slippery slope.
The following comes from a response to the ruling by Leeland Yee, the author of the overturned California legislation:
http://dist08.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={EFA496BC-EDC8-4E38-9CC7-68D37AC03DFF}&DE={25F3EB3A-3F71-4121-9107-1D6B06F65872}
you people and your inciting wording.
You almost make it sound like this ruling is saying that children should be playing these games. And that children MUST play these games.
Is it really possible for a child to have access to these games without a parent or some other older person’s assistance? I think it is far more likely that children are going to be exposed to these games without ever having interacted with the retailer, which is the only place that this ruling effects.
What’s wrong with shooting people in the face? Great Americans have shot friends, family members and strangers in the face for centuries. Patriots like Dick Cheney have done it unapologetically. Face shooting is as American as it gets. If you don’t like it, move to Canada and buy your friends white wine spritzers. Here in America we shoot friends in the face.