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Banning things, thought crimes, and dangerous guitarring

And the new airport etiquette

Things don't get much more cheerful with the next story. A judge rules that owning violent porn will now be illegal:   It seem to me that there's a potential problem with this...

How far does it go? Does it criminalise the BDSM community which pretends to do all sort of stuff which a loosely worded law criminalises? I mean, technically spanking someone is violent, so are pictures of that going to be "get in the van, miss. Oh sorry, sir."

Its not like Labour to draft poorly worded laws, is it?

- Smid  


Quite how they're going to distinguish between violent porn on the one hand and almost any 18-rated film containing violence on the other is an open question.  Since they also announced this last year, as even my Labour activist colleague points out, the chances of it getting onto the statute book is close to zero.  What's the prosecutorial test that would spot porn on the one hand and images of Jesus on the Cross on the other?

- Ian


Keeping the violence theme alive, we'll move on to violent video games which a judge in the US refused to ban:

Trying to understand law here. I understand the argument that restricting the sale of violently rated video games to minors might violate first amendment rights, but can anyone explain to me how that is different from pornography, which is banned from sale to minors in the U.S.?

Don't get me wrong, I think minors shouldn't be able to buy porn or violent video games. But all I'm trying to understand is how can one law violate the first amendment rights, and another not? If they can purchase GTA, they should be able to buy a Playboy.

Aric


"Blanco countered in a statement last Friday that she "believes violent video games harm children". She added: "I'm calling on all parents to diligently monitor the video games that their children are allowed to play. If the courts cannot protect our children, then we need to do it by rejecting the merchant of violence."

And there I think we have the point, it isn't the laws job to monitor what a child does it that is a parents role. If a parent is incapable of telling that a game is inappropriate for their child then they shouldn't be a parent. That extends to an awful lot of other things too, parents seem to think that it's societies job to bring up their idiot children.

Matt


Has Governer Blanco lost her mind? "I'm calling on all parents to diligently monitor the video games that their children are allowed to play. If the courts cannot protect our children, then we need to do it by rejecting the merchant of violence."

Next thing she'll be expecting the courts to collect the kids from school and make the dinner and do all the other things that are involved in parenting. What is wrong with these people?

It's no wonder the world is falling apart with kids running riot, if the parents can't even be bothered to supervise the entertainment content for their children (Video games and movies) then they surely won't notice little Johnny snorting Cocaine off little Marys arse cheeks after they met up in the under 12s cocaine user group on Bebo or My Space. (all ages verified by law of course).

mutter mutter,

John


"If the courts cannot protect our children, then we need to do it"

Fantastic quote, almost worthy of Bush himself!

Alisdair


Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have launched a game they say is designed to promote Chinese ethics. You found this amusing, in a sad sort of way:

Kou Xiaowei of China's General Administration of Press and Publication, which is overseeing the game's development, said: "We hope the game will teach players about Chinese ethics." What ethics would that be ? Invading Tibet ? Shooting missiles over Taiwan from time to time and threatening invasion if they declare their independence ? Or maybe killing millions in the process of "implementing" communism in the country. Just thinking about how a pirate could teach one about ethics makes me ROTFL. What's next ? The american gov developing a game in which Dubya teaches peace to young americans ??

Calin


So, Chinese ethics is moving bricks ? Well, they certainly have a lot of that left to do, so that's not so bad. Except that, the ones who can play games are probably not the ones who move bricks, so the market target seems be a bit weak. It will be interesting to see how the game fares, if it is launched. After all, now that the game has been linked to Chinese ethics, China is honor-bound to see it succeed. Of course, the game could just become mandatory on store shelves, or even mandatory with each purchase of a PC in China. Which would somewhat skew the ratings, no ?

Pascal.


'Nonetheless, the powers that be have high hopes for the product. Kou Xiaowei of China's General Administration of Press and Publication, which is overseeing the game's development, said: "We hope the game will teach players about Chinese ethics."' Does that mean you can play a Chinese Police officer in modern times, and beat the crap out of people for meditating? I believe such action falls under the current definition of "Chinese Ethics".

-- Richard

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