Today, I just felt the itch to write. This is something that has been nagging at me for a long time now. In the United States, we pretty much have a 2 party political system. You are either right or left, and never anywhere in the middle, so it seems. We always hear people screaming "the democrats are this" or "the republicans are that." The constant yelling never seems to end, fueled by the 24hour news networks and talking heads who have to dream up garbage to fill air time. I have recently come to the conclusion that we are under a 1 party political system with vocal nutjobs at the extremes of the spectrum. Nothing sparks my ire like the talk of violent video games, we will use this to demonstrate my point.
The Democrat party seems to be the party of "bleeding hearts" and socialists. I countless debates democrats talk of socialized medicine, safety nets for the poor, and other high dollar social programs on the back of American tax payers. That's all fine and dandy on paper, but we all know how the eastern block ended up. Anyways, from my experience the Dems want to protect you from yourself. They want heavy gun control so that guns can't harm anyone. They want to provide you with health care so that no one goes sick. If we look at the government track record, government pretty much sucks at doing every thing but nation defense and keeping a national currency. The Democrats want to enact a Nanny State that keeps everyone safe from harm.
Republicans on the other hand are stand for "Pro-business", "Pro-life", and "Traditional Values." Or so they think they do. The Republican party prides itself on "traditional values' something that is touted in every election, and spewed by pundits on Fox News. Now, I have nothing wrong with their stance, but when you start trying to legislate morality, you really hit the breaks. Trying to pass a law saying that "gay people cannot get married" or "creation must be taught in schools" is pretty much ridiculous. First off, marriage should not be a government function at all. It should be between you and whatever church or God you believe in. If you want to teach "creation" in school find me some hard evidence to back it up. Schools should be a place of fact and truth, not a place where religious ideas are forced on children. If you teach Christian creationism, shouldn't you have to teach Hindu, and Islamic, and Native American creationism as well? God, forbid that your child's eyes are opened to a wider world view.
Anyways what I'm getting at here is that both parties want to nanny you one way or the other. Whether its telling you who to give your money to or who you can pray to, both parties want the same thing; control over you! For the video game industry, this is a big issue. Both political parties see violent games as a harbinger of death for youngsters. States around the country are trying to ban the sale of violent games to minors. From the outside, "knee-jerk" reaction it sounds pretty good. No more school shootings, no more bullying because kids aren't subjected to the extreme interactive violence video games provide.
Scientifically, there are varying reports saying that violent games affect/do not affect kids. However, I will not argue that a 10 year old probably shouldn't be playing Mature rated games (17years +). As with movies, mature rated games have profanity, violence, and some times adult situations. However, this should fall on the parents to make sure their children aren't playing these games, NOT THE GOVERNMENT. The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has voluntarily enacted the standards board that rates all movies released in the US. The government has no involvement with this, nor does it enforce any of its regulations. Then why does the government feel the need to enact laws against video games?
Parents and prospective parents, you need to sit down and think about this for a second. You want more government in your lives because you are too much of a lazy ass to watch what your kids play on a Saturday afternoon? People cite the school shootings as an example of what video game violence does to your kids. In the case of Columbine, the shooters were making Pipe bombs in one of the boy's bedroom. Holyshit, if I was making pipe bombs in 9th grade, my parents would have known. You're going to blame that on video games? I call BULLSHIT on you sir. I call out all you shit-for-brains parents who are so wrapped up in your own social lives you can't spend a few minutes with your children. Here is a FUCK YOU for blaming your mistakes and failings on something else.
Creating a nanny state ultimately removes personal responsibility from our society. Evidence?: trillions of ridiculous "I spilled coffee on my lap, sue McDonalds" lawsuits. I guess that's alright if you want to go around living with your head in the sand for your entire life. For the rest of us, keep your personal bullshit out of politics, I won't bother you if you don't fucking bother me.
P.S Ban all the guns you want! Criminals don't get guns legally anyway. That's why they are criminals. You're only limiting the means of protection for the average citizen. But thats another story.
