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The War Against Virtual Beer Pong
Michelle Shildkret, 360i on behalf of TIME.com writes "JV Games was all set to release 'Beer Pong' for the Nintendo Wii when parents and lawmakers got a whiff, forcibly renaming the game to Pong Toss and filling its pixelated cups with water instead. But the game is still rated 'T' for teen, and anybody who encounters it will be able to draw clear conclusions as to its intended purpose (drink and get drunk)." Lesson: Don't play games that simulate drinking before you play games that simulate driving, or larceny.
Small place, appears not to be on most American maps, we like to call it "The Rest Of The World".
Come visit some time, tell your friends about it.
Not personal, just observational.
The US has some of the most stringent laws amongst western nations for limiting alcohol access to young adults. You can be taxed, vote, fuck and die for your country, but you can't drink beer until you're 21. Yet, amongst its peers, it ranks close to the top in terms of alcohol abuse and related activities like drink driving.
That may be because American teenagers are irresponsible asswipes and trying to minimize alcohol use helps us protect society as a whole from said teenagers. Being taxed, voting, f*cking, and dying only affects the individual taking part in those activities. Drinking and driving on the other hand can cause more people to die than just the person who was drinking.
Similar hypocricy abounds in other spheres of life. The 'most free' nation in the developed world, yet a higher fraction of its population imprisoned than anywhere else. Abstinence only, but the highest rates of teenage pregnancy.
Without laws there is chaos. You don't say where you are from so you obviously must live in a country with no freedom at all and feel you must complain about us to make your own country look at least a little better in some small way. I'm sure your country has laws that someone else may find equally idiotic but we conveniently can't comment on that since you didn't mention your nationality.
All of these are symptomatic of the US's prohibitionist approach to life -- a trait that can be traced all the way back to the pilgrims, who fled England not to be free from religious persecution, but so that they could themselves persecute without interference.
Orrrr.......they are symptomatic of a country whose religious foundation has eroded away over the decades such that it is more desired by society as a whole to teach kids how to have sex, to advertise sex in every imaginable way using teenagers, and teach them about Islam in schools than it is to teach them about Christianity, how to respect others instead of killing them, and to not act like a slut by age 15.
Seems you either have issues with the United States providing more freedom than your own country (which you neglected to mention in your rant about us) or you just have issues with Christians and feel that the U.S. is failing because of their sheer existence rather than their decreasing visibility and influence in American society. You failed to mention the correlation between the latter and the U.S's current situation.
Considering fewer Americans every year believe that homosexuality is sin, that abortion is wrong, that religion is important, and that proper parenting (setting rules for children to follow, keeping a watchful eye on them, caring for them, and an even distribution of male/female organs) is important, it is hard to imagine there are people like you who think that the laws of this nation are actually causing our downfall. You obviously haven't looked at the situation entirely. Maybe you have biases that prevent you from doing so?
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Hey, now now.
Smoking is a disgusting habit. Regardless of if it causes cancer or not, really, shit's plain nasty and you might as well stick a fork in an electrical outlet.
While drinking beer, when you're ready to know and handle your limits, is very good for you, it keeps your system running clean. There is nothing wrong with non-alcoholic bars, either; Majora's Mask featured a Milk Bar, and Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life has a non-alcoholic bar.
Smoking in bars was a horrible idea. If I go into a bar it's for a few drinks with friends. It's not to get tar and various forms of AIDS in my lungs. You want to smoke? Do it at home pal. In exchange I, as an arsenist, won't light you on fire. Not only is it disgusting it smells, especially in clubs; cigarette smoke makes the entire place smells like ass, and with people sweating it's a disaster waiting to happen.
PG-rated movies are intended for kids/early teens. You sure you want them smoking at that age? Smoking in movies only shows the "cool side". Yeah, looks pretty damn cool to smoke. 'til you see it in real life with people coughing up livers with yellow/blackening teeth.
Saying smoking should be allowed in public places and in the media is like saying people with AIDS/HIV should be allowed to masturbate freely in public and are legally encouraged to rape everything they see.
(but don't get me wrong. the less a government does past a few essential functions, the better.)
Really? You've tried it? You can honestly compare your experiences with, say, 40 years of satisfaction and relaxation provided by a pack a day, and state unequivocally that it has no purpose whatsoever?
ResidntGeek