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Senator Clinton Slams GTA
Joining the ranks of such luminaries as Jack Thompson and Governor Blagojevich, GamesIndustry.biz has the word that Senator Hillary Clinton has joined right wing advocates in decrying the gaming industry as a paragon of loose morals and corrupting influences. From the article: "Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them...This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it's OK to diss people because they are a woman, they're a different colour or they're from a different place." Commentary available at The Australian. Update: 03/30 02:22 GMT by T : Thanks to reader mantle_etching, here is a link to the entire speech as delivered, so you can judge its content for yourself.
You think killing prostitutes are bad? Wait until you see soldiers team-killing each other in CounterStrike.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
... but did you ever notice that not a single politician slams Thief?
Trolling is a art,
It is wrong to murder prostitutes after you have sex with them.
Unless they charge more than $50, then its ok.
I know of some books that suggest similar things! Kids could read it then do it! Ban all forms of seeing while we are at it!!
If your kid has a problem defining fantasy vs reality, video games are the least of his concern...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I remember reading about how wonderful alcohol was, while in Jr. High and Highschools. Never Cry Wolf, by Farley Mowat, painted a lovely picture of something called "wolf juice" which was (IIRC) half whiskey and half beer. This book was required reading for some classes. Should I blame Mr. Mowat for how much I spend on ales, porters and stouts these days? I suggest a few million to conduct a meaningful study. If it's approved, I'll see you all down at the bar, first round is on me.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Hilary Clinton... used the word 'diss' in a sentence? Hilary Clinton?!?...
Isn't that one of the signs of the Apocalypse???!?!
Are we sure it wasn't George Clinton?....
Is Hilary Clinton trying to swell the ranks of the Young Republicans? Whatever happened to Democrats sticking up for things like civil liberties? When do I get my Deomocrat party back from the corps and self righteous? Yet another disillusioned Democrat that desperatelhy want a middle of the road party to balance things out in this country of mine.
I was murdering prostitutes WAY before GTA came out.
It doesn't make you kill prostitutes. Just something you are free to do, as in real life. I choose not to in SA, for various reasons.
Also I think with SA they have been more consistent with who is racist/sexist &c. You're character isn't overly either, yet the more dislikable people are, as in films for instance.
I bought it, and it had an 18 label on it. Moral of the story - DON'T LET YOUR KIDS PLAY IT IF THEY'RE NOT INTELLIGENT, FREE THINKING INDIVIDUALS. Jesus!
The key part of the sound bite:
"Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them..."
Wow. Sounds like those children have some really crappy parents. My brother would never let his daughter play a game like Grand Theft Auto.
Perhaps, Senator Clinton, this is what comes of trying to get the "village" to raise a child. There are a lot of jerks in any given community who will happily sell violent soft-core pornography to children at $60 retail.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Ban the bible, lest the citizens learn to stone rapists, murders, and maybe even the politicians to death.
Legally enforcing those ESRB ratings seems like the obvious choice to please both sides.
Hillary Clinton doesn't want an impressionable 15 year old playing GTA. I'm 22, and want to play whatever the hell I please because I'm an adult that's responsible for his own actions.
I know the ESRB rating system has been around for a while, but nobody enforces it. Nobody is preventing a 15 year old kid from buying a copy of GTA, BMX XXX, or any other game that *probably* isn't all that appropriate for younger kids, even if I played similar games at that age myself and have never physically harmed another human being.
The problem is that enforcing this screws the retail chains that carry these titles (in addition to screwing the under-18 market, but since they can't vote, I doubt Hilly cares anyway).
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jonathan barket
You seem to be forgetting that there was a period of ten years between the two events...
It's not up to politicians to determine the morality of music, video games, or any other communication. Politicians are always trying to get an angle on something to better their own political gain.
Their constituents shouldn't be admonished for "bad morals" because they have free thought while they strive to cheat, steal, lie, and sneak around to get higher up the political food chain.
Completely out of context.
... the tax cuts may have helped you," Sen. Clinton said. "We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
Context:
"Headlining an appearance with other Democratic women senators on behalf of Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is up for re-election this year, Hillary Clinton told several hundred supporters -- some of whom had ponied up as much as $10,000 to attend -- to expect to lose some of the tax cuts passed by President Bush if Democrats win the White House and control of Congress.
"Many of you are well enough off that
Kids don't grow up to become prostitute-murdering psychopaths because they played a videogame that "taught them it was cool."
But my mom said I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up!
Look here
:
The best quotes
"Serious violent crime levels declined since 1993. "
"Firearm-related crime has plummeted since 1993."
The most amusing thing is Doom was released at the peak in 1993. Perhaps people are taking their frustations out in violent video games instead of real life?
Service guarantees Citizenship! Questions Guarantee GITMO.... Amerika Uber Alles!
I don't see how playing GTA is any worse than enjoying an episode of The Sopranos.
We are invited to sympathize with Tony Soprano as he:
- Covers up the murder of a stripper by one of his henchmen.
- Kills and decapitates the very same henchman for mistreating an animal he liked.
- Shatters the knee of a gambler who owes him money
- Bankrupts the father of his daughter's best friend
- Cheats on his wife with multiple partners
Why don't people complain about The Sopranos they way they do about GTA?
Because people understand that The Sopranos is intended for adults. GTA and games like it are also intended for adults, but there are a lot of people out there who don't understand that.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
"I'd like someone to sit down the youngsters in our country and try to explain to them how killing or torturing someone in a war that was permitted under false pretenses is morally acceptable"
It is not permitted. In fact in case you have not noticed several people are being tried or have already been convicted of these crimes. I have a feeling that more people in the CIA need to be put on trial.
"but allowing an incapacitated woman to pass away peacefully is not. "
The court is on your side so far on this one. But isn't good that all the questions about it have been brought up. I for one do not know if starving to death is "peaceful" as you put it. They claim she does not feel pain but then why did the Hospice give her morphine? She left no living will and her family is even at odds over it. This is in no way a simple case.
"Or how the President willed a young woman to suck him off and put a cigar in her vagina because he had the power to do so was still allowed to run this "moral" country after he was found guilty of lying?"
You got me on this one. I have no freaking idea. All I hear is that he was a good president and that the economy was better when he was president. Frankly giving him credit for what was an HUGE stock bubble plus the rise of the Internet plus the IT investment in Y2K
I feel that everything you have pointed out except the Shivo case are more signs of the problem than the root cause. The very fact that so many people like to play GTA is a bad sign. Couldn't the same style of game involve sneaking jews out of Nazi Germany or trying to bring down an oppressive government? The very idea of being good or a hero has fallen out of favor and become comedy. It is sad.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Perhaps, Senator Clinton, this is what comes of trying to get the "village" to raise a child.
Everyone should just ignore her. This is Hillary Clinton just trying to appear centrist in order to set herself up for a 2008 Presidential run. She's been saying a lot of things lately about "faith" and "morals" due to the "moral values" issue of the last election.
I don't even care if you're Democrat. Just pointing out what is obviously going on, and why she's suddenly speaking out on this. Decide what you want (personally, I'm not sure she'll ever successfully shake her image as an ultra-liberal from upper New York).
perfectly valid moral laws that have sound logic behind them .
Demonstrate to me that my decade plus of playing wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and so on will compel me to go out and kill someone.
Then we'll talk about sound logic.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
It's pretty nice in my party. We aren't beholden to anybody, and we only follow what we believe.
:)
It's called being an Independent.
I learned long ago that political parties are nothing more than organized religions. They're only right some of the time, and they all tell the truth, but only their agreeable versions of it.
Lean Democrat, if that so suits you. But do it because it's what you believe, not what the party believes. Clearly, you are already disillusioned with the Democrats. So don't be one, and wait along for someone to come along you agree with and vote for them based on the issues, not affiliation.
You'd be amazed how difficult this concept is for so many people. "Which party are you?" "None." *blank stare*
When do I get my Deomocrat party back
Where'd all the real republicans go?
It won't change until you find a way to convince the general public to stop voting people they don't really want up through the primary elections just because they think they can win, and find a way to convince the general public to stop believing fabricated rhetoric from the "news" telling them what to think about a candidate's character.
It's a much bigger problem than just finding a new candidate. It's a systemic problem involving the distribution and control of information, and it has hit both parties.
It doesn't even endore it, in fact, it is advertised as a work of fiction, entertainment, not the divine word by which to live your life, as the Bible is.
& location=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FUS%2FwireSt ory%3Fid%3D621347).
So while you contend that the OT doesn't apply to modern people (care to back that up? not saying it can't be, just want to see fi you can) some people may get the wrong idea, and that is what we are worried about with GTA right? That someone might read the sotry and believe they should actually do it.
I mean clearly there are many that think at least some parts of the OT are to be taken literally. Look at all those that cite it as reason why gay couples shouldn't be allowed to marry. Or how about the jurors receantly that cited the eye for an eye part when deciding to sentence a rapist to death (http://go.fark.com/cgi/fark/go.pl?IDLink=1421604
Point is that the Bible is full of authorization to do violence to others. Now perhaps the way you choose to interpret it says that doesn't apply now, that's fine, but it is still there. GTA doesn't command anyone to do anything, it's just a game, yet people seem to object to it based on its content. Why then, isn't there the same objection to the bible (rehtorical question)?
"My brother would never let his daughter play a game like Grand Theft Auto."
I let my 9 year old daughter play it, guess what she did?
She drove around in the taxi giving people rides or the fire truck/ambulence helping people...
When she watched me play it she kept telling me "No don't shoot the people!!! Don't drive on the sidewalk!!! You're not supposed to be the bad guy!!"
Maybe this can be taken as one of the "its a tool and depends on how you use it" arguements?
Not everything is inherently bad or evil...
[Hillary Clinton] wants a $90 million investigation to be launched
Who are they paying with this money? Do you really need $90million worth of research on this topic? Classrooms are overcrowded, people are going hungry, teachers are underpaid... the deficit is going up...
Isn't there something more important to go after than this? This is EXACTLY what Bush did during the election by making gay marriage the issue of the election instead of the economy...
All she's doing is grandstanding to get elected by the rightwing while calling herself a leftwing democrat.
Is Jon Stewart any less qualified than George W. Bush was when he ran?
Or Ronald Reagan, or Jimmy Carter, or any number of other presidents we have. Why is there this common notion that we need someone "qualified" to be President. The Constitution requires that a candidate for the presidency must be a "natural-born" citizen of the United States, at least 35 years of age, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. That appears to be all of the "qualifications" needed.
Part of the problem with this country is we think we have to elect lifetime politicians to every office and somehow incumbents magically are better at governing. I wish I knew how to change the attitude of the American people on this. I would LOVE to see some average Joe off the street elected president. Someone intelligent for sure, but someone that hasn't made a career out of lying to everyone and could serve is four years and get out.
I probably don't agree with Jon Stewart's politics, but I have not problem with him running and might actually vote for him because he's not a career politician.
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Do you think (as a staunch Democrat) that I like this? Do you think I like having to settle for somebody center-left/centrist/center-right? Hell no. But the reality of current demographics and the Electoral College is such that I don't foresee any leftist Democrats being elected in the next decade or so
This was the exact logic that lead to the nomination of John Kerry.
As long as this logic is followed, only people like John Kerry will be nominated by the Democrats for election.
And as long as this logic is followed, the Democratic party will continue losing every single election they enter.
Listen: There is no such thing as "centrist". There is no "political spectrum". There are only two things. There are people who stand for something, and people who don't. Right now the Republicans are winning elections because they stand for something and they can convince people of what they stand for. If you put this up against what the democrats are offering-- which the democratic leadership thinks of as "centrism", but everyone else in the entire world sees as "we agree with the republicans, but we don't want to take it quite as far"-- it will lose every time. And in every election since 1994 not involving Bob Dole, it has. Whether what the Republicans offer is what people want is uncertain, but it is certain people would rather have real Republicans than fake Republicans.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Hillary believes it's ok for a teenage girl to have the right to have an abortion without parental consent, but she can't play a video game with simulated sex and violence.
Vote for Pedro