Rep. Joe Baca Rails Against Supreme Court Decision
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
I'm sorry, but can't he turn this energy towards something more worthwhile.
Like all those smoking companies? Or more parks and better drinking water for civilians?
Or better funding for veterans' programs?
There has to be something more worthwhile to spend blood, sweat, and tears on than this.
Like all those smoking companies? Or more parks and better drinking water for civilians?
Or better funding for veterans' programs?
There has to be something more worthwhile to spend blood, sweat, and tears on than this.
Wait...what? First of all, I was proving yourtheApoc said:
"Pretty straightforward right? Except there is a big difference between "May have content suitable for X" and "Game allows you to kill hookers and steal their money". Or, "Game shows drug use" and "Player can drink alcohol to regain health or other bonuses". Game ratings are most like TV ratings, however, they are not as clear as to what the player will actually be DOING." wrong, because it takes two minutes to find exactly what the player will actually be doing.
I will agree with you that "M" for mature can mean a wide variety of things, but if you see it and look at the
"Content descriptors: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content," you shouldn't be surprised when you see Junior ripping the heads off of Olympian gods. Yeah, you don't need to know that a character in an R rated movie swears to go into one expecting it, but the fact remains that the ESRB provides considerably more information about games than any other medium does and really, if politicians are trying to police it so hard, why don't movies provide intricate details as to what the characters will be doing or saying? You know, those things that depict real people doing unspeakable things? Watch "A Serbian Film" if you want an example of what I'm talking about.
You argue that the interactivity is what makes the biggest difference, and I just don't buy that. Just because the character is being controlled by you doesn't mean it will have any more impact than reading Stephen King's "The Shining" or watching Ian McKellen rip iron from a man's bloodstream in "X-2." Or was that X-3? Eh, doesn't matter. It's not hard to educate yourself on what the content rating means, and it's only slightly harder to look up exactly what your spawn will be experiencing if you buy them Grand Theft God Of War XXIII.
EDIT: Also, as to the "advertisements" section of your post, why would they advertise that in this paranoid world? Don't you remember how EA advertised Dead Space 2 (and Dante's Inferno) and the huge amounts of controversy it generated? And they weren't even actually advertising how truly brutal those games were. The media is doing whatever it can to slander video games, it's happened with books, movies, and comics in the past, so advertising that your game contains massive amounts of violence, swearing, and nudity? That would spark more controversy than anyone needs.
Extra EDIT: Also, personally I always was more impressionable from movies rather than video games. I never played a game and then ran outside thinking I could emulate it, but you better believe I tried it out with movies. Movies are and always have been more realistic than video games, and I've stated before: If a kid plays GTA IV and then goes out beating people up with baseball bats and trying to jack cars, that kid probably had an issue to begin with.
I'm almost entirely sure "Democrat" does not equal "Dumbass afraid of new technology." I'm almost entirely sure that's damn near EVERYONE in office nowadays.zelda2fanboy said:
To everyone claiming that the Japanese word for idiot is "baka" rather than "baca": the Japanese don't use Roman letters. We transcribe it as "baka" so that we can read it phonetically; the Japanese spell it with their own lettering system. They don't have a 'k' any more than they have a 'c'.
Maybe, but it seems like Democrats go after games more than Republicans do. Leland Yee - Democrat, Joe Baca - Democrat, Hillary Clinton - Democrat, Joe Lieberman - Democrat (back when he was going after games). Democrats pretend to be all progressive and pro rights when they're clearly not. YES WE CAN (renew the Patriot Act). YES WE CAN (bail out the banks).conflictofinterests said:
Still, there are a shit ton of Republicans in office fucking shit up too (NO TAX INCREASES! WE'RE NOT RUNNING OUT OF MONEY TO BORROW! WE'RE NOT!)zelda2fanboy said:
There just aren't any smart people in office. Whenever one side looks like it's the lesser of two evils, it goes and pulls some stupid stunt that screws that image up.
