Tennessee Democrats withdrawl their anti-video game law

[Jack Skellington]

If passed it would have been one of the most, if not the most, restrictive bit of anti-video legistlation to date. Going as far as making it illegal to sell or rent what they consider violent games to even adults.

It said the bill was withdrawn because of concerns of it's constitutionality

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6151680.html

On a side note, why do Democrats hate video games so?

Top Democrats like Hillary and Lieberman have a history of going after video games with a vengence.

[NYEmtEsq]

On a side note, why do Democrats hate video games so?

Top Democrats like Hillary and Lieberman have a history of going after video games with a vengence.

It's just censorship of the left at work. These games often invoke stereotypes alongside of the violence. Note the main character in GTA San Andreas: a black gangsta who has to carjack and kill his way to the top, and score points by having sex with random women (which is what Hillary was actually pissed about; the backdoor which was left in the game so that you could see CJ getting a video blowjob). Accordingly, as it is offensive, in the politically correct sense, it has to be censored.

It's ironic that while purporting to champion everything free speech--and simultaneously blasting conservatives for being pro-censorship and anti-civil liberties--the left is doing more to take away our rights to free speech and free thought than the uber-right could have ever hoped for.

[jack]

The GTA sex controversy was interesting to me. It only worked on PC, and only if you went through the trouble to hack the game severely. Most of the time, when programmers code stuff like that, they just code over it without actually deleting it. It's quicker, and, functionally, eliminates it. This particular instance showed that hacking a game like that can show some stuff that the programmers thought was gone.

I think they hate video games mainly because if they can ban them, it'll look like they're doing something useful about decreasing violence, especially among minors. Ironic, since the average age of a gamer these days is something near 30.

[Alicia Rose]

:doh:

The left can't afford to do this! They're the only thing between the psycho right-wingers and fascism - Democrats shouldn't be trying to emulate the movement that should rightfully be their worst enemy!

Gah. At least it failed.

=Divals the Left-wing video game designer

[NYEmtEsq]

The left can't afford to do this! They're the only thing between the psycho right-wingers and fascism - Democrats shouldn't be trying to emulate the movement that should rightfully be their worst enemy!

Gah. At least it failed.

=Divals the Left-wing video game designer

Did it fail? Have you been to a college campus in the past 20 years? Trust me, censorship of the right and center-right by the left and uber-left is alive and well. It's only when politicians get clumsy in an naked attempt to curry votes that it fails.

You think it's hard being an FA in this thin-centric world? Try being a conservative in America's institutions of higher learning. Try to speak against "affirmative action" and see how quick you're branded a racist; speak in favor of the war in Iraq and you're branded an imperialist warmonger (and probably a chicken-hawk, too); speak in favor of an innovative attitude towards social security reform and you're branded an ageist; speak out against illegal immigration and you're branded a racist; try speaking out against abortion and you're a branded chauvinist/sexist/bible-thumping neandeathal; try speaking in favor of properly placed profiling as a legitimate tool of policing and security and you're branded anti-Muslim (or another variety of racist/bigot).

The Thought Police are closer than you think, and they're not coming at you from the right.

[1300 Class]

It is not a governments job to the moral gaurdians of society. It should be parents who decide what games their childern can purchase. If an adult (by defination of law) purchases a game, then they should have no restrictions on doing so.

[CurvaceousBBWLover]

The problem is not the video games. The problem is the kids who decide to go blow up their schools and shoot innocent people. Some people can't separate fiction from reality.

[CurvaceousBBWLover]

EXACTLY! Government's job should be to protect people's safety. Morality is a personal thing.


It is not a governments job to the moral gaurdians of society. It should be parents who decide what games their childern can purchase. If an adult (by defination of law) purchases a game, then they should have no restrictions on doing so.

[missaf]

To me this is part of the Socialist Agenda of the far-left. We're not smart enough to raise our own children, so the government will do it for us.

