Though I fear my effort will be wasted I must take issue with your piece on the New York Post website entitled, "Give Back Take-Two". For several years, I have enjoyed the guilty pleasures offered to me by playing a fictitious character in the Grand Theft Auto genre of games. I have yet to sell drugs, kill everyday people on the street or have sex with prostitutes in real life. Just as the actor playing a villain is allowed to indulge his baser instincts while playing a part on stage, so too have I enjoyed playing my part using a controller on my living room's virtual stage. I use this to counter your assertion that it was merely playing a video game that drove two misguided youths to kill passing motorists. It was the only real correlation you drew between the game and possible ill effects on society. You cite 5 million copies sold and yet only one incidence of wrong doing in possible connection with the game. I would venture to say there would be a bigger case against many works of classic literature and their connection to ill behavior than that. The fact is young people that are disturbed will tend to behave that way. Making a case for attacking youth depression, abuse or pathology more vigorously would be fairer than passing the blame to a modern form of art and performance. Instead, you further the cause of those who would deify all that is pretend. I doubt very many of our fathers who played cops and robbers in the school yard went home with the notion that it was okay to steal or kill cops. Today the imagery is a bit more convincing and the "bang-bang" noises truer to the ear, but the game remains the same. If you indeed lean in favor of disposing with all that could possibly led someone astray you have your work cut out for you. Only when all art, literature, writing (except elitist pseudo-journalism), music and any other form of performance someone might find objectionable is eliminated will the world be safe enough for you? If you are among that sort then I am glad you tend to rank in the minority for now. Speaking of minorities, I think it would also be fitting to mention that anyone that plays GTA will find that it tends to attack all creeds, races and societal sub-types equally and not just Haitians. You make no effort to mention this beyond the "Kill... Haitians" quote and it leads me to wonder how reliable the rest of your reports are and whether you have even played the game. You cite recent allegations against Michael Jackson of child molestation to be preferable behavior to having sex with a willing prostitute or killing a ruthless gangster which makes me wonder how your moral code works and if you were being too off-handed or absurd. The only thing that seemed factual or warranted in your piece for investors was about the pending SEC investigation. It is something to watch with concern, but moralizing and going beyond notifying unknowing parties that some object to the content of Take-Two's video games seems out of place. Perhaps I have been too hard on you and you needed to meet a word count or were just sitting too high atop your perch that day, but a severe clash of ideas has motivated me to write this. If those that would use the court to censor a group engaging in free speech while making a quick buck for some attorneys succeed, then Shakespeare's "kill all the lawyers" quote starts to feel more rational than intended. Alas, that will probably be stricken from the work by then anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Freedom is Slavery
Mr. Byron,
... Haitians" quote and it leads me to wonder how reliable the rest of your reports are and whether you have even played the game. You cite recent allegations against Michael Jackson of child molestation to be preferable behavior to having sex with a willing prostitute or killing a ruthless gangster which makes me wonder how your moral code works and if you were being too off-handed or absurd. The only thing that seemed factual or warranted in your piece for investors was about the pending SEC investigation. It is something to watch with concern, but moralizing and going beyond notifying unknowing parties that some object to the content of Take-Two's video games seems out of place. Perhaps I have been too hard on you and you needed to meet a word count or were just sitting too high atop your perch that day, but a severe clash of ideas has motivated me to write this. If those that would use the court to censor a group engaging in free speech while making a quick buck for some attorneys succeed, then Shakespeare's "kill all the lawyers" quote starts to feel more rational than intended. Alas, that will probably be stricken from the work by then anyway.
Though I fear my effort will be wasted I must take issue with your piece on the New York Post website entitled, "Give Back Take-Two". For several years, I have enjoyed the guilty pleasures offered to me by playing a fictitious character in the Grand Theft Auto genre of games. I have yet to sell drugs, kill everyday people on the street or have sex with prostitutes in real life. Just as the actor playing a villain is allowed to indulge his baser instincts while playing a part on stage, so too have I enjoyed playing my part using a controller on my living room's virtual stage. I use this to counter your assertion that it was merely playing a video game that drove two misguided youths to kill passing motorists. It was the only real correlation you drew between the game and possible ill effects on society. You cite 5 million copies sold and yet only one incidence of wrong doing in possible connection with the game. I would venture to say there would be a bigger case against many works of classic literature and their connection to ill behavior than that. The fact is young people that are disturbed will tend to behave that way. Making a case for attacking youth depression, abuse or pathology more vigorously would be fairer than passing the blame to a modern form of art and performance. Instead, you further the cause of those who would deify all that is pretend. I doubt very many of our fathers who played cops and robbers in the school yard went home with the notion that it was okay to steal or kill cops. Today the imagery is a bit more convincing and the "bang-bang" noises truer to the ear, but the game remains the same. If you indeed lean in favor of disposing with all that could possibly led someone astray you have your work cut out for you. Only when all art, literature, writing (except elitist pseudo-journalism), music and any other form of performance someone might find objectionable is eliminated will the world be safe enough for you? If you are among that sort then I am glad you tend to rank in the minority for now. Speaking of minorities, I think it would also be fitting to mention that anyone that plays GTA will find that it tends to attack all creeds, races and societal sub-types equally and not just Haitians. You make no effort to mention this beyond the "Kill
Sincerely,
Sean Thompson