California bars violent video game sales to minors - Yahoo! News
Yup! You heard it here first. California has made a law barring the sale and rental of video material (games, movies, etc...) to minors. Well, ok, you may have heard it somewhere else first, but I want to feel important too, you know. I mean, come on... The video game industry, although lax in it's enforcement of the penalties it has metted out for violation of their regulations, has a similar law. I don't know what sort of penalties there are, to tell you the truth, but I do know something. Not a single person has actually gone to jail under the watchful eye of the video game industry's oversight of the sale of violent games. However, I do know of a few video store owners who have been penalized for selling or renting pornographic material to minors. It seems there are laws which govern this activity, but up until today, at least in California, they didn't cover adequately marked, age restricted video games.
So, as the cogs of government turn we can see those who govern because we are too stupid to take care of ourselves go out of their way to make everything even more touchy feely. If you're confused by my rhetoric then please don't be alarmed. I'm concerned about violent or pornographic material getting into the hands of minors. It happens too often. I don't think the point of sale portion of the industry is at fault, though. Recently I went to an Electronics Boutique to purchase God of War, a game which has received less negative publicity than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, although in God of War there is nudity and it wasn't ineptly hidden by the programmers. Unfortunately the shop didn't have the game when I got the cover up to the counter, but that didn't stop the clerk from verifying my 26 years of age before going into the stock room to fetch it for me. I asked him why he carded me, as it is obvious I'm over 18 years old. He said it was because if he didn't his mistake would have been caught on camera and he would have been disciplined by his manager and may have lost his job. That sounds like motivation enough to me to keep age verification a priority at the point of sale for M rated games.
In light of this recent voyage into California's legislative process I think it might be intelligent to figure out who really is responsible for violent or sexual games getting into the hands of children. Could it be the parents? THE HELL YOU SAY!!! You mean parents might be irresponsible? I have to admit, if I were to have children I might consider getting rid of my console games simply to bar my child's impressionable mind from the content which I find so entertaining. It is a little hypocritical, but if you get right down to it, parents, so is just about everything we do that we don't want our kids doing. I'll make love to my wife, but if I find out my son or daughter is having sex with someone they "love" I'd blow a gasket. Next time some retard we elect to babysit our lives for us takes our responsibility as parents away from us I think we should make him feel our rage... You see there is no greater insult from an elected official than to be told that once he is elected he is now smarter than you are and you are no longer required for the upbringing of your children. But what do I know? I voted for Ahhnold.
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2 comments:
Boy I tell you what, your children will be so sheltered, if our kids ever hang out with each other, mine will be kicking your kids asses. I'm going to expose my kids to reality at an early age, sex, drugs, violence, the works. There's nothing like a kid with his umbilical cord still attached at the age of 15.
Personally, I don't think it's the governments job to regulate what our kids can and can't see. So this kind of legislation is just idiotic.
At least we agree on something, though I don't think you really get my meaning. I don't like legislation taking over my parenting any more than actual parents do. And there is no chance of sheltering my kids, Jake. Life is too short not to know what's coming, and since you and I both have a pretty good idea I figure why not front load the tikes? However, there is a huge difference between allowing for what's appropriate and sheltering. You go right on ahead and expose your kids to "sex, drugs, violence, the works" at an early age. I imagine I'll go about the same thing, but I think we might have different approaches to it. I don't wish for my kids to grow up like I did, and although we turned out pretty good somehow our early parenting left much to be desired. But, in the end, I guess there's really no way for me to know what will happen since Jenny and I don't really plan on having kids. If it happens, great, but there is so much it changes that we're just not ready for yet, and with government here being what it is, I don't think we'd want to have kids in California anyway.
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