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Aussie Attorney General Says Gamers Are Scarier Than Biker Gangs

Posted by Soulskill on from the well-perhaps-in-some-senses dept.

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."

35 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Well, i guess so... by gandhi_2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    if you are a bag of Doritos.

    --
    THL phish sticks
    1. Re:Well, i guess so... by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To be fair, the context was that a gamer slipped a threatening note under his door. I think in general, zombies are scarier than my next door neighbor, but if my next door neighbor says he's going to burn down my house, and zombies remain fictional, temporarily my neighbor becomes scarier than zombies.

      It's not a statement that should have been made by a politician in public though, and since he's keeping censorship going, he deserves whatever he gets (quotes taken out of context AND the threats). Furthermore, for him to fairly make the comparison, he needs to try banning motorcycles and then telling us which is scarier. I don't know much about motorcycle gangs, but I think they probably wouldn't have slid a note under his door, I think they would have slid a note on the end of their boot up his ass.

    2. Re:Well, i guess so... by Bakkster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To be fair to the guy, if he's worried about threats to his family, none of that matters.

      Of course, the fact that he uses ridiculous rhetoric (apparently he claimed bikers cooked a cat on a grill in his district; even though it wasn't a cat, wasn't in his district, and no bikers were involved) doesn't help matters. However, threatening the guy is the exact wrong way to go about fixing the Aussie rating system. Gamers making threats will just reinforce the stereotype that gamers are dangerous, giving him more reason to oppose adult classifications for games.

      So, to everyone in Australia, the guy who made that threat is fucking it up for the rest of you. Maybe you should beat him up, or something...

      --
      Write your representatives! Repeal the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics!
    3. Re:Well, i guess so... by ozbird · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To be fair, the context was that a gamer slipped a threatening note under his door.

      A gamer allegedly slipped a threatening note under his door.

    4. Re:Well, i guess so... by jcr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A gamer allegedly slipped a threatening note under his door.

      An alleged gamer allegedly slipped an allegedly threatening note under his door. Personally, I would need more than a politician's word on it.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    5. Re:Well, i guess so... by Demonoid-Penguin · · Score: 4, Informative
      No - to be fair you'd have to consider the guys history (and ask why he didn't report the alleged incident to police).

      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!".

  2. Hells Angels by e2d2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hear a challenge Hells Angels/Mongols/Pagans/Insert your club here. This guy just called you all a bunch of pussies!

    1. Re:Hells Angels by Deadplant · · Score: 4, Funny

      according to TFA their 'biker gags' are called 'bikies'.
      wtf?
      makes sense now... who would be afraid of a widdle bikie-wikee gang?

    2. Re:Hells Angels by rarel · · Score: 4, Funny
      Hell's Angles would be pretty tough for a nerd.

      "TANGENT ATTACK! CHEW ON MY SATANIC PI! ONE THOUSAND DEGREEEEES HYPOTENUSE!"
      "NOOO This value is... not... real.. not... possible!Gngngngnn.Must... Resist..." *faints*

      Hell's Angles declared winners.

    3. Re:Hells Angels by natehoy · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, that's SATA N DEATH 666. It's a SerialATA specifications group who is concerned that SATA will reach 666 MB/s, and that this would indicate the coming of the Apocalypse by bringing one of the Four Horsemen, Death.

      --
      "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
  3. Bwahahaha! by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Where does Australia find these whack jobs? I mean, either the guy is a paranoid schizophrenic or a mental retard.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    1. Re:Bwahahaha! by guruevi · · Score: 4, Funny

      He's a politician. What do you expect - he's probably both?

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    2. Re:Bwahahaha! by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Informative

      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
    3. Re:Bwahahaha! by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a politician and (assuming Rudd isn't running everything) a setter of policy, it's his job to look beyond personal anecdotes. If he's making policy based solely on the fact that some nutjob left a note on his door, and he can't get past that, then he has no business being in a position where he does form policy. I'm sorry someone made some sort of a threat, but if he's suffered that significant an emotional scarring from it, perhaps he should recuse himself.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:Bwahahaha! by rale,+the · · Score: 5, Informative

      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?

    5. Re:Bwahahaha! by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.
    6. Re:Bwahahaha! by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.
    7. Re:Bwahahaha! by NFN_NLN · · Score: 4, Funny

      FWIW, the bikers did indeed barbecue and eat a cat.

      Which is in direct contradiction with the article that says:

      He was later forced to apologise. The animal was not a cat, the incident happened at another location and bikies weren't involved.

      So...what am I supposed to make of this?

      It was not a cat, it was a pig. Those weren't bikers, they were Hawaiians. It wasn't a biker gang rally, it was actually a Luau. He wasn't even in Australia at the time, he was on vacation in Hawaii. OK, it all makes sense now.

    8. Re:Bwahahaha! by tdelaney · · Score: 4, Informative

      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).

    9. Re:Bwahahaha! by ashridah · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

  4. I'm pretty sure... by SharpFang · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...it would be opposite if he was proposing a ban on motorcycles.

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  5. Even scarier - both by davidwr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Biker gangs playing video games while driving - that's double scary.

    But what about Biker gangs playing video games about biker games playing video games while driving, while driving???

    Or what about ERR_STACK_OVERFLOW

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  6. Anecdotal Evidence Disagrees. by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Gamers sometimes learn bad fictional behavior. (Consider the evil character paths in various D&D games.) Gamers frequently learn good fictional behavior. (Consider the hero character paths in many D&D games.)

    In contrast, a chapter of Hell's Angels in Hamburg ran multiple houses for the rape of teenage girls and women held as slaves. (Sources: Victor Malarek's The Natashas, Terry Lee Wright's River of Innocents.) They were responsible for enabling thousands of rapes in the real world.

    Yes, it's atypical for a biker gang. But all things considered, it's more rare for the gamer.

    --
    -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
  7. I hear that AG! by AioKits · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can't count the amount of times I've felt threatened on the highways here as a beat up, patchy painted Honda Civic pulls up with a triforce or horde sticker in one of the windows. If it's one car, you can usually outrun it as they're not really going to be paying attention, usually debating the merits of pixel shading with others in the car at this point. However, if it's more than one car, you can bet they have you in their sights. Especially after playing that brutal and vicious car game I saw in the arcades once.. Spy Hunter I think it was?

    Or if I actually make it to a gas station and am fueling up, one of em might come over, push his glasses up or adjust the tape holding them together, asking what if I'm gonna reserve the new StarCraft! The horror!

    I always feel much safer knowing that the guy next to me on that bike on the highway has a full body tattoo and a mustache, and so does his girlfriend on the bitch seat! I mean, at least they're not gamers, right?

    * PS - This is intended as a lame attempt at humor, don't hurt me, I play games too! >.>

    --
    "Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
    1. Re:I hear that AG! by Stregano · · Score: 3, Funny

      So you are going to reserve Starcraft 2, right? RIGHT?!?

      --
      The world is how you make it
  8. Soo.. by binarylarry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What he's saying is, every person under 30 who lives in Australia is scarier than Biker Gangs?

    Does he ever leave the house?

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  9. Veto? by afidel · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
    1. Re:Veto? by Falconhell · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is a STATE AG, and for the relevant changes the approval of all the states AG is required.

      Atkinson is the holdout.

      He is the darling of the Right faction of the Labor
      party, which confusingly used to be left wing before they sold out.

      Please note in au liberals are the conservative party!

  10. Of course! by geoffaus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Of course they are scarier - they get multiple lives!

    --
    As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a reference to Godwin's Law approaches 1
  11. What a tit by Attaturk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm not sure whether my biker self or my gamer self is more offended by this arsehat. I've met and hung out with dozens of "biker gangs" at various rallies - yes including the patch clubs that people refer to here like they're comprised of mindless hooligans - and felt safer in their company than when taking a trip through a town centre on a Friday or Saturday night.

    In short, "biker gang" is not shorthand for dangerous thug. Nor is "gamer" shorthand for brainwashed serial killer. And while we're at it I'm pretty sure that "Australian politician" doesn't mean paranoid, misinformed and dangerously ignorant jerk"... but I could be wrong.

    Just a thought Mr Atkinson but perhaps your ill-considered bigotry is what causes people to take such a dim view of you. A single gamer harrassing you is more likely indicative that you've pissed someone off personally than that all gamers are out to get you and your family. Gah.

  12. Re:The guy's right by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    this guy thinks that gamers are generally more dangerous than bikers in order to discredit him.

    Quote:

    "I feel that my family and I are more at risk from gamers than we are from the outlaw motorcycle gangs who also hate me and are running a candidate against me"

    He didn't say "from a gamer" he said "from gamers", as in the whole group. As opposed to the outlaw motorcycle gangs, as in their whole group. He feels that gamers are more dangerous than bikers. If he's never received a death threat from anyone but a gamer, then perhaps he's justified in feeling that way, but I'm seriously surprised that this is the first death threat an AG would get.

    I do have to say that the motorcycle gangs have a better long term plan than the gamers do at this point. Someone should start a gamer party and run for election on the grounds that you actually know something about what you're trying to regulate.

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  13. Re:Article says he helped ban biker gangs by element-o.p. · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This begs the question, and I'm sincerely curious about the answer. In practical terms and under Australian law, what is the difference between a group of friends riding motorcycles together and a biker gang? He couldn't seriously have outlawed group rides, could he? Or is it only a gang if everyone (majority, perhaps?) are wearing black leather and riding Harleys?

    --
    MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
  14. Re:The guy's right by russotto · · Score: 3, Funny

    No. That generalization of his quote is incorrect.

    It's not a generalization. He said "I feel that my family and I are more at risk from gamers than we are from the outlaw motorcycle gangs who also hate me and are running a candidate against me".

    Of course, this "note" could easily be bogus, like the cat incident. Perhaps it will turn out that the note wasn't slipped under his door, it was placed on his refrigerator. It wasn't written by a gamer, it was by his daughter. And it wasn't a death threat, but a grocery list.

  15. Hey, we got some of them in Amsterdam by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Funny

    Me and some gamer mates are going to beat up the Amsterdam chapter of the Hell's Angels. I mean, we are thougher then them right? What could possibly go wrong? They are wusses and I will make sure to tell them loudly and clearly, what are they going to do? None of them has scored as many kills in Counterstrike as I have.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  16. Threatening?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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