Sunday, January 08, 2006
There Goes Utah
Sigh. We already had Senator Orrin "Digital Joe McCarthy" Hatch embarassing Utah with his technological illiteracy and pandering to the big media moguls (except for their videogame interests), but now Utah Representative Jim Matheson is jumping on the unconstitutional bandwagon to pad his own "Family Values" bullet list. And one of the local newspapers is jumping right aboard, perpetuating the myth that videogames are "kid's toys," completely ignoring the economic, legal, and even ethical considerations of government enforcement of a rating system that is STILL recovering from a huge black eye from its obvious flaws last year.
Their logic flies completely in the face of studies which ruled no conclusive linkage between videogame violence and real-world violent behavior, not to mention the fact that the average game player is about three times older than the "children" that our grandstanding politicians are claiming to be trying to protect.
I'm in the process of formulating a letter to the editor, but I am trying to formulate a reasonable response between being both infuriated and frustrated. I don't buy rated "M" games very often, but the last time I did (to purchase "F.E.A.R.") - from the LARGEST retail seller of new videogames in the country - I was carded! That's right, the verified I was over 18 (I've been getting gray hair since I was sixteen, so maybe that isn't a great indicator). Face it, kids borrow, trade, re-sell (and, unfortunately, pirate) videogames all over the country - the only place to REALLY keep kids away from inappropriate media of ANY kind is in the home, where it should be.
And sorry, Representative Matheson and Senator Hatch are not invited in my home.
Labels: Politics
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:55 AM (Permalink)
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The problem with punditry is it's a sort of brain prophylactic, rendering one unable to reproduce good ideas (unless one happens to have a lucky break). Unfortunately, in almost every one of these cases, you can simply follow the money and figure out who's paying them to have an opinion. Time to start looking at Matheson's financial records; chances are that a conservative lobby group is paying him to have this position.
I'm really sick of politicians marginalizing/demonizing things they consider "fringe issues" in order to reassure the placid populace that they are, in fact, doing their job. Video Games have been the whipping boy for some time, and I think the politicians are scared of them. Lots of people play games, but lots more don't. It seems to be the same thing with a lot of issues: find a group who's too small and fractured to vote as a bloc, and pick on them to reassure your voters that you're out to get the "bad guys".
Jerks.
I'm really sick of politicians marginalizing/demonizing things they consider "fringe issues" in order to reassure the placid populace that they are, in fact, doing their job. Video Games have been the whipping boy for some time, and I think the politicians are scared of them. Lots of people play games, but lots more don't. It seems to be the same thing with a lot of issues: find a group who's too small and fractured to vote as a bloc, and pick on them to reassure your voters that you're out to get the "bad guys".
Jerks.
Videogames are becoming "mainstream" - it's pretty much technophobia and culture shock all over again. I think more people play games (but may not call themselves "videogamers" - I'm including casual players here, folks who occasionally play Solitaire on a computer) than not in the U.S. - but most of those who do either can't or don't vote. So while they may be a demographic majority (barely), they are a political minority.
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