Senator Hillary Clinton slams Grand Theft Auto ("major threat" to morality)

Eurogamer.net ^ | 3/29/05

[Libloather]

Hillary Clinton slams GTA
GamesIndustry.biz

New York senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton has launched an attack on violent videogames, singling out Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto titles as a "major threat" to morality.

Clinton, who is reportedly planning to seek the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2008 election, has aligned herself with hardline right-wing Republican senators in order to pressure Congress into researching the impact of electronic media on children.

"Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them," she said in a statement on the issue. "This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it's OK to diss people because they are a woman, they're a different colour or they're from a different place."

She wants a $90 million investigation to be launched into the impact of games and other electronic media on the "cognitive, social, emotional and physical development" of children, according to a Sunday Times report.

Clinton has been joined in her attack on violent games by Republican senators Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum - the latter of whom is best known for his outspoken stance on homosexuality, which he is accused of comparing to bestiality in public statements.

American political analysts have noted that Clinton has taken on some increasingly right wing stances on domestic issues in recent months, in an effort to win support from traditionally Republican voters in the next presidential race, with videogames being merely the latest political kicktoy to be adopted by the ambitious senator.

[Toskrin]

I think the game would be more acceptable if after raping the woman you suggest putting some ice on it.

Hahahaha! I hear you will be able to do that in the next sequel, GTA: Chappaquiddick.

[Sofa King]

I really wish they would give it a rest with GTA. There are much better video games out there that they could be trying to ban, like Halo 2.

Or maybe they could spend $90 million investigating why Blizzard can't keep the @$#*ing World of Warcraft servers from crashing 2-3 times a day.

[Osage Orange]

("major threat" to morality)

Where was she when I had to explain her sick husband's behaviour to my young daughter's?

She was an enabler then....and she's a has been Socialist now.

If her mouth was sewn shut...the U.S. would be a better place.

RANT OFF..!!

[Osage Orange]

"Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them

That is rich..!! It's foooooooorrrrrrrr the C H I L D R E N........!

Hey Hillary....what do you watch if you want to off....a Commerce Secretary? Or a state policeman?

Geesh I loathe these people.............

[Osage Orange]

What kind of adult would want to play a game about stealing cars, having sex with prostitutes and murdering them?

Ahhhhh.....ummmmm....oh, yeah...the last Democrat President?

[Osage Orange]

I think the game would be more acceptable if after raping the woman you suggest putting some ice on it.

Yes...I agree. And after saying that...run over to the woman's house...and kill her cat.

[Stultis]

Shrillary to staff:

Every month, from now until 2008, I need three high profile opportunities to stand for "strong, middle-American moral values," but where it won't actually effect anything.

[somniferum]

Videogame Ping!

If you want on the newly created videogame ping list, freepmail me!

[Space Wrangler]

Screw her. San Andreas rocks!!

[DBrow]

Committee investigations on the media's role in promoting violence stop quickly when it comes time to pay for campaign ads.

I have seen many such studies come up with the conclusion that there is absolutely no correlation between movies, games, videos, whatever, and violence.

Just coincidence when Richard Ramirez "The Night Stalker" used to tie up his victims, play a certain AC/DC tune, then kill them

[Pravious]

Right. Starving a citizen to death... who cares?
Violent video games... our entire moral structure is in danger!!!

[CompSciGuy]

Still waiting for the Whitewater game where you can cheat Americans, kill your underlings, have sex with your interns, and still have people want to vote for you!

Please Hillary show me what to watch, lead me to the promised land! /extreme sarcasm

Cheers,

CSG

[Space Wrangler]

It's quite inappropriate for all of them, especially the 7 and 9 year olds. The GTA suite was designed for adults. Alot of people can't grasp that, but the average age for owners of Xbox's and PS2's are 26 and 28. Kids tend to migrate to the Nintendo, and a qucik browse through the game section will prove that fact. Nintendo's have a few adult titles, but historically are overwhelmingly dominated by kid titles. Xbox and PS2 on the other hand are dominated by adult titles. Your daughter (in-law?) needs a serious reality check.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Parents can control video games the same as TV shows if they want to. It all starts with the Parental Units in the home not in Congress or any other legislative body.
They put warning labels on these games now much the same as movies and if parents want to take the time and considerable effort they can determine what their children watch and play.
As a Baby Boomer I watched and great deal of TV and there was certainly a lot of violence in shows 30 to 45 years ago but there was always a moral lesson at the end of the show, the bad guys never won and right triumphed over wrong at least 99% of the time.
In today's shows that kind of writing is gone and there is no real moral or ethical bent to most shows.
I would just as soon watch old TV shows to what passes for entertainment today.
Until I had finally watched them all I was taping 2 hours of Perry Mason off the Hallmark channel in the afternoons to watch at night and believe me it doesn't get any better for TV drama than that show.
Also lately from Netflix I have been getting on DVD the entire first season of Richard Boone's great show "Have Gun-Will Travel" and I can tell you right now for a 30 minute drama it packs a lot into that 30 minutes and I would rather watch than almost anything on network TV right now.
It's up to the parents to take control and make the decisions not Congress to decide.

[SuziQ]

New York senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton has launched an attack on violent videogames, singling out Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto titles as a "major threat" to morality.

