April 22, 2008 -
Politics, as the saying goes, makes strange bedfellows.And there could be none stranger than seeing Hillary Clinton, who has long decried violence in video games, cozying up to the pro wrestling crowd with a tongue-in-cheek campaign promise that, if elected, she will deliver "the people's elbow" when things get rough.
Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain all appeared in taped WWE promos last night. Obama seemed uncomfortable, cracking only a "Do you smell what Barack is cookin'?" joke toward the end of his remarks.
Clinton's video was more enjoyable, if for no other reason than because it was such a departure from her normally aloof public persona. But, "Call me Hillrod?" A bit much...
John McCain's performance was funny ...and a little scary:
You want to pull out of Iraq? Well I say, no surrender... I'm gonna introduce Osama bin Laden to The Undertaker... [Americans] watch WWE because wrestling is about celebrating our freedom...
Watching these videos brings a few video game-related points to mind:
First, will we ever see major candidates making official appearances within a video game, or even at a video game event?
Second, why is WWE, with its real-life violence, steroid abuse issues, and hyper-sexualized "diva" wrestlers an acceptable venue for presidential candidates while video games are, apparently, not?
Finally, if one of these candidates goes after video game violence in the future, whether as president or as a member of the Senate, they need to be reminded of their political pandering to the wrestling audience.
Comments
If you did even five minutes of research or hell, actually finished reading that article you would have seen that the "wrestling defense" used in the Lionel Tate case was 100% BS and that Lionel Tate had before he murdered that girl and continued to have a history of behavioral problems, none of which had to do with WWE or prowrestling in general.
You guys have something in common with Hillary now, GG.
Gee, exactly like games. Fancy that.
The vast majority of WWE's roster are Republican, IIRC.
Plenty of politicians use war, that's just as violent and sexy.
@ sqlrob
It's this kind of thinking that gets us into trouble. When a news source or politician says "Hey, videogames are violent!", gamers line up to say "Hey, so is ____". Usually they go straight to movies, but some talk about books, wrestling, or a number of things. What we should be saying is that videogame violence has no proven harmful effects, and that M rated games shouldn't be sold to children.
Throwing another form of entertainment doesn't help, no matter how much you may or may not like it, especially if that form of entertainment is available in videogame form. While many people scoff at wrestling, and at wrestling videogames, those willing to sit down and play them dispite their bias often find something that's quite enjoyable. Wrestlmania 2000 and No Mercy were favorites of my group of friends though there were only a few wrestling fans among us.
Remember Rob, if we say 'hey, wrestling's just as bad' and they decide to do something about it, are we any better than they are?
And to add insult to injury, Hillary won Pennsylvania! Get under the biggest damn rock you can find, the Devil's comin' to town!
You make it sound like it was a surprise that Hillary won Pennsylvania... but I doubt she won it by enough.
Will there ever be an election ever be about issues and not left vs right?
Can't say I'm surprised, but it hurts all the same.
...Damn, do I sound melodramatic.
I hope the world ends soon :(