Somewhere on the internets, there is a "Video Game Voters Network" -- if you're a gamer, sign up :)

[CurvaceousBBWLover]

Actually the people who support this are centrist Democrats and conservative Democrats and conservative Republicans. Socialism is irrelevant here.

To me this is part of the Socialist Agenda of the far-left. We're not smart enough to raise our own children, so the government will do it for us.

Somewhere on the internets, there is a "Video Game Voters Network" -- if you're a gamer, sign up :)

[jack]

It is not a governments job to the moral gaurdians of society. It should be parents who decide what games their childern can purchase. If an adult (by defination of law) purchases a game, then they should have no restrictions on doing so.

No fuck. But people are all such fucking simian buffoons that they feel like they need to be told what's okay for their kids. Just like their kids need to be told by whoever the fuck they listen to what to wear, how to talk, what their body should look like, etc. Nobody fucking thinks for their fucking selves. Fuck.

Don't make me say it again.

[1300 Class]

Thats because parents don't want to face the facts that they were bad parents.

The problem is not the video games. The problem is the kids who decide to go blow up their schools and shoot innocent people. Some people can't separate fiction from reality.
There is no causative link between this and video games. Are there any example of where someone goes and blows his or her school and games are the causative reason?

Oh and Jack, maybe if you showed some decorum once in a while, you might not sound like a total tit.

[moonvine]

I'm surprised. I would think this would be a conservative Republican thing.

I'm a Democrat AND video game supporter, myself.:)

[altered states]

Actually the people who support this are centrist Democrats and conservative Democrats and conservative Republicans. Socialism is irrelevant here.

That's true - the worst censors are the "moderate" (i.e., right wing) democrats. You don't see this kind of thing coming from the left of the party (what's left of it).

[NYEmtEsq]

Actually the people who support this are centrist Democrats and conservative Democrats and conservative Republicans. Socialism is irrelevant here.

Have you not seen the rise of the politically correct movement? (Or have bought into it completely?) I would hardly call Hillary Clinton a conservative (or centrist) anything. It was she who invented the term "right-wing conspiracy."

It's not the conservatives or centrists that screech at speech for its own sake. It wasn't conservatives which invented the idea of punishing "hate crimes" (crimes motivated by a particular way of thinkinig) more severly than other crimes, (how many assaults, rapes, and homicides are "love crimes"?), and its not conservatives who seek to curtail speech on college campi.

Want to conduct your own test of the above? Try using the word hysterical--even when describing someone who is acting genuinely hysterically--around two women: a Blue-Dog Democrat and a leftist. See what reaction you get. I'll bet that it is the more "liberal" of the two who will object to the word and claim that it is sexist and shouldn't be used. Religious conservatives aside (who are generally bothered by sexy speech, not political speech), it's not conservatives who feel threatened by free speech such as that.

One thing that's consistently lost in this debate: this is America, you are guaranteed the right to possess and express truly abhorrent beliefs. Once we begin arbitrating what can't be expressed, it's all gone to hell.

[Jack Skellington]

Republicans are going after games now too.

Republican sponsoered bill in Oklahoma wants violent videogames labeled as pornography.

The interview

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6151853.html

The bill

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6151814.html

"If passed, no person, not even minors' own parents or guardians, would be allowed to give or show them an inappropriately violent game. Furthermore, retailers would not be able to have such games on display where minors could see them, unless the lower two-thirds of the boxes were hidden behind "blinder racks," of the sort commonly used for sexually explicit magazines."

Make no mistake. This is censorship and it's come straight at us from the left and the right.

Stores will not carry "inappropriately violent games" if they legally become classified as porn and this will force developers to censor games because no one will carry them. This just doesn't affect media darlings like GTA either. Heck, Halo was rated Mature and it's violence level didn't exceed that of a PG movie.

When Oblivion got re-rated from Teen to Mature because modders were adding nude skins to the game, my local Wal-mart pulled it. Never mind it doesn't even effect the XBOX 360 version which doesn't allow for third party mods.

It's sad the only thing the Left and the Right can agree on is censorship and taking away my rights.