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Venezuela Bans Hostile Videogames and Toys
An anonymous reader writes "In an effort to 'help improve child education and prevent misconduct,' the Venezuelan government began enforcing a law on March 3rd banning war videogames and toys, imposing a fine and 2.5 years in prison on the production, distribution, sale, hiring and use of video games and toys inciting violent behavior. Alberto Federico Ravell, former director of opposing news network Globovision, has already come on twitter denouncing the authorities for seizing imported Gameboy, Wii and PlayStation 3 consoles, due to considering them violent."
Tinpot dictator does something stupid. Story at 11.
How about seize nothing, because this law is retarded.
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
As a gamer talking to a parent I ask you: WHy in hell do you want ME to suffer for YOU to educate YOUR CHILD in whichever way YOU decide?
Do I violent gamer have a say in how you educate your children? Then why do you advocate in favor of people telling ME how to educate MINE?
NO SIG
Prohibiting things that are not proven dangerous is plain stupid. Why would you want kids in venezuela to go out, if its one of the countries with the most terrible urban security problems in all of latin america?
NO SIG
As a gamer you should be educated enough to know which games are appropriate for a child, and as a parent you should be aware of what he/she is up to and police them yourself. As a parent I understand children are willful and disobedient at times, but once he's old enough to sneak one by me, he's probably old enough to handle some nudity and violence without turning into a serial killer.
As a parent, I lament losing the opportunity to be able to teach my child right from wrong and instead having state opinions foisted upon children.
You are the embodiment of everything that is wrong with actions and laws such as these. It is not the governments place to parent your children yet you cheer them on every time they do.
You think of your children, no one else should have to.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
However, seizing the consoles seems overboard.
Seizing anything is overboard. You might applaud the effort, but what do your kids learn? That responsibility is someone else's problem and that you have the right to control what others do? Those are the attributes of a reckless bully, exactly how we teach kids not to think. Parents should be against this for that (and the whole freedom of speech trampling of a universal human right thing).
Nice Troll, but if you want responses you should create an account. Also you might want to add some stuff about how these games are clearly for children.
What are they going to do when a kid picks up a stick and pretends it's a gun?
As a parent, let alone a human being, you should really FIND OUT about who Hugo is and what he has done to the people of his country.
I work with person from Venezuela, his family is here (U.S.) from Venezuela and they are all, everyone, completely opposed to mad-man, his usurping of power, his decimating the what freedoms the people of his country had, etc.
Hugo and the antics of his government deserve the ridicule and condemnation of all free people. This gaming thing is just a small small piece of the overwhelming oppression he has rained down on his people.
He was elected to being with, and that election seems to have been fair. However since then he has been taking increasingly underhanded methods of retaining power, stifling dissent and so on.
Do remember that a large number of dictators are elected to power initially. They then just misuse the power and suppress freedom. That someone was elected initially doesn't mean they aren't a dictator now.
Media terrorist, eh? All those poor DVDs and storage viciously butchered in his attempt to influenece their policies by fear...
Words have meaning. The meaning of terrorist is not "someone I don't like", despite US policy to the contrary.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
If you read the article, it says things that "incite violence and hate". Sorry, but over the years I've grown tired of the military writing war simulators to train my kids. I've played these games, I know what they are. Child or adult, it just glorifies violence. If the US were more focused on deterring violence instead of sexual explicitness we'd be far better off. Sex is natural, killing other humans is not.
Where genius and insanity become confused true wisdom is found
killing other humans is just as if not more natural than sex.
Linux Zealots: Smarter than Mac Zealots, but still zealots.
Sex is natural, killing other humans is not.
Whaaaa? Killing is very natural and we have been doing it since day zero. It's taken a long long time to bring that natural act under control, and it still slips out now and then.
hypocrisy
Perhaps so, but reasons and what-ifs aside, I wonder how they plan to block the vast amount of browser games that are certainly violent? How do you stop the internets?
Do they really think it's possible to put a block on every violent game link? What about phone games? I seem to recall that Quake 1 just got ported to Andriod or iPhone?
Interesting stance for a government to take, but really, honestly, truly. Goodluckwiththat.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
Im Venezuelan, linving in Venezuela. And the seizing of gaming consoles is a lie.
You're a Venezuelan living in Venezuela, and the only thing you have to say is that the government is not seizing consoles? How about some outrage at the absurdity of this law? How about some disgust at the fact that your government is passing laws that shift parental responsibility to the state?
This is a silly ploy to make it look like the government is tackling crime. In actual fact, they are just trying to get political points at the expense of their citizens' freedoms and on the back of their citizens' fears.
Amnesty International
He's not responding like an American because he isn't American.
People from different cultures have different priorities.
So, in your crazy little head, assassinating someone - which the CIA and our proxy Mossad do regularly - is the activity of a thuggish dictatorship...
I guess when Chavez plots an assassination of a government we subsidize, that's a crime. However, when we carry out plotted assassinations against our enemies, it's justice. Yes, it makes perfect sense to me now!
Hypocrisy? What's that, a new Morrissey cover band?
As much as I hate censorship, I do agree with this sentiment. Has anyone actually sat down and watched a kids' show? Ben10 has something like 10 violent acts every 3 minutes.
Being anti-censorship does not mean "anything goes". I am the primary carer (uncle for my adopted nephew) for a 4 year old, and I can tell you there is a marked increase in hyperactive behavior, aggression and general lack of control for hours after watching Nickelodeon. Consequently, I have banned TV in my house. It was a few days of tantrums, but he's gotten over it, and the improvement in behavior is astonishing.
I flatly refuse to accept that what we watch does not affect us. Movies like Saw and Hostel simply cannot be psychologically inert, the content is just too potent.
"Down with censorship" and "down with psychologically and socially destructive media" are NOT mutually exclusive in the same way that "down with government control" and "down with harming your neighbor" are also not mutually exclusive. Lets grow up past the idea that any control of media that has a negative social impact is censorship and should be fought. Media *can* have a negative impact on social behavior and mental health. Get over it.
I hate printers.
People have been killing for just as long as they have been fucking. For a long time the solution to grievances or injustice has been murder (Burr–Hamilton duel, Rome assassinations, Code of Hammurabi). Only recently have we replaced this with courts.
This is a dictatorship with deep financial troubles. The reasons they give for seizing valuable equipment don't bear deep inspection.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Tag's pretty violent when you get down to what the goal is, you're basically hitting your friends while running around. Should we ban that? All competition is violent, and some of us enjoy competing.From a certain perspective even Pong is violent (Slam that ball into your opponents goal! Yeah! Right past that loser!) so have fun without any games (not even number cruncher passes a strict definition of violence).
Perhaps you're referring to blood and gore which is an entirely separate thing from violence?
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
I am not American, nor am I living in America.
If such a tepid response to an obvious overstep by the government is a cultural difference, it certainly isn't a good one.
Amnesty International
I don't think censoring as a society is the answer. But censoring as a parent for age/development appropriate levels to create a nurturing environment for kids makes a lot of sense IHMO (up to some point).
Resources about non-violent cooperative games:
http://www.familypastimes.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Playfair-Everybodys-Guide-Noncompetitive-Play/dp/091516650X
http://www.amazon.com/No-Contest-Case-Against-Competition/dp/0395631254
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
When a headline writer can employ the incoherent phrase "hostile videogames and toys" with a straight face, the battle is already lost.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Violence in media is not the issue, its the acceptance of violence as a resolution in society that it.
I know a guy growing up, extreme fundamentalist family who filtered everything he watched, as 12 yr olds when we started watching Aliens and Terminator he was barely permitted to watch Blinky Bill. He was shipped off to a religious school as soon as was permissible and the last I heard, he'd spend his life since 18 in and out of rehab. His family of course pretends he's dead.
An anecdote yes but with a point, his parents neglected their responsibilities to prepare him for the real world. Violence is part of the real world and parents need to teach their children how to respond to it. This means teaching them the results of violence. Not all portrayed violence is bad, your examples of Saw and Hostel are extremes but when you look at other examples, even action movies like Terminator and Batman they portray the repercussions of violence (people getting hurt) and are meant to invoke the correct emotions associated with this (empathy, pity, fear).
There is also the difference between real violence and fantasy violence, games like COD which are fairly mature do not portray things in a very realistic manner, that being said it's still unsuitable for a young child (less then 12). Once again it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure a child can tell the difference between fantasy and reality the same as right and wrong. A lot of games do not have you fighting other people (humans) rather using a proxy (aliens, zombies, nazi's) to obviously abstract the idea of harming other people in the minds of the player.
In the west, we are fairly lucky (esp here in AU) where violence is not prevalent because it is not accepted. If we look at places like Thailand, culturally maintaining face is important, one way to do this is to simply kill the person who made you lose it. As violence is repugnant to the Thais and admitting to violent society would be a loss of face they simply turn a blind eye to this, ending up with one of the highest murder rates in the world. I'd be willing to bet there are similar stories of a social acceptance of violence in South Africa and Venezuela.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
In America, and many other western countries, there is a system for rating games based on their content. Minors cannot purchase some media, including movies, games-- so why should all of us be restricted as a result of your poor parenting?
'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
Media terrorist, eh? [...] Words have meaning. The meaning of terrorist is not "someone I don't like", despite US policy to the contrary.
Well I'd think that a propagandist fits within the definition of media terrorist. Which fits what Ravell is doing here.
An interesting thought to hold in mind is that information always has two main meanings; the information itself and the information of what your interlocutor wants you to believe.
Well since all the wealthy right wingers started funding violent opposition - complete with actual military coup attempts, egged on relentlessly by the media companies they own ... it is hardly surprising.
Their remedy for "calm" is a traditional South American military crackdown on all uppity poor, complete with mass disappearances and executions in soccer stadiums - Chile style. Would this "reduce" violence? Of course - until it spawned yet another South American tradition: an uprising of a guerrilla army of the peasants.
What you are seeing in Venezuela is simply class warfare - violence will continue in one form or another until the disparities diminish and edge is taken off from all real and perceived colonial injustices.
Chavez is of course very unlikely to fix this problem, but listening to all the hateful braying of assorted racists and supremacists which he inspires is rather entertaining, particularly when they try to wrap themselves in the colors of "freedom" and "democracy"...