While I could agree that the labeling system in the US is vagtue, but only in that there isn't as much detail as the australian labels. Australian ratings labels contain description of the kind of content that justifies that rating. I can't say that it's perfect, but it does supply extra information, as well as have the same labels across games and movies. So, as we only have one rating system to remember, it implies the anti 18+ politicians underestimate the general population quite a bit...
Apart from that attempt to draw any kind of logic from it, the mans a joke. "ability to profit from selling heinous depictions of violence and sex to minors"- Do I even need to go into what's wrong with that? Ratings, most gamers adults, sick and tired of politicians bitching....
As for health warnings... You americans are lucky you have a bill of rights... You need it to protect you from your politicans, but then again, one would be handy here.
Apart from that attempt to draw any kind of logic from it, the mans a joke. "ability to profit from selling heinous depictions of violence and sex to minors"- Do I even need to go into what's wrong with that? Ratings, most gamers adults, sick and tired of politicians bitching....
As for health warnings... You americans are lucky you have a bill of rights... You need it to protect you from your politicans, but then again, one would be handy here.
Ah yes, the classic political response: blame the capitalists and their evil industry for social problems without any real evidence, despite said capitalists actively informing their consumers.
Personally I think that exposure to politics and a government salary has the health risk of killing off the majority of your brain cells.
Personally I think that exposure to politics and a government salary has the health risk of killing off the majority of your brain cells.
The lesser of two evils is still evil. I read that in a book once. We're not politicians and I don't see why we need to make compromises about our political beliefs. If a given party is attacking our lifestyle, there's no reason we should continue to support them.conflictofinterests said:
May I introduce you to an alternative?
http://www.lp.org/
I'm not going to call the man an idiot. I don't think I have the right to sit here from a comfortable seat of anonymity and call him out. I will, however, point out a few things.
Video games have a regulating board like movies (both of which are self-regulated).
Mainstream retailers refuse to carry Adult Only games (if any have been submitted for ESRB rating).
Most mainstream retailers do not actually sell to anyone bellow seventeen.
I was asked both times to go find my parent when buying San Andreas and Resident Evil 4. I bought God of War, but by that time I was seventeen. For fun, a couple of friends got our youngest buddy (eighteen looked like he was fourteen) to go up and buy the games we'd picked out one evening. He was carded every time because of the store's policies.
So, Mr. Senator, what's your problem exactly?
Video games have a regulating board like movies (both of which are self-regulated).
Mainstream retailers refuse to carry Adult Only games (if any have been submitted for ESRB rating).
Most mainstream retailers do not actually sell to anyone bellow seventeen.
I was asked both times to go find my parent when buying San Andreas and Resident Evil 4. I bought God of War, but by that time I was seventeen. For fun, a couple of friends got our youngest buddy (eighteen looked like he was fourteen) to go up and buy the games we'd picked out one evening. He was carded every time because of the store's policies.
So, Mr. Senator, what's your problem exactly?
Baca's a whore and he comes from a family of political whores who excel at milking public and donor money to enrich their own wallets. Okay, like everyone else in Sacramento, but the Bacas have been really good at it.
So he got termed out at the state level and had to move on to federal level, where he creates bogus caucuses like the 'Congressional Sex and Violence in the Media Caucus', which is probably his excuse to get involved here.
So he got termed out at the state level and had to move on to federal level, where he creates bogus caucuses like the 'Congressional Sex and Violence in the Media Caucus', which is probably his excuse to get involved here.
Well I would be able to tolerate his law, if he also said that films, books, television, comics, politicians, people and clouds are also bad for your health.
