Another Day, More of This Crap
I'm getting pretty tired of all this, but I keep seeing excellent articles about the GTA controversy. In this case, DQ reader Steve West sent me a link to an editorial at the LA Times. It's very interesting and well worth reading. Plus, it brings up one point that all the hysterical grandstanders can't deny: in spite of a seeming exponential increase in the amount of time children spend playing violent games (according to the crazy people), juvenile crime has been rapidly trending down for over a decade. That doesn't mean twelve-year olds should be buying and playing Grand Theft Auto, but it does mean that demonstrating actual harm from the "effects" of violent video games is going to be very difficult indeed.Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/babao.
Then we have the lawsuit filed by the grandmother of a 14-year old boy. This one's a classic (from CNN via DQ reader Scott Ray):
NEW YORK (AP) -- A woman upset that she bought the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for her 14-year-old grandson without knowing it contained hidden, sexually explicit scenes sued the manufacturer Wednesday on behalf of consumers nationwide.
Outstanding. Granny is buying a game called "GRAND THEFT AUTO" for her eighth-grade grandson. And she's not complaining that he can car jack and kill a thousand people (for starters) in the game. No problem there. It's that it contains a sexual mini-game.
Granny, first off, you need to be in the hole. If stupidity were criminalized, you'd be serving five-to-ten right now.
Second off, I'm too tired of all this to make a coherent comment on the casual acceptance of violence we have in this country while there's nothing but hysteria about sex. It is distinctly embarrassing, not to mention incredibly stupid.
Now my brain hurts.
Fortunately, here's a more lighthearted link. I can't remember where I saw this (probably a link off Gametab), but it's a very clever parody on the whole GTA mess. Here's the opening:
A tempest has erupted in the video-game industry after the publisher of America's most popular series, "Grand Theft Auto", acknowledged that its latest installment includes embedded religious content that allegedly was never meant to be seen by players.
Very clever, and you can find it here:
http://www.watleyreview.com/2005/072605-2.html.
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