California vs. Violent Video Games: And the winner is…
… ALL of us in the United States of America! 
Because, you see, that is how U.S. Constitutionally-protected liberties WORK…!
One thing that California has not figured out yet is that the TYRANNY of the majority, whether it is the tyranny of the Right or the tyranny of the Left, is still tyranny! California’s ban on the sale of “violent” video games to children was REJECTED today by the U.S. Supreme Court. (OK, my conservative [or liberal ] friends, especially in the Midwest, [I haven’t decided WHICH group really wants to control your behavior with regard to this issue!] before you get your “shorts in a knot” – did you think that “parent” was an HONORARY title that had no responsibilities associated with it? )
California, the “nanny state,” had argued that video games, being INTERACTIVE stories, are inherently DIFFERENT from books, comics, plays, and all of the rest, which are protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not “buy” the argument. Personally, I wonder how hard it was for some justices to “keep a straight face” during the arguments. Justice Antonin Scalia, in the majority opinion (PDF), wrote that “interactive stories” are “nothing new.”
“Never use a preposition to end a sentence WITH.” Your honor….
Darn, I LOVE this guy (sorry… your honor)! Justice Scalia writes:
“Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas — and even social messages — through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection.”
and
“Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed.”
He’s RIGHT you know. Not politically Right, necessarily, but CORRECT! This is why, of the three branches of U.S. government, I trust the courts the most. Surely, they are human and make mistakes, but MOSTLY, they generally obey THE LAW.
OK, you parents out there. I also believe in “classical conditioning” and “behaviorism.” Do you think that a steady diet of violent video games for hours each day is GOOD for your child?
Then STEP UP TO THE PLATE and exercise your responsibilities as parents! Surely, the world is violent. It is also a very beautiful place that most of us do not fully appreciate, as the result of our daily struggle to survive. So teach your children (YouTube Video) (1; LIVE 1990: YouTube Video – GO! Austin, TX!) to survive, and teach them to ENJOY their very short existence on this planet, too!
The 7-2 ruling today is a victory for video game makers and sellers, who said the ban, which had yet to go into effect, would extend too far. (Much like an “ammunition law” passed in California EXTENDED TOO FAR…! Sadly, it does not stop “Legislative Maroons” from continually trying….) You have to remember that California has a HISTORY of trying to limit the liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights! Such a history does not extend merely to the Second Amendment, but to the First, and the Fourth (and probably more).
The U.S. Supreme Court sees video games as Art! Well! Son of a… gun! Too bad that it takes a court decision for California to understand. Video games ARE a form of Art. It is pretty flippin’ OBVIOUS to “the rest of us.”
“A federal appeals court in San Francisco last year tossed out the law before it took effect, after then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it in 2005. He had applauded the high court’s decision to intervene. ‘We have a responsibility to our kids and our communities to protect against the effects of games that depict ultraviolent actions, just as we already do with movies,’ the governor said. The onetime actor made his name playing characters engaged in similarly violent acts in such movies as ‘Terminator.'”
Arnold ALSO signed the ammunition ban. Republicans AND Democrats AND all human beings make mistakes!
OK, parents! The “short form” here is “help your children to make intelligent choices that will not scar them in their lives.” It is what you really want. You have the power AND the responsibility to do so.
Don’t expect the schools, the courts, and the rest of the government to do YOUR job!
-Bill at
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