It never ceases to amaze me what our State and Federal legislatures will attempt to score points with. Take for example the attacks on the video game industry. These neo-prudes that have sprung up on both sides of the aisle, led by Hillary Clinton and several Right Wing nut burgers have decided that they need to step in and legislate how video games are sold for the sake of public decency.
Now, the video game industry has for the most part been a model citizen. They have self regulated themselves, in order to help responsible parents control what games their kids have access to. It's not like they're peddling games like drugs on the street. They're sold in the stores and depending on the title and age range they are regulated.
The problem with the video game self regulated system is that it is not foolproof and there are highly talented fools who walk amongst us. Case in point Florence Cohen from last year went out and bought her 14 year old grandson GTA San Andreas. Clearly on the cover, if she bothered to read it at all was a Black M which means Mature audiences, which also means he couldn't buy it for four more years himself. But grandma is just inattentive enough to run out and pick this up to make her grand baby happy. I wonder if he also got her to pick him up the players guide (in a Hustler cover) and a six pack Sam Adams sports drink too. Anyway, when she discovered what was in the game, (Something she could have done if she actually looked beyond the title. Maybe 10 more seconds of effort) she sued the game maker for false advertising
???
Anywhere that game was advertised the M for mature warning was displayed. Commercials it was spoken. Print it was in the lower corner. Even in Game stop, it was a constant graphic in the lower corner. Everybody but the elderly Cohen knew this was a game filled with sex and violence and therefore not for children but at her grandson's request, she went out and bought it. It's no more Rockstar's fault, than it would be her cable provider's fault if she ordered her grandson a night of Pay Per View porn. She bypassed the safeguards in place. She shouldn't be rewarded for her stupidity.
Still the Federal and some state governments are attempting to legislate to protect the stupid at the detriment of the thinking citizenry and picking on an industry that has gone out of its way to keep things like this from happening. Funny, I guess if they have time to work on this, then they must have figured out that whole war on terror thing, we've stopped all the real violence in the streets, the poverty and homelessness issues are completely resolved and our children are now the best educated children in the world. If they have this type of time, all of our problems must have gone away.
Wait. They're still here?
Oh yeah. We still have all these problems but since those things would take some effort and hell, who wants to actually put in effort at work, they pick little straw dog topics to whip and then BAM! They have something to put on their website so they can say they've done something like this:
http://www.clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=240603
New oppressive legislation and a call to crack down on the video game industry, which already regulates itself. There are some times, I wonder what George Washington would do if he saw the way government worked now. Would he be proud of it or would he shout out for his Grove Street peeps and go "Carl Johnson" on all them hos.
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