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Christian Group Prepares To Mark Wii as 'Porn Portal'
Citing the Wii's ability to browse the internet via the Opera browser, a Christian group based out of California is planning on targeting the console with a smear campaign, Kotaku reports. The site has gotten ahold of a leaked press release from the upcoming 'Porn Talk' media event. From the release: "Like many new gaming technologies, the Wii's wireless internet capabilities make it a portal to porno. 'Parents think the computer is the only way for their kids to get porn on the internet. Unfortunately, they are dead wrong,' says Mike Foster, founder of ThePornTalk.com. 'Gaming devices like the Wii and the PSP aren't just for fun games anymore. You're able to surf the net, chat with friends, email, and view porn because of its internet access. Kids know this but parents don't!'"
"Playing with my Wii."
"Oh, ok. Carry on."
First joke!
Parent groups prepare to label real life as "violent and filled with adult-related content." ....seriously, folks. Access isn't the issue in the modern era; teaching kids good judgment is.
The ability to communicate well does not directly correspond to the ability to communicate intelligently.
It may be a little sensationalist, but the basic point is fine. "Guess what parents, kids can also access teh pr0nz0rz using the PSP, Wii, etc." If they were trying to get the Wii banned or something, that would be one thing, but just trying to help parents do their job (again, with a little extra sensationalism) is really no cause for controversy.
-stormin
The Southern Baptist Convention has creationism. On Slashdot, we have porn.
...I look at Jesus' words and actions as significant and the previous story before Him and insignificant in terms of how we live. In my opinion, when Jesus said "Judge not others" He meant it.
Christians who judge others haven't read their Bibles. It is time to move forth, Christians, read your Bibles, and get out of people's lives, especially the lives of non-Christians.
Embarassing, to say the least.
This makes me more inclined to buy a Wii. I usually do not like console games, but if I can look up porn while getting exercises while angering a Christan group, I do believe it is worth it.
A unique way to learn a language: http://languageloom.com
Did these people not know that, in order to use the Opera browser on the Wii, you first have to download it from the Wii Shopping Channel ... In order to get to the Will Shopping Channel, you must input a PIN number. To use Opera once it's downloaded ... you must input your PIN.
That was put there so PARENTS COULD HAVE CONTROL OVER WHAT THEIR KIDS DO WITH THE MACHINE! (Sorry for the yelling...) "Wii == Porn Portal" makes a much better headline than "Parents too busy to take responsibility for thier kids."
I mean seriouly, it takes all of 2 minutes to setup a PIN number on the Wii. It takes even less time to not tell your kids what the PIN # is. If you can't trouble parents with that level of responsibility, what are they there for?
First of all, the press release isn't bashing the Wii, or calling it "Satan's PORNtal" or anything like that. They even go as far as to point out that the Wii includes parental controls: It looks like they're just using the Wii's popularity to push their agenda, that agenda being discussing the issue of porn with your kids -- a perfectly respectable goal. FTA:Encouraging parents to talk to kids about online behavior? That's a good thing. The Wii tie-in is nothing but marketing to attract parents.
Sony ha
I don't see why the Wii gets so much innuendo compared to the other consoles.
"Playstation 3" sounds like a deep space brothel.
"X-Box 360" sounds like getting gang-raped by guys who ejaculate Mountain Dew.
Come on, people.
Christians who judge others haven't read their Bibles.
Sounds like you're doing a little judgment of your own, doesn't it?
Look. Way too many people make this misunderstanding. The passage says "Judge not, lest you also be judged" (or something to that effect, depending on your translation). It DOESN'T say, "never judge anything at all, ever." It says, watch yourself, because the same rod you use to measure others might come back and bite you in the ass one day (I'm reminded of some very famous televangelests).
In fact, just moments after Jesus instructs us to "judge not", he says: Well, clearly, he didn't mean LITERAL dogs and swine. How would we know if they were dogs or swine if we didn't JUDGE the behavior of others? Clearly, we're supposed to make assessments of others based on their actions, and had you read your Bible, you'd know that's what Jesus meant.
I realize this seems off-topic, and I'll likely be modded down to oblivion, but as it IS a Christian group that's the subject of discussion here, I think this rebuttal is only fair. Flame on
Sony ha
What's really funny is that, at least based on the look they give in the article, the article (and, even worse, the summary) is far more overreactive and emotionally charged than the campaign itself.
...
"Like many new gaming technologies, the Wii's wireless internet capabilities make it a portal to porno. 'Parents think the computer is the only way for their kids to get porn on the internet. Unfortunately, they are dead wrong,' says Mike Foster, founder of ThePornTalk.com. 'Gaming devices like the Wii and the PSP aren't just for fun games anymore. You're able to surf the net, chat with friends, email, and view porn because of its internet access. Kids know this but parents don't!'"
So the solution lies in parents getting the facts and then talking to their children about expectations for online activity. Foster believes that, "Whether it is the home computer or these new gaming consoles, porn is easily accessible. The Wii is an amazing console and tons of fun but parents need good info on how to keep kids safe."
My Gord! That's so... so... rational, unemotional, and largely objectively (or "empirically", if you prefer) true. Compare to
targeting the console with a smear campaign
Saying the truth in a calm, collected manner is called smearing, now? When did that start? Or
I find it funny that a site that seems to go to so much effort to hide its ties to religion and ministry work is using the phrase dirty little secret.
Wait, was that an implication that religion is a dirty little secret? Damn submarine Jews.
the story's caustic tone
Is that more or less caustic than calling religions dirty little secrets?
Seriously. I may think the anti-porn campaign is a bit unnecessary (in a "don't you have something better to do?" way), but the campaign is surprisingly (at least after reading the beginning of the article) docile and rational. Who cares what they think, really? And who cares if they tell parents that kids can surf porn on the Wii? I mean, you can surf porn on the Wii, right? The most emotional (as opposed to rational) appeal in the whole thing is the title of the campaign ("The Wii's Dirty Little Secret"), and even that's less emotional/sarcastic/caustic (or "witty", as we prefer to say) than the average Slashdot catch-phrase. Hell, this paragraph has more sarcasm than that whole campaign.
Overall rating of the article: Troll.
You have tried to support your argument with faulty reasoning! Go directly to jail; do not pass Go, do not collect $200!
actually the christian group said that it is a fun console to play, but parents should be aware that it has internet access, and then explain how to turn on and use the parental controls. if you read the actual article by the christian group, which was linked to in previous post by someone else, you'd see they didn't actually have anything bad to say about the wii.
Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, , Mushroom, MUSHROOM, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, , Mushroom, MUSHROOM, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, Aaaaah A Snake, It's a Snake, Ooouuh, A Snake, a Snake, Judgers, Judgers, Judgers, etc. ...
[WTF?]
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
- A lot of children have relatively unmonitored access to the Wii, perhaps in their own bedroom or play room.
- A lot of parents *don't* know about the Wii's internet capabilities. Many of those that *are* aware, assume that the content is somehow filtered.
- A lot of parents *don't* know about the Wii's child protection features, account controls, etc. - I'm not sure what's required to download the browser, but if no credit card is required and no admin-like privileges are required or set up, then its possible for them to download the browser themselves.
While the tone of the press release is too strong as I said above, I think we can all see that, yes, the Wii can be used to access porn, chat rooms, etc that may be innapropriate for young people. I think we can all agree that, yes, all parents should be aware of this reality and take steps they deem appropriate, but many are simply not aware at this point.This isn't another "Video games are the devil!" argument, no one's calling for a boycott of the Wii, or for Nintendo to be held responsible for the content some children might access... beyond the slightly sensational tone all I see is information that is usefull and pertinent for parents.
No one here would turn their kid loose on the web without proper protection/monitoring in place, or at the very least recognize the risk in doing so. We forum-goers are always calling for parental and personal responsibility, for good reason, and I don't see this press release as doing much else.
Sigh. "Nannie state fascist" is not a bad term, but the fact that you apply it so carelessly indicates a certain knee-jerkiness on your part. Please repeat after me: "Rush Limbaugh thinks with his mouth."
To me, a "Nannie State fascist" is somebody wants the government to outlaw every little danger. Ralph Nader is a prime case. Of course, the term is sort of subjective. You and I would probably agree that the crusade to require passive restraints in cars (basically, seatbelts that buckle you in involuntarily) is Nannie State Fascism. But we probably disagree as to the speed limit (I think people who think they can drive safely at 90 MPH are fooling themselves, but that's not a popular opinion).
This, on the other hand is better described as "Righteous Religious Fascism." The motivation is not to protect you from yourself, but to protect you from Satan.
Apparently a lot of people haven't read the actual article in question. In fact, they do mention PIN numbers and parental controls. However, parents need to know that they have to turn these features ON, since it's default to off.
