Video Game Violence Laws as Pure BS

That’s pretty much what I take away from it. Great article about the consistency with which these laws are being found unconstitutional.

Two really great quotes:

 

“Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low,” he wrote. “It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware. To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it.”

 

And

 

“Video games are a new medium, and while people are used to scary stuff in the movies, they aren’t as used to having scary stuff in interactive media, so there is political value in passing these laws even if they are ultimately rejected by the courts…I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people who passed these laws knew they were unconstitutional, and they did it anyway.”

 

Shout it, brother.

 

Although the outcomes of these cases are the right ones, I think, there are other subtexts to be considered here. Especially the first quote, which touches on the question of whether this approach is applicable to sexual suggestion and content. Does it make sense to shelter someone in their formative years from sexual topics? They’re going to learn from their friends anyway, right? I’m not advocating legalizing porno sales to 10 year olds (not that they can’t get a hold of it anyway, but whatever), but simply that they’re exposed to plenty of suggestive imaging through commercials, TV shows, and music; allowing them to see the bubbly and pop-culture smiley version of sexual concourse while ignoring the darker and more dramatic aspects of the sexual interactions seems to be exactly the opposite scenario from what these advocates are saying. I would think you would want to provide a more balanced view, or no view at all. Since we do live in the real world (where you simply cannot shut of that faucet), your only hope is to balance the various images with a spectrum of experiences such that our children are adequately prepared to deal with the real world as they get thrust out in it.