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Aussie Attorney General Says Gamers Are Scarier Than Biker Gangs
Sasayaki writes "South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson claims, in an interview with Good Game, that gamers were more of a threat to his family than biker gangs. This is the man who has been the biggest opponent to Australia receiving an R18+ rating for video games and who has the power to veto any such law introducing it."
Wow, the AG has the power of the veto in .AU? That's a pretty strange arrangement where the guy charged with enforcing the law gets to decide if something should be a law.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
I don't disagree that he's a whackjob. But if people bothered to RTFA (wishful thinking on my part)...
Atkinson's got very vocal opposition among biker gangs and gamers.
The reason he feels gamers are more of a threat to his family is because a gamer left a threatening note under his door one night. No biker has done that.
Put yourself in the same situation. What would you consider a more present threat to your safety -- a set of organizations who is opposing you politically (the biker gangs are putting forward their own candidate to run against him), or a set of individuals, one of which has made a threat, in writing, at your home?
Context is everything. The submitter, the editor, and all of the early posters like yourself should do yourselves a favor and (1) read the fucking quote before misattributing words to someone and (2) understand the context in which those words were said.
I'm addicted to slashdot, obviously so if you see my post history. But I'm sick of it becoming the geek tab of fark.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The article also mentions that in his scuffle with the bikers, he claimed they had BBQ'd and eaten a cat. Then was forced to admit he made it up. Why would you give him any credibility with regards to this supposed threat he received, when he has lied about his opposition in the past?
At least in the U.S. we disbarred Jack Thompson. In Australia, they made him Attorney General!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Australia must be a land of lolly pops and fluffy clouds, because I'd wager the Attorney General of any other reasonably large country on this planet probably receives a bag full of hate mail ever year. I can only imagine the kind of stuff the US Attorney General gets.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Actually, I'm an Aussie who says "barbie", as does everyone I know. "Shrimp" OTOH is never used (and if I ever hear the term, I think of really tiny little prawns).
s/country/state/g. This is a state-level Attorney General, not for the entire country. (US has state-level AGs as well, fyi)
Second, there's a difference between getting nastygrams sent to your office, where they can be filtered by functionaries, and a nastygram sent to your home.
That said, this guy's holding an irrational position if he wants to avoid violence getting in the hands of teenagers, imho. Better off allowing R18+, and then pushing for more games to be rated R18+, so that fewer of them are given to children by parents. Of course, he prefers the 'head-in-sand' approach.
And it's not just little lies about "bikers roasting cats".
He has also brought in a law (since revoked) that required that people blogging about elections to publish their name and address, and to support that law claimed that a certain blogger was "not a real person" - an invention of the Liberal Party.
Prejudiced the trial of people by claiming they were "pure evil - have no hope of rehabilitation".
So he has a history of "discovering evidence" to support his extreme views
He has a law degree - and spent a couple of years working for a newspaper (until he was "removed" for fabricating stories)
So he should know about checking your facts, and, the existence of police.
I believe the appropriate comment is "sucked in!".
Here is a copy of the note itself
http://imgur.com/CeACw.png
How does this constitute a threatening letter?
"Dear Mick, I Can Has R18 Rating Pls? kthxbai"
Screen shot Taken from http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/02/16/2820930.htm (not by me)
Talk about the media taking it and running with it and blowing out of proportion