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Germany Places Command & Conquer on Restricted List
heli0 writes "CNet is reporting that Germany has placed EA's newest Command & Conquer game 'Generals' on its restricted list, which means it may not be advertised or displayed on shelves although it may be kept under store counters and sold to adults. The reason according to Elke Monssen-Engberding, director of the Ministry for Family Affairs: 'It portrays war as the only way to resolve conflicts.'"
the german "Bundesruefstelle fuer jugendgefaehrdende Schriften" (federal department for the control of youth-endangering writings) maintains a list of products that are deemed "adult material". These products may neither be advertised, nor openly sold, but after an ID check may be sold to anyone age 18 or higher. these products fall into the following categories :
- hard pornography
- violence
- drug abuse
- political extremist material
the first computer game ever to end up on this list was A10:Tank Killer. Other games include the Doom, Quake and Command and Conquer series. The Bundespruefstelle lost a lot of power over the years, but got a lot of influence after the Erfurt school shootings.and now for the reality check : as much as 18-year olds are able to obtain beer in the united states, 16-year olds can get a copy of C&C:Generals in Germany. if they can't buy it in their software shop of choice, they just get it per mailorder from Austria or Holland. the whole reason of this restrictive list is that, after WWII, there was a meme shift in Germany. The fascism meme (fascism as in "power trough violence") was replaced by the democracy meme, and most Germans/Western Europeans think that a game/book/movie that promotes the killing of human beings is not suited for kids.
my point : this restriction list is not really potent, and has existed long before the current situation, even in a time when Germany and the US where close buddies. So don't see this as some kind of America-bashing. If we "old Europeans" accept the American attitude about gun ownage, you might as well accept ours.
Karma
Isn't it amazing how much ignorance people can stuff into one quote?
1) The bestselling rapper is white. Big news. The bestselling artist of any black music trend is always white.
2) That's Switzerland. Sweden has plenty of coastline.
3) People all over the world consider Americans arrogant, as they think this level of ignorance must be deliberate. Nothing new there.
4) Germany has a constitution, largely dictated 50 years ago by the allies, including the US, which interdicts any offensive war. And saying 'I'm feeling vaguely threatened by this little country way off on another continent' will not make it a defensive war as envisioned by the framers of the German constitution. They had no choice but to say no to war. Mind, it's a good idea anyway.
And yes, the best golfer in the world is Asian-African-American. Ten points for a reasonably correct answer.
What I find offensive about the war reporting are attempts to sanitize it, to sweep the suffering under a rug, as it might inhibit support for the war effort. Do show the corpses, the malnourished children and the diseases caused by impure drinking water. Truth hurts, but it's good for you.
I'm an American living in Germany. I was listening to the radio on the way home from work the other day. The announcer was listing off the traffic jams and construction sites of the day and casually mentioned that they were defusing a bomb in a particular area, and that people who weren't directly involved should avoid the area.
This wasn't major news -- unexploded ordinance from WWII is still occasionally found and needs to be taken care of. With such ever present reminders of the horrors of war you begin to understand why the Germans are so utterly opposed to starting them these days.
Because the Provos in Ireland are so upset about American hegemonistic tendencies that it's encouraged them to rise up and commit acts of terror, right? Ditto the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elan, the Basque nationalists, the PKK in Turkey, the New People's Army in the Phillipines, the Zapatistas in Chiapas State, and probably several others I've never heard of.
You "think Americans can only think of solutions in terms of warfare" because that's what grabs headlines. Brinksmanship is far more interesting on the world stage than a civil trade negotiation. Please note that when the Chinese were essentially holding U.S. Navy personnel hostage, that America did not go to war. Please note also that we are acting currently to enforce UN Security Council resolutions (most of them unanimous, if memory serves) that have been on the books for an even dozen years. Simply because some other countries object to the things they agreed to in the past doesn't mean our will must waver now.
When you make obviously inflammatory blanket statements that have no basis in fact whatsofuckingever, expect to get them thrown back in your face. Oh, and as for your statement about Americans trying to control the world, I leave you with a quote from Colin Powell:
They that would sacrifice their
This is why I think they lost.
1. They didn't want war (for any reason) but there is a war.
2. UN credibility is shot. (I am rather upset on this one.)
3. Their economy is shot, because of trade with US.
4. UN may get to participate in the rebuilding, but as secondary party.
5. And the thing that pissed off the French so much, is that US and British companies would get the most lucrative business offers from it!
Whether this war is justified or now, we will find out in the long run. For now, all I see is two sides fighting, and one side fighting rather dirty.
I look forward to hearing from you. Fun debate
Free speech is getting expensive...
My "<" had been swallowed. I find this very offensive. Here's the corrected version:
As another poster was already pointing out, this kind of blacklist has always been around and it only affect kids (< 18yrs).
In Germany we are much more sensetive to exposing kids to violence while being much more relaxed about pornography in comparison.