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Courts Block Washington Violent Game Law
Thanks to Reuters/Yahoo for their report that the enforcement of a Washington state law, designed to restrict the sale of violent video games to minors, has been postponed. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik blocked enforcement of the law, set to start July 27th, and to impose fines on anyone selling games to minors depicting violence against 'law enforcement officers', saying: "Plaintiffs have raised serious questions regarding the constitutionality of House Bill 1009 and the balance of hardships tips in their favor." Doug Lowenstein of the IDSA praised the move, praising "..the judge's finding that games are a form of protected speech like music and movies", but the Washington Democrat politician sponsoring the bill suggested that "..any injunction would only be preliminary and that.. the case [will] go to trial." The saga continues..
This is not unique to the bible belt. New York City has required expensive cabaret licenses for dancing. This has been the law for many years.
Actually, that's a good point and I neglected to address it. I too played with pretend guns, played violent video games, etc. as a child and youth. And yet, I am an exceptionally non-violent person. I have never been in a real fight, and I can count the times I have yelled at someone out of anger.
But that still leaves a question: if I learned about violence from my environment, how did I also learn to be peaceful, how did that choice happen if it was a choice? And then, what are my responsibilities as a parent? I don't really know the answer in totality. I try my best but like I said at the very beginning, I'm going off of completely anecdotal evidence.
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
Clueless? No, the problem is well understood. It has nothing to do with video games and it has nothing to do with ignorance. It's gutlessness on one hand and wishful thinking on the other.
No, the system is horribly flawed.
Of course, there is hope.
(Personal Responsibility doesn't pay out as much as the Lawsuit Lottery(TM) or Nanny Government Peace of Mind.)
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Power to the Peaceful
Ahhh. You are referring to this story. GTA was behind having swords as weapons. Warriors of Freedom online is responsible for the rest. :-)
His dad is blaming movies instead of games. In further stories I've seen his dad comment that his son was just acting on what he's seen in some movie. It's Jack Thompson (the lawyer from Miami) who's blaming games, and he's notorious for it.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.