Games back then were not like they are now. And interactivity does make a difference IMO. Watching an act of violence once as the move progresses is definitely different than performing that act repeatedly and being rewarded for doing so. Am I saying this makes kids psychotic? That it makes them more likely to be bad? No. But to say that games, movies, tv shows and music do NOT influence children is ridiculous.shrekfan246 said:
And my point is that interactive entertainment takes this to a whole other level. What works for one medium is not going to work in this respect. And in terms of content warnings. I could describe a lot of PG13 movies in text.
"A native strapped to a cage over a pit of lava, forced to drink blood from a skull, while hundreds of others chant off in the distance. As the blood potion takes effect, a evil looking shaman begins to chant while clutching at the mans chest, digging his fingers into the flesh until finally penetrating the skin and pulling the still beating heart from the victim, showing the heart to the captive before lowering him into the lava..."
That is tame example. A scene that last a few minutes and while memorable does not encapsulate the entirety of the movie.
In an game, that is not the case. Many actions are repeated countless times and rather than being a passing point in the game, are central to character and story advancement.
Bottom line, they aren't the same. And while the law in question was misguided, there is a definite need to address this issue.
Hey, Joe? Given all the things that are going wrong in your home state, maybe this isn't the best time to be suggesting that you ought to be telling the rest of the nation how to do it, 'k?
Seriously, could you and Yee just get together and have a drink and a good cry and then get to finding yourselves a new hobby? Please?
Seriously, could you and Yee just get together and have a drink and a good cry and then get to finding yourselves a new hobby? Please?
I love how every politician thinks that every video game designer WANTS to corrupt the youth, like they're a gang of criminals all in a room counting money and doing drugs while twirling their mustaches and going "how can we corrupt the youth further? More violence? More sex? Can we market it to 5-year-olds this time?"
It's like I laugh at the "gay agenda" claims or the "satanic messages" in rock music rumor. It makes no sense. At all. These groups don't all huddle together and decide "let's do something awful and offensive because we MUST corrupt the youth".
Seriously, though, do you think Joe Baca has played any video game since... Pong? Pac-man? Do you think for one moment he knows what Okami, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Silent Hill 2, Limbo, or Ocarina of Time are? He's an ignorant man making claims about a subject he knows nothing about.
It's like I laugh at the "gay agenda" claims or the "satanic messages" in rock music rumor. It makes no sense. At all. These groups don't all huddle together and decide "let's do something awful and offensive because we MUST corrupt the youth".
Seriously, though, do you think Joe Baca has played any video game since... Pong? Pac-man? Do you think for one moment he knows what Okami, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Silent Hill 2, Limbo, or Ocarina of Time are? He's an ignorant man making claims about a subject he knows nothing about.
Alright if they put warning labels on games then politicians should wear warning labels on their face that read:
"Warning politicians may cause: Lost in overall intelligence, bad ideas, distress, vomiting and sex scandals. Politicians are not for everyone please consult your doctor before voting for one."
"Warning politicians may cause: Lost in overall intelligence, bad ideas, distress, vomiting and sex scandals. Politicians are not for everyone please consult your doctor before voting for one."
I'm surprised that it even made it this far to be honest as legal positivism tells us that the law, and morality are separate. The legal system is incredibly complex and it would be just as easy to dismantle a case against video games as it is to make one. I appreciate the SCOTUS ruling as much as the next gamer, but it's easy to get swept up in the hyperbole that surrounds this case.Andy Chalk said:
Law is not as romantic as it sounds, it's not a two-step method of obtaining precedent and consolidating a winning case. Of course it's not going to stop someone from trying to ban violence from the entertainment industry but they'll face numerous legal obstacles along the way, along with a horde of angry gamers/filmgoers/whatever. Then you have to discuss the impracticality of it all since the entertainment industry is a worldwide industry and operates in many different jurisdictions...
A perfect example is the Human Centipede 2, banned in the UK and all it has done is given it increased publicity.
Like I said I appreciate the ruling, but unlike you I don't consider it to be incredibly important, maybe because if anyone ever wanted to gain control of what humans do in their everyday lives they'd probably have to operate outside the law.