Thai Newspaper Urges Attack on Computer Game Menace
Thai Newspaper Urges Attack on Computer Game Menace
October 6, 2008
In Thailand, video games have been under government attack ever since the August slaying of a taxi driver by a 19-year-old man who reportedly told police he was re-enacting a scene from Grand Theft Auto.
In today's edition of Bangkok newspaper The Nation, an editorial terms games "a menace":
A number of Thai children have become addicted to computer games, which can be destructive not only to their social behaviour but also their studies.
There have been a series of cases of some children unknowingly committing violent acts because they were imitating scenes they have seen on computer games, some of which contain graphic images...
A survey from the Culture Ministry revealed that Thai children spent around 2 hours a day playing computer games. About 80 per cent of them choose the combat-style, action-packed games, some of which come with graphic and violent images. The addiction can affect their personality as they become more prone to bursts of anger and violence. Without proper guidance, some are unable to distinguish between fantasy and the real world.
GP: As GamePolitics reported last month, the Thai Ministry of Culture banned five games.
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Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
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Comments
Oh God. I just facepalm'd so hard.
Wait, I thought we were supposed to accept the decisions of other countries no matter what. Real Politik and all of that? Why the attack on the Thai Ministry of Culture? I'm sure the Thai people are in as much support of it as the British people are in of the BBFC.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
We aren't all in favor of the BBFC.
--------------------------------------------------
I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Un-educated luddite Thai parents: Maybe
Educated 18 year old Thai gamer: Definately no
Incomming message from Thailand Government to Parents in Thailand.
"You no longer have to raise your kids, we're going to do it for you."
"We are experts at micromanagement."
"We promise we are not trying to raise your kids to get them to sign up for the military later on in life. We just care about what is best for them, and figure we can raise them better than you... I mean, take the burden off of you to raise your children."
Hey, I just had a dream that cheeseburgers cause racism.
Can I write that factually-based piece of non-spuriousness into a newspaper article too?
There is no point of pointing out the flaws. We know we can't win, the government doesn't have common sense. All we can do is make sure that they looks like idiots so other countries don't follow.
OH NO! Kids spend 2 WHOLE HOURS A DAY in front of a game! They only spend 8 hours sleeping, 7 hours in school, and 7 hours doing other tasks like hygiene, chores, etc. What are we ever going to do?
yeah, it's odd to hear them bash a persons choice of entertainment. OH NO, GAMES. Maybe they should go play Hockey, it costs way more, has the potential to cause bodily injury, encourages violence between players (the real kind of violence, not button mashing).... oh why do I bother. The people who need to read this never will.
It really is the taxicab gunshot heard around the world!
Something tells me that the Thai government had it in for the gaming industry all along- they were just waiting for an appropriate spark to incite them to take action.
This, definitly this. It's definitly like ya said, this was just the kinda thing that they were waiting for it seems.
Is it just me, or does it seem like Thailand is just catching up to the west in the cultural introduction of games?
I mean, this was a popularized point of view, say, 10 years ago or so. Games are ruining children's school lives, games are making kids violent, games are blurring the line between reality and fiction to children.
Hell, a lot of this kind of garbage gets repeated over here still, so maybe they're not all that far behind.
Wait, wait..."unkowingly" causing violence? Strange, I thought that 19 year old (not a minor, not that it matters...) was able to reconstruct the crime scene for the police.
Two hours constitutes addiction now? Jeez. I'm on my way to TV addiction then with the whole hour and a half of Adult Swim that I watch.
Yeah it's not my country or government. Still this whole situation is so suspicious and the logic is...well, there's not much logic to go by.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
Until Thai gamers fight for their right to play games, I refuse to feel bad for them.
--- Official Protector of Videoland!
So let me get this straight, they unknowingly commit these so called acts? Pft, what, were they sleep crime committing or something?
They spend a whopping two hours playing these games, and this gameplay alters their brains and make them unknowingly commit heinous acts, like killing people (and later re-creating the scene for police, despite unkowingly commiting the act...), and writing god awful newspapers filled with more bullshit than a bulls bowels.
Oh, and Thailand...stop fucking children and I'll try to understand what the fuck you're talking about.
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers!
Having been to Thailand many times. In Bangkok, there is this inner city called "Patpong" which SHAMES other boys towns like Tiajuana or Matamoras or Del Rio. It is seriously the SIN CITY capital of the world.
How they can focus in on computer games while completely ignoring Patpong is beyond me.
Google "Patpong" and learn the hypocrisy of their morality.
Side note: I had a BLAST in Patpong. ;-)
It's called a political smokescreen. You basically stir up one controversy to cover the stench of another, thereby making people think you're doing something, when in fact you're just making yourself look good. Standard politics, though its use becomes more frequent as the gov't becomes more corrupt. Digging for excuses so to speak.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Just wanted to share something I found on Wikipedia about this Thai newspaper The Nation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nation_(Thailand) ) :
"Its editorial line has been described as "rabidly" critical of the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, and highly royalist and supportive of the Council for National Security military junta."
Furthermore, the Nation Multimedia Group, that owns this newspaper, was the subject of many controversies.