Also, the "Wii == Porn Portal" is actually something the gaming press came up with. The actual site itself doesn't appear to be "blaming the Wii" for any problems.
Unfortunately, this appears to be a case where the gaming media is blowing something out of proportion, and stands a good chance at doing more harm than good. If I were a regular parent who came across the article on this site, I would have thought, "Oh, the Wii has a web browser? And I have a way to turn on parental controls? Excellent!". However, if I had come across the Slashdot or Kotaku article instead, I might be thinking "THE WII IS A PORTAL TO PORN!? OMG!" . Gee, thanks gaming press.
-- jchenx
For fuck's sake, the thing has a one-handed controller! How could you not?
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
Honestly I can't imagine a more lunatic bigoted view, but on Slashdot even the idiots get modified insightful, as long as it tangentially goes along with the group-think.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
June 28, 1969 called. It wants its misinformed homophobia back.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
"Unfortunately, folks like this don't realize that you need to face evil to become hardened to it."
WTF? Those of us who actually care don't want to become "hardened" to evil. Evil is evil and it sucks. Evil is bigotry, prejudice, violence, and those who don't choose to live by the "golden rule". They are the enemy of everyone. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you become hardened to evil then you are choosing to ignore it. I don't want anyone to ignore evil. Make a difference. I'll risk my life to intervene if I see a mugging or convenience store robbery. I choose to not associate with people who espouse prejudices, violence, or really harmful "criminal" activities...who really cares about a friendly poker game or smoking a little pot?
As far as homosexuals go, they don't harm me or as far as I can see, they don't harm society. Hell, we've got too many kids out there who need parents and being raised by a homosexual does not mean you become a homosexual. Homosexuality seems to be in most mammalian and many bird species but they are, and must by Darwin's law, remain a minority.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
"Seriously, most of this crazy "Christian" crap comes from the Catholics."
What rubbish. I currently live in a predominantly Catholic country, and despite not being a Christian myself, am married to a woman who goes to mass twice a week, has a grandfather who was beatified by the last pope, and an uncle who is likely to be beatified by this one. Yet strangely, neither she nor her priest have mentioned the Wii (which is constantly sold out over here), or the Internet (massively popular), or for that matter porn (also incredibly popular). They also have far less in the way of silly prudishness than most protestant countries: nearly all women go topless on the beach, TV adverts have full-frontal topless shots, explicit sex scenes don't have watershed hours, and movie ratings are advisory rather than enforced by law, for example (one also sees a lot more blood and gore on news reports, which aren't censored for fear of possibly scaring a child. The attitude here seems to be that it's a parent's job to control what their children watch, not everyone else's).
Thus, a far more accurate statement would be: most of this crazy "Christian" crap comes from US-based right wing fundamentalist religious nuts.
"Look at the history of the Catholic church. Murder. Rape. Molestation. Lies."
All of which are true of Protestants when they've had the power to do so. Here are a few examples (there are many, many more):
- John Calvin's followers burned 58 "heretics".
- Lutherans in Germany instituted the death penalty for heresy, i.e. the crime of not interpreting Biblical scriptures in the same way as them.
- Elizabeth 1 of England outlawed Catholicism and executed at least 200 Catholics; Quakers and other non-Anglicans were also persecuted.
- John Knox et. al. made it illegal to say Mass in Scotland. Punishment for the first offence was flogging and confiscation of all good, second offence banishment, third offence death.
- Matthew Hopkins, the notorious "Witch Finder General", was a Protestant.
- Puritan settlers of Massachusetts instituted what can best be described as a religious police state where even minor doctrinal differences were punished by flogging, pillorying, hanging, cutting off ears and / or noses, and boring holes in tongues with hot irons. Quakerism was a capital offence, and four Quakers were hanged for it, while the famous Salem witch trials resulted in 20 executions and around 150 people being imprisoned.
Protestants who happily lambast Catholics for their church's past atrocities are thus akin to Nigerians condemning Uganda for being full of black people.
I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.
I've got muslim friends that are as 'moderate' as you or I, heck one even comes to the pub with me for a beer every now and then ("Oh dont worry, Allahs got bigger things to worry about mate"), and I've got whackjob christian aquaintances who think gays should be executed and muslims converted by force.
Moderation is moderation, and its the usual state of humans who have better things to worry about , like getting to work on time and making sure the kids are doing the homework.
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.