True enough, but does that make anti-violent videogame advocates hypocrites?

Thank you, Ms. Schlafly, for showing the world exactly why we have the First Amendment in the first place.

@ Vinzent

So she's known for a book that has almost 45 years of dust on it... Yeah she's about as relevent as the Cuban Missle Crisis now.

@ ~the1jeffy

Sorry for my previous post coming off with such venom toward the older generations. I'm well aware that there are some from that generation that do adapt. I have family that has, HOWEVER they do spew the same dribble Phyllis does here.

The only reason these twisted ideals that Phyllis and JT spew haven't gone into law is how the system of gov't works here in the states. I just hope it keeps working.

Good! I always like to see Republicans taking a stand against the First Amendment... It makes it easier to convince normal people to vote Democratic.

...it's just Phyllis Schlafly. Give her a Xanax, change her diaper, and send her back to the kitchen. Problem solved.

I just sent her a letter saying that judges have to rule in favor of the games industry if there isn't enough proof the games cause harm. Let's see if she responds.

@theshroomguy

Oh, you are so wrong. The world's fate rests in the hands of these holy crusaders, making sure these murder simulators (that basically force teens and children into becoming murderers) are kept out of minor's hands! Basically, like the Paladins from Jumper

You know... It's just Phyllis Schlafly.

Another unintelligent buffoon running her mouth about a non-issue that she knows nothing about.

Why the hell do we "need" legislation? After all, video games are protected by the First Amendment, and like I’ve been posting, if you’re going to infringe on a Constitutional right like freedom of speech based on the claim that the speech in question is “dangerous”, then you better damn well show absolute proof of that. It’s NEVER been done. There is no proof that any harm will come of anyone playing a “violent” video game.

If there is a danger so clear and so threatening to the American people that causes these self-righteous politicians to step on the First Amendment, wouldn’t any rational thinking person have to believe that the danger would have to be so obvious and clear that there would be no argument against it? Especially since you’re directly contradicting a Constitutional amendment.

We, the American people, have not been given any valid reason to believe that this abridging of our freedom of speech is necessary. There just simply isn’t any evidence at all of any danger from “violent” video games. This “protection” from “violent” video games isn’t needed or wanted for that matter, but please feel free to use everyone’s tax dollars for protection from things like a 10-foot storm surge from a Category 3 or greater hurricane or the fuselage of a 747 airplane entering the workplace or the home.

Also making this a non-issue is that the ESA and FTC report that 90% of M-rated game sales are to parents. The NPD Group also estimates M-rated games make up only 15% of all game sales. And the FTC says minors trying to purchase M-rated games are refused over half the time. Less than 1% of all video game sales. Not to mention the crime rates have declined significantly in the last several years.

Having read her entire column, I expected much worse. Of course, she uses the same old "It's bad because it's interactive" argument, and she seems to talk about things she doesn't know, but it's no more than so many right-wing AND left-wing columnists who frequently blast "violent video games".

@ Twin-Skys

God, her name seriously sounds like a penile issue.

"Extremely violent video games have become the dangerous obsession of a significant portion of our youth"

Statistics? Proof? Anything at all to back up this alarmist exaggeration.


"What Wollman failed to add is that a literary description of violence in the Bible does not engage a teenager in role-playing or desensitize him to the harm…"

What this woman fails to comprehend is that there is no harm caused by playing video games. I have never engaged in role playing with any of the games I play. Have I wanted to see how the story ends? Sure, but that doesn't mean I have to empathise with and begin to act like the character. Exactly how I was with...oh, she's mentioned it already! Shakespeare!

Iago in Othello was a horrible character, lying and deceiving, causing grief and suspicion in all around him. Kratos in God of War is a horrible character, violent and bloodthirsty without mercy. I have not acted like either character in my life, as I assume most normal haven't.

Schlafly would, apparently, like to impose her definition of free speech, rather than the one upheld in nine federal court cases:

"Legitimate free speech expresses violence in a rational context, rather than displaying it graphically to evoke an immediate emotional reaction."

To my mind there is no difference between a description of a fictional character being shot, and the depiction on-screen of that fictional character being shot.

"It is not a First Amendment right to cause panic on an airplane by shouting that someone has a bomb; nor is it legitimate free speech to evoke violent reactions in children through graphic video games…"

Again, she doesn't understand, but I've gone past expecting these people to actually research and back up their blanket statements. Repeat after me Phyllis: VIDEO GAMES DO NOT PROVOKE VIOLENT REACTIONS IN CHILDREN OR IN ANYONE ELSE.

"A teenager who learns how to murder and mutilate human beings in video games is desensitized to commit heinous crimes against his neighbors. Nothing in the First Amendment should prevent regulations to stop this, supremacist judges to the contrary notwithstanding."

It never ends... Anyone who would murder or mutilate another human being was disturbed well before they ever played a video game. How can she explain the fact that all of the murder and rape that goes was happening for years before the television was invented, never mind videogames. How can she explain the fact that the crime rates have not increased with the adcent of the videogame era? Oh, I forgot, being on a moral high horse means you don't have to explain yourself or offer any proof. As long as you say it's for the children, you are free to pontificate and expound on subjects which you know nothing about without fear of response or argument. It makes me sick.

I'm sure most people could figure out how to kill another human even being without the help of these darn vidjamagames.

Honestly I stopped caring what she said when I read the word Conservative. She's just some crotchety old hag who hates video games and has a name that sounds like a STD.

The bible has been used to justify bigotry and even murder and genocide.

What makes video games worse again?

Untouchable
everything is ok when they do it, thats bible thumpers for you.

Is Phyllis Schlafly still alive? I dunno - in that photo she looks more like a corpse to me. Maybe the Christian right has perfected reanimation.

She used a term I had never heard before in the context of the judiciary. "Supremacists” I have, of course heard the term in dealing with racists but I've never heard judges called that in a different context.

Then I see that she has a book out entitled "Supremacists: The Tyranny of Judges and How to Stop It" at the bottom of the column. That's when I realized this column was little more than a method to coin a new term to help sell her books.

"But judicial supremacists ..."

Excuse me?

"...are striking down these laws by claiming this extremely graphic violence deserves the same First Amendment protection as Shakespeare.."

Or Fred Phelps.
Or the KKK or Black Panthers.
Or the Baptist convention (who referred to homosexuals as an "abomination").
Or FOX News (who won the legal Right to lie to and deceive their audience).
Or the Racist Al Sharpton or the Racist Jesse Jackson.
Or David Duke.
Or Eric Rudolph (whose act of murder was a crime, but his ignorant prattlings are protected Free Speech).
Or a great many religious followers who promote bigotry and hate in their services and dogma.
And so many others.

"Legitimate free speech expresses violence in a rational context, rather than displaying it graphically to evoke an immediate emotional reaction. It is not a First Amendment right to cause panic on an airplane by shouting that someone has a bomb; nor is it legitimate free speech to evoke violent reactions in children through graphic video games…"

Uh, you mean like showing videos of injustices on the news (such as, but definitely not limited to, the Rodney King and Reginald Denny beatings)?
Such as movies like "Passion of the Christ"?
Or video documentaries about events such as war?
Or video documentaries about protests to various events, including riots during the Civil Rights eras?
Or anti-abortion videos that don't deal straight with facts but rather use graphic imagry to incite various emotional responses?
Or the religious "haunted houses" that try to scare people with "horrors" of various situations manipulated to incite negative emotional responses?
Or books written to incite various emotional responses by using and even abusing individuals, families, and communities who have suffered various tragedies just to push one's own personal, religious, and/or political beliefs?

So let's see her get behind banning THOSE exposures to violence. After all, according to her own definition, THEY aren't "legitimate" either.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

We should get someone to show her that Videogames aren't a child's toy anymore. I wonder if she would believe that if she saw the facts.

We never get anything new. I could write a rebuttal to this and then recycle it, probably word for word for the next time someone criticises video games. I'll leave that for some other time and be more specific.

So let's see...

The Bible, not only describes some violent activities in grisly detail, but makes it quite clear that this is a morally acceptable way to behave.

Video games do indeed encourage remarkably unpleasant behaviour within the context of the game but never suggests that this is a moral or correct way to behave in the real world.

The Bible has been used for justification for violence by a number of right wing fanatical groups, and interpretations in dogma have been the excuse for considerable violence in Northern Ireland for many years.

Video games are occasionally used after the fact as an explanation for violence, but there has never been a clear correlation shown.

Another right wing christian whining? They always bitch about this or that...

*yawns*

Ya know, I never knew it.. but I have been learning to kill with my video games... last night I learned that I could LT X B A A A B X RA-RT X RT RT X Y RT... and then then if I hit A at the right time, the Quicktime event would totally destroy my neighbor by DRIVING A PEG THROUGH HIS TEMPLE, INTO THE GROUND....

Yea, video games taught me how to kill.. we need to monitor people, so they don't press these evil button combos.

"this extremely graphic violence deserves the same First Amendment protection as Shakespeare.."

Umm, guess what? Shakespeare is no stranger to extreme violence. I should know, I am a theatre major in college. Let's look at a few...

MacBeth - Kills King Duncan in his sleep, Kills Banquo, Kills MacDuff's wife and son, MacDuff kills MacBeth and beheads him.

Titus Andronicus - Rapist is caught killed and turned into a pie and is then fed to his own mother.

Romeo & Juliet - Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo kills Tybalt, R&J commit suicide.

Hamlet - Hoo boy! Hamlet's father is poisoned, Hamlet kills Claudius, Ophellia drowns herself, Hamlet and Larates(misspelled, I know) kill each other in a dual, Hamlet's mother drinks poison meant for Hamlet, Hamlet kills his uncle.

And that's just a sample. Really the biggest difference is that Shakespeare is a lot fancier with his language. Now I'm not trying to decry Shakespeare, I love it. I'm just trying to show a major flaw in her argument.

I have not yet seen an anti-game lobbyist/activist under the approximate age of 50. If they are out there, I've somehow not seen them.

Why are the vast majority of anti-game people members of the pre-videogame generation?

Very telling.

This doesn't surprise me, especially since Schlafly is the head of the Eagle Forum, which Jack Thompson also belongs to. If you pay attention, they spout a lot of the same rhetoric.

Harlan Ellision said it best with regards to Schlafly. When asked what he would do if she walked into the headlights of his car (and I would do exactly the same thing, both to her and Thompson), he would "knock her into the next time zone." He also described her as "a mischievous woman who does terrible things." (Again, same can be said of Thompson)

Is anyone really surprised something like this happened? Phyllis Schlafly is the mother of Andy Schafly, the idiot behind Conservapedia (www.conservapedia.com)

"What Wollman failed to add is that a literary description of violence in the Bible does not engage a teenager in role-playing or desensitize him to the harm…"

Oh, BULL. What kid wouldn't read that and go 'ew', at least in their head?

Add another senile crock to the mix...

Addendum

@ IllegallyMindedJohn

up, down, left, right, left, right, a, b, a

Sweet, now the coppers won't be able to stop me now (insert Bugsy Marone accent here) see! *attempts crime dies in shoot out*

Hey looks like reality and cheats don't work, huh who knew?

We had someone like this in the UK in the 20th Century: Mary Whitehouse.

When she died, the obituaries openly mocked her life's work. Nobody from the younger generation sought to replace her.

The rhetoric of people like Schlafly and Thompson will be treated by history in the same way.

@potatojones83

Don't forget that given Romeo and Juliet's timeline, Juliet would have been around 13.

Violence AND underage sex!

These people are stupid. The same crap spews from their mouths everytime about gamers and games in general. It's bad because I say it's bad. The military doesn't use it to desensitize people, it doesn't desensitize people. If anything, the NEWS CORPORATIONS playing stories about homocides and child-killers and all that nonsense is what is desensitizing people.

Don't get me wrong, there's a war yet to fight; but, they need to direct their comments/money/time to solving real war problems. Not just the few kids who are already mentally unstable being prone to playing more violent games.

GET OFF THE SCAPEGOAT BANDWAGON YOU NINNIE.

She makes it sound like there's different first amendments... "The same freedom of speech as Shakespere"? Yes, of course. And Neo-Nazis, and overly-zealous religious groups (I'm a christian, and I admit that some others are... uh... 'dedicated'), and government-haters, and a lot of other groups.
Now... how is playing Halo like yelling that you have a bomb on a plane?

I guess she also wants to ban violent film (like Rambo and Saw), violent music (like gangsta rap and '1812 Oveture'), and violent pictures (just go to the Louvre).

See, if she is against violence to evoke an 'immediate emotional reaction', she should just lie down in the ground, she died years ago but hasn't realized it yet. Illiciting an emotional reaction IS art, she just argued with herself... and lost.

/headdesk
/headdesk
/headdesk
/headdesk
/passout

Blissful unconsciousness...

I just realized, she looks a little too much like Kyle's mom from South Park.

'Legitimate free speech expresses violence in a rational context, rather than displaying it graphically to evoke an immediate emotional reaction''

yeah... um so lets ban every movie like saw and hostel then, and a load of books ('american psycho ' anybody?) as they have much viloence in a 'non-rational' context (whatever the exact definition of that may be)

Isn't she supposed to be a close friend of Jack Thompson? He was on her show the Eagle Fourm once or twice I think.

Yeah, the only thing I want to carry over from video games are the cheat codes.

But, unlike with XBox 360s, I still want to earn my Achievements while cheating. :P

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

I'm so sick of old people.

They're so stupid and annoying.

Yeah, I'm aware of the ignorance of that statement, but you know what? They're fucking ignorant too. Far more than me. EVER see a person who wasn't a 'concerned mother' under the age of 30 bitch about games? Hell, even under the age of 40? No.

But crusty old bags like this won't shut up with their ignorance and stupidity.

/rage

Ah, you all do realize this is WORLD NET DAILY, right?

"Schlafly also is founder and president of Eagle Forum."

Ha ha ha, oh wow. That explains everything.

@ KayleL
Actually, the statistics show that violent crimes have actually DECREASED - though not by a huge margin - as games have become more popular.

While i'm not preaching that they two are related (though I do believe games can relax people and allow them to take out their frustrations), Crime has gone down as the game industry has gone up.

These people can claim all they want that games are causing violence, but the proof shows the opposite. What is their response for that?

Well they don't have one.

I work at wal-mart, and i won't even let a kid look at the back of an "M" rated game unless their parents are there with them!!! These politicians can shove it for all i care. Btw, im 18.

Oh no! Supremacists!

I don't really see the point of asking if Schlafly would go after other violent media; she addresses that by playing the "context" card. In her world, videogames are controlled expressions of violence with no plot, whereas the biblical example is corralled by overarching historical elements. The problem is that folks like these are completely oblivious to the advancements in gaming technology over the last twenty years, and therefore have no idea that storylines have increased in length and complexity, thus validating whatever violence occurs. Vice City might not be Chekhov, but it's a long way from Death Race, too.

Theres a reason its called Wing Nut Daily...

SHe looks like she'd say exactly what she said...wierd....

I guess we'll need to ban plays based on the works of Shakespeare. And movies like Passion of the Christ. And after that, we can ban Harry Potter books because kids can't tell the difference between reality and make-believe, and if we don't act immediately they will be jumping off rooftops with broomsticks thinking they can fly.

She says the other forms of media are not interactive, but there are actual actors portraying the roles of characters like Hamlet and MacBeth, so they must be training to become murderers, poisoners, crucifiers, etc.

Seriously, someone should just change the words in her argument so that it's advocating the banning of movies about Jesus and send it back ot her. Just because I don't agree with what she says, and in fact believe what she is saying is harmful to society, I don't think trampling all over the First Admendment is the way to fix that little problem.

My gods. More of the same tripe. There have been 33 school shootings since the true emergence of the violent FPS genre (since Doom came out). Even IF (and that's a big fracking IF) all 33 were 100% caused by video games, that is 33 people affected by the deplorable violence in a way where they would committed future violence.....33 out of what? 300 million gamers (since '93...and that is probably a modest estimate)?

33/300,000,000....hmmm....that would be .000011 of a percent of people thus affected. That is the definition of statistically insignificant. The FDA lets drugs on the market who KILL people at a higher rate than that every day.

Do these people not understand how math and statistics work?!!?

@ Jarros

"The amount of aquanet used for that hair do could glue a cat onto a wall."

I was concered about her name sounding like a horrific deases, but now I'm afraid for cats.

Jarros is right it's time we crusade against Aquanet abuse! We need to save those poor innocent small animals who get glued to walls!

@ Shoehorn

The Divine Comdey was a great epic poem.

Great, another quack who hasn't done her research. How low do you think her Amazon.com book ratings will be by the end of the day?

All of that applies to half-wits like Hillary Clinton too.

Obama in 08 for me man. I hope he wins.

Also, I'm taking a college US Government course and this lady is making comparisons that I learned in the first week were in accurate. Hey Phyllis! Educate yourself!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_and_present_danger

Shouting that someone has a bomb on an airplane is a clear and present danger. Playing a violent video game is... uh... NOT.

This begs the question if she's ever really read/seen one of Shakespeare's plays?

Isn't she that woman who was against Civil Rights, for both minorities AND women? Why should I listen to her?

I have never once felt compelled to exhibit violent behavior as the result of playing even the most tasteless and graphic games.

However, I ALWAYS feel compelled to aggression and am at least open to violence (if necessary) when my rights are threatened. This is the natural reaction, IMO. I do not appreciate this Thought-crime Bu****it trend coming from anyone with a bible and a microphone. -_-

At least her arguments are the usual outlandish, begging-for-suspension-of-disbelief, drivel.

"Free speech is intended to protect the controversial and even outrageous word; and not just comforting platitudes too mundane to need protection."
- Colin Powell

You shouldn't. But the reality is that she still gets one. Even morons get opinions in America. Which is what makes it all great and stupid at the same damn time. :)

Couldn't someone just challenge them to prove that these games turn people into killing machines? I mean, given the fact that millions of people play these games every day, shouldn't there be more than just a handful of murders supposedly attributed to videogames?

Why haven't I killed anyone yet? :(

[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptConservative commentator Phyllis Schlafly has criticized the unbroken string of First Amendment decisions which have protected video games in recent years. In a column for World Net Daily, Schlafly writes: Extremely violent video games have become the dangerous obsession of a significant portion of our youth, and several towns and states have passed ordinances intended to prevent minors from buying or viewing them. But judicial supremacists are striking down these laws by claiming this extremely graphic violence deserves the same First Amendment protection as Shakespeare.. [...]

“What you are saying hurts me terribly, it offends me, and I’ll fight every effort you take to put those words into action… But I promise you, that I’ll fight just as hard to make sure you can always say it.”

Rhade, that is the basic nature of the First Amendment. Somnetimes is sucks big time, but that is how it is. Either we all are protected, because soon after some of use are not protected, none of us will be.

"Rhade, that is the basic nature of the First Amendment. Somnetimes is sucks big time, but that is how it is. Either we all are protected, because soon after some of use are not protected, none of us will be. "

Of course. That's exactly my point. The quote you took from my post was basically me talking to whatever-hypothetical-douche-tool is relevant.

I was just thinking about how we have the moral high ground in a big way.

@ Zerodash

It seems like they'd tread more carefully considering the fact that even THEY are considered a terrorist threat according to some law enforcement handbooks... and of course the thought-crime case against the Christians that were protesting a gay pride parade... I mean, come on!

Luck for us, most of this conservative hypocrisy ("I want a big gov't to enforce my morals!") is limited to World Net Daily, a website for the choir. Its tough to get too worked up about something that is unlikely to be seen by anyone who isn't already around the bend.

She's still alive? *shrug*

I think it's time to make a video game of the bible don't you? I'll bet $1,000 Phyllis Schlafly won't spew hatred towards it and spin it the same way she's spinning her words right now.

Would the generation nearing it's end PLEASE SHUT UP!!! You're outdated beta versions of the younger generations. All you're doing is showing younger generations why we should not respect, trust, or bother giving you the time of day. You have nothing to contribute.

GP: I wanted to extend a belated thank you for the post about "The 10-Cent Plague." I purchased the book and found it thoroughly fascinating, if somewhat depressing. It absolutely amazes me how similar the modern arguments against video games (such as the one you've posted here) are to the anti-comic book arguments of the 1950s. I can only hope games don't suffer a similar fate.

LOL @ The elderly being Beta versions of people.

Let's be fair - agism works both ways. There is a septugenarian that lives in my apt. building I trade emails regularly with, who play online chess with people and contantly boasts about being 'pen pals' with over 600 people. Both in email and pen and ink. So not all old folks are out of touch.

Also, as much as my heart agrees with Zerodash, my head says that it's unfair and not on-topic.

Did anyone take the time to google the other articles she authored that I mentioned? I call her a prejudiced, out-of-touch biddy becase I've been reading her articles for close to a year. Any other informed opinions out there, or is BunchaKneeJerks right about gamers?

Also, thanks for the Gamasura link. I agree with it in principle but disagree with his assertation that spamming Amazon was immature. The internet has finally given people a public forum to be reckoned with, it's no wonder Old Media Busybodies laugh and spout lines like, "The Internet hath no fury like a gamer scorned.” Douglas Wilson should have read the comments on Amazon. They were mostly of the type that said, "I haven't read this book, but I will give an uninformed opinion about it because the author does the same thing on nation TV!" Tit-for-tat justice is risky, but in this case worked out.

Anyway, sorry for the OT portion.

