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Jack Thompson Tasked With Writing Law
Gamespot's Rumor Control column this week handles the usual spurious talk that swirls around the game news sites. One (sadly) factual rumour they report on details gamer-hunting lawyer Jack Thompson's new role as a lawmaker. From the article: "Repeatedly, Thompson has called for states to pass laws criminalizing the sale of M-for-Mature rated games to minors. Now it appears he may get the chance to pen such a law himself. In an e-mail sent out Thursday, Thompson says he has 'been asked by the Office of the Governor of the State of Florida, Jeb Bush, to draft and submit to him and to Florida legislators a bill that will prohibit the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.' ... When queried by GameSpot for more details, he would only say that he is the only person thus far who has been asked to submit a bill to the governor's office about M-rated game sales. He did not offer details about what kind of penalties the bill would prescribe for offenders or whether or not said penalties would be imposed solely on the clerks selling the games or also on the establishment selling the game and/or the game's publisher."
According to this, Thompson is somewhat full of shit.
"A representative of Jeb Bush's press office characterized as "untrue" yesterday's Jack Thompson press release in which the Miami attorney and self-described "anti-game crusader" claimed that he was crafting video game legislation on behalf of the Florida governor."
More through the link.
One word: Canada. Really, look into it. All of the perks of the U.S. without the nut jobs...
You will know that the article is not completely up to date. Currently, Bush officials have denied that they asked Jack Thompson to write up video game legislation for them. Actually, blame should be put on GameStop for not researching this subject further, which is sad being that it is a highly visted videogame information site for many gamers.
See you in Canada. All the benefits of living in a modern economy a hair's breath from the world's sole superpower; none of the drawbacks of living in a third world society. You even get to speak English!
Just be sure to pack heavy, it's cold up here.
The unofficial
All of the perks of the U.S. without the nut jobs.
Canada is a nice country, but it has its own share of problems.
I lived there for three years, and I noticed:
- A LOT of petty micromanagement in the government. No country should spend tax dollars on governmental inspectors to ensure that restaurants are limited to a certain number of televisions, and that each of them must be below a maximum size. Or to arbitrarily decide that waitresses can wear a rollerskate on one foot, but not both. Two pieces of photo ID to buy liquor at the store, but only one from a bar? If you have two pieces of ID but your friend only has one, anything they were carrying can't be bought and you can only buy what you have in your hands?
- Stupidly high taxes, probably due mostly to the last point.
- A very conservative attitude re: appearances. I had long hair at the time, and I felt like I was back in the 50s because so many people thought I was a girl.
- A much bigger problem with non-deadly crime, e.g. theft and home invasions. Related to this, the much more restrictive firearm laws, although obviously some people prefer it that way.
- (related to the first point, but split out because this is a long rant) The incredibly annoying Canadian content laws for broadcasters. I had a show at my university's radio station, and there just aren't that many good Canadian industrial bands. Content should be about quality, not country of origin. A lot of the popular music in Canada is even worse than in the US (which is saying a lot) because the law requires radio stations and MuchMusic to play bands that are Canadian knockoffs of American pop bands (who are themselves third- or fourth-generation knockoffs of interesting music). I am looking at you, shitty band I can't remember the name of who tried to pull a Hendrix and turn the Canadian national anthem into a wailing guitar solo.
On the other hand:
- Socialized healthcare is good in many ways, although I think they should take the funding for the petty bureaucrats and use it to make sure people don't have to wait months for surgery.
- University is actually affordable for citizens.
I definitely have fond memories of it, but enough things got under my skin that I wouldn't live there again. That's kind of my dilemma - I feel similarly to the GP, but I don't know of any countries that would as a whole make me happier than the US.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman