In the wake of Sandy Hook I’ve watched as many progressives, and even some conservatives, made arguments for the regulation of video games. It’s silly.
Full disclosure: I play games. I am currently in love with “Assassin’s Creed III.” So far I’ve not experienced any mass murdering inclinations. You don’t become a mass murderer because of a video game. Let’s stop passing the buck.
During a time in college I worked part time selling games and records. I was not allowed to sell discs marked with a parental advisory (Thanks, Tipper!) or M-rated games to kids. A number of times I refused to sell to minors and most of the time when I informed their parents of what they intended to purchase the parents would make them put it back.
We as conservatives talk a lot about the government attempting to act as a parent and we oppose it. So why on earth do I see some of those same individuals wanting the government to act on this—to essentially become the very parent they’ve previously opposed?
These are the same individuals who accurately argue that responsible Americans who exercise their Second Amendment rights are unfairly punished for the crimes committed with guns by criminals. Yet these same folks want responsible Americans who play video games to be unfairly punished because a mad man played first person shooter games? It’s the same argument switched. Simply replace the variables.
If youth are buying and playing violent games it’s due to a failure of personal responsibility, not law. Violence represented in arts and entertainment is a symptom of society, not the problem itself.
We’ve spent the past month talking about how we need to change the culture—and people again want to do it through the government. And due to a lot of misinformed talk, we’re running off a sizable gamer demo instead of appealing to them. The right making the exact same mistakes with culture yet again. With this line of thinking we will never win another election, ever. We need to fix this, friends.
I assume that those who decry what’s represented in A&E are working hard, right now, in culture to change it, right? If you’re worried about someone playing video games, you should do something about it. Don’t punish everyone with bigger government.
If you haven’t watched Penn Jillette’s total destruction of this topic from an episode of “Bullshit,” I suggest you do so. Warning: language NSFW.