I'm sorry, I'm still laughing too hard from her using Shakespeare as her comparison. The man's work featured nothing BUT violence and (the greatest enemy to US media apparently) sex. So by that standard, games do deserve the protection of the 1st amendment and in fact Hot Coffee should be allowed under that law as well.

EDIT: I'm not advocating vandalism of Amazon, but it is a public forum for valid critiques. Not threats, and stupidity.

@Rhade

I agree. It is us and not them that have the moral high ground in relation to the First Amendment. Such is the nature of the situation.

@ Bill

I read the article you posted, he does make some good points.

@ Zerodash and Rhade

I hope you're both making a sarcastic jokes and not being anyware near seroise.

sorry for the double post

but i just saw her wiipedia and she opposed the equal rights amendment to the constitution, sex education, feminist rights like not being the husband's property.

gamers seem to deal with these types way too often.

@ Rhade

"@ Zerodash

It seems like they’d tread more carefully considering the fact that even THEY are considered a terrorist threat according to some law enforcement handbooks… and of course the thought-crime case against the Christians that were protesting a gay pride parade… I mean, come on!"

I would italicize if I had the ability to. If it's a sarcastic responce I appologize.

So are these judges First Amendment supremacists? I didn't know they had to be supremacists in order to uphold the Bill of Rights.

@ Ebonheart

I don't see what you could take offense to in my post. I'll assume it's the fact that I used 'They'd' in place of 'Some christians would.' /shrug

I was arguing that Christians should be concerned with free speech, because there are things in the bible that are being represented as hate-speech.

1.) Religion has caused more deaths, wars, bloodshed, murders, and hurt feelings than ALL VIDEO GAMES COMBINED.

That being said...

2.) A person should never be judged by their religion. I'm Christian, and I have never tried to convert anybody, nor have I harassed people who are atheist/other religions, threatening them with damnation and hellfire. I've never even asked a person their beliefs, since it's none of my business.

In summary: Grouping all members of a religion with the fanatics is the same as grouping all video gamers with what the far right lovingly refer to as the 'Moral Degenerates.'

@ Arad

I'm more convinced that Leaders, co-opting the peoples faith, caused the lions-share of these atrocities.

In the interest of saving time in the future, I propose standardization of the headline:

"Aging conservative fears what (s)he does not understand, wants to trample First Amendment"

A great idea: make a game that depicts every violent thing in the Bible. Everything about the game will be fine since it is all in context.

Here's what I think:

Everyone has their own opinion. JT's is known to us all, as is the ECA's. But the Constitution was founded on the opinions of the WHOLE, not the individual. With this in mind, make sure your opinion is INFORMED and VALID before you cite the Constitution. Also, being a politician doesn't make your opinion any more important than a normal citizen's. You just get to yell louder than most.

once I read the name of the newest anti-video game member, I was like ".....who?"

but serously, how can she group video games and Shakespeare together?

Shakespeare?

Of all the works she could have picked, she said Shakespeare?

With his bloody murders, revenge killings, underage sex, witchcraft...

But Shakespeare has been accepted by the majority of society today. Plus, Shakespeare is READING! Today, it's so much easier to use electronic media than it is to read an actual, honest-to-God book.

Addendum

If you think shakespear is "bad" read some of Dante's poems they're violent, though they don't have the sex, or discribe murders, non of that fun stuff.

Well considering that the universal symbol for Fascism is displayed on the Mercury dime, US House of Representatives, Lincoln Memorial, and Seal of the Senate... the Bawls would be FAAAAR less offensive to me. /shrug

I'm pretty sure this lady told me to get off her lawn once. I never did get that baseball back.

Is this like the Fairness Doctrine redux?

(stands up)

Hello. My name is Chaplain99, and I'm...addicted to Bawls.

("Hello, Chaplain99")

Lol, North Korea is only unhappy because they don't watch South Park, y'know?

And I think that even if the 50 year olds got laid, they'd only say, "Now I know what it's like to have sex. And I was seriously disappointed. It's all GTA's fault!"

Another day, another fossil hating on video games. Seriously, those are the only people who attack stuff like this... with that said, we just have to keep fighting back for a few more years. Eventually, they'll all die and then our younger society will finally accept video games.

I'm sure music, movies, and television went through the same stuff. Video games are just the latest form of such.

On an off-topic note, whatever happened to the days when "conservative" meant "wanting as little government interference as possible?" When did it change into "wanting to ban everything that's fun and entertaining while preaching religion X"?

ok, someone needs to make a video game from Titus Andronicus.

kerching! complaints about videogames?
must be friday!

"A teenager who learns how to murder and mutilate human beings in video games is desensitized to commit heinous crimes against his neighbors."


Desensitization doesn't work that way. Doctors are desensitized to blood and gore, yet we don't have doctor's swarming the streets with chainsaws now do we?

Being desensitized doesn't mean you will commit said act, but rather you aren't as squeamish about it. And if I'm ever horribly injured in a car accident I hope some desensitized person wanders by to pull me out as opposed to someone who will faint uselessly at the first sight of blood.

Dear Phyllis,

In case you missed all the primaries, Huckabee didn't get the nomination because people are sick of big-government "conservatives" like you who want to interfere with everyone's lives. The Reagan Coalition is dead, and you're pretty much irrelevant now. Get over it.

Regards,
The fiscal conservative, small "r" republican, independent, and libertarian wings of the defunct Reagan Coalition.

"A teenager who learns how to murder and mutilate human beings in video games is desensitized to commit heinous crimes against his neighbors."

I think that a person (who is sane) would, at the "point of no return" of committing a crime, would stop, and think "what am I doing?", or, after committing the crime think "what did I do?" Realizing the gravity of actual death, and actual blood, and actual screams/yelling/fighting from the victim is different from a game which can barely express one of those well enough to be half believable.

I've read the Coulter-clone's rants before, but this one even isn't one of the worse.

I was reading the Wiki... and of all the things to end up noticing: her children... first two names are John and Bruce... coincidence?

Hmm... for some reason my comment did not correctly show. After quoting her, I stated the following:

"No, but the bible didn't fail to be the cause of the deaths and enslavement of millions of people over the past thousand or so years".

Does she think this statement will change the minds of the judges? Does she think her words will touch any nerves? Does she honestly believe that her words will prompt law makers to alter the constitution?

This is simply another overly conservative opinion trying to suppress the rising popularity of a trend that she does not understand, and therefore inherently fears. The same opinions were attributed to films in their early days and comic books, and even literature thousands of years ago. Something new has come along and the old people don't like. That's all.

@Ebonheart

"What happened to the day people where telling the feds to “shove it, we don’t want you raising our children”?"

That was thrown in the garbage along with personal responsibility to make way for frivolous litigation and the 'It's not my fault' mindset. It's not the parents fault for not spending enough time to see what their kids are playing, it's not their fault they don't care enough to ask them if they're having problems. It's not the kid's fault for shooting up a school yard, the video games made him do it! The fact that the child had easy and unrestricted access to a gun, as well as mental problems that a concerned parent might catch had NOTHING to do with it.

Heaven forbid the parents actually TRY to parent.

I blame the V-Chip

This woman needs to shut the hell up.

"Legitimate free speech expresses violence in a rational context, rather than displaying it graphically to evoke an immediate emotional reaction."

Are you seriously saying that the --6 o'clock News-- is not free speech???

What in the world are you on woman! Every single news channel in our nation that I'm aware of plays clips of the latest School Shootings and Suicide Bombers for EXACTLY THAT REASON: to "evoke an immediate emotional reaction." Isn't telling people what our government is doing one of the MAIN reasons why the 1st Amendment exists? Something like Taxation without Representation?

Ok, yeah, a bit out of line. Still, I have valid points here.

Old lady is old... really fuc*king old!

> Zerodash

Oh, I know. That's precisely why I like seeing Republicans do it too, and in frumpy fundamentalist ways that alienate young voters. I'm well aware that Hillary Clinton has done her share of game-scapegoating pandering, which certainly annoys me. I'd still vote for her, though, if she got the nomination (which she won't), because game regulation is hardly an important political issue compared to things that really affect people like the Iraq war, the economy, and health care.

This from the woman who is against the equal rights ammendment.
(first paragraph wikipedia link)
now shes against free speech...
whats next? bringing back the 18th amendment?
Fun fact=shes anti gun control but pro videogame regulation.

We don't have to worry. She's going to die of old age or some disease.

I bet she has never played any Videogame in her life.

She is more like a preacher who says it's ok to Bash Homosexuals all because the Bible says so.

Now I have read a few things about the Bible and it DOES NOT say anything about bashing homosexuals.

Also I have my right for free speach to say that any person who says these things about Videogames without even playing them is far more worse than a person who says that the Bible makes people violent without even reading it.

"Legitimate free speech expresses violence in a rational context, rather than displaying it graphically to evoke an immediate emotional reaction."

Hahahah, you're a fucking idiot, don't try to twist the 1st Amendment to your own half-assed opinions.

Anyone else fidn it ironic that she brings up Shakespeare, then says games are bad because they encourage you to play a role? What exactly do people do in plays?

Phyllis' rant reminds me of a fun fact noted in a Supreme Court case, relating precisely to this issue. In footnote 11 to his concurring opinion in Memoirs v. Massachusetts, 383 U.S. 413, (1966), Justice Douglas quoted from Murphy, The Value of Pornography, 10 Wayne L. Rev. 655, 668 (1964) as follows:

"Everything, every idea, is capable of being obscene if the personality perceiving it so apprehends it. "It is for this reason that books, pictures, charades, ritual, the spoken word, can and do lead directly to conduct harmful to the self indulging in it and to others. Heinrich Pommerenke, who was a rapist, abuser, and mass slayer of women in Germany, was prompted to his series of ghastly deeds by Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. During the scene of the Jewish women dancing about the Golden Calf, all the doubts of his life came clear: Women were the source of the world's trouble and it was his mission to both punish them for this and to execute them. Leaving the theater, he slew his first victim in a park nearby. John George Haigh, the British vampire who sucked his victims' blood through soda straws and dissolved their drained bodies in acid baths, first had his murder-inciting dreams and vampire-longings from watching the `voluptuous' procedure of - an Anglican High Church Service!"

I suspect that some might react more violently to Schlafly's speech than that in a video game. Perhaps she should be censored first.

She was opposed to Feminism and Equal Rights is this really suprising? If she had her say American women would be wearing Burqas and the only books allowed would be religious texts.

Her book rating is already starting to drop...

@ Sean

To literate and well spoken to be Pendralisk.

@ Thefreshman

No, it has to be feminism! BEcause when god looked into the kitchen and found there was no stu on the stove; he yelled "I WILL SMITE THE!"
Also burqa is islamic not catholic, though a chasity belt is. THey tended to cause severe infections on the wearer. Good times.

@ John

Thats a great find. Funny that some guy goes on a killing spree after watch a church movie, wow the irony.

@ Woman Who SHould have a Painful disease named after her

Damn those Freedom loving jerks! How dare they force my right to chose on me! How dare they love the freedoms my very country was built on! How dare they! /riot (Side note: After I typed /riot Kaiser Chiefs 'I Predict a Riot went off in my head, I became very scared)

Phyllis Schafly, a conservative writer jumps on horse, attempts to lop off heads with a sword of technophobic hypocrisy 10+… ends up with my polearm of common sense 11+ tearing her a new one...

Meet Phyllis Schafly, a wonderful little old lady who has not only attempted to sabotage the Equal Rights Amendment, otherwise known as “the treat me as more than a baby-maker amendment”, the curbing of nuclear weapons proliferation (yay! g...

Behold! Jack Thompson's foster sister!

Say, isn't Schlafly the woman who thought that the Equal Rights Amendment would require bathrooms to become unisex? That sort of tells me all I need to know about her.

@Xantar:

And yet the sharp increase in rape attacks would still be blamed on GTA.

What shes saying: Everyone else is crazy. I am the only sane person.
What it mean: She is really crazy.

This woman is an idiot

pressing a button or swinging a Wiimote is no more desensitizing then watching someone get shot in a movie. I've always said the older generation is out of touch and boy am I right.

And how is someone being desensitized a bad thing? I personally don't want to freak out every time I see some horrific story on the news or something. Come to think of it, why isn't she demanding the censor the nightly news? Violent news stories have inspired more copycat killings than video games. The VA Tech shooter even admired the Columbine killers.

These stories get so old its ridiculous. No case is ever going to pass muster as video games are protected under the First Amendment as free speech and if any court were to decide any different, the First Amendment would cease to have any meaning. When are states going to get through their head that no legislation is ever going to work when it comes to this issue? Aren't there more pressing issues then this going on? I would think so. States are wasting taxpayer money on coming up with these bills that will never stand up and I am sure there are more laws such as these coming in the pipeline.

If it makes anyone feel better, the site she writes on does not seem to be a main stream republican site, and that site has plenty of crap that come from other people like her.

"I play violent video games! I can snap any minute!" - Tycho

Last I remember..

People have killed for what was written in the bible for a very long time..

I think its death count is a little higher then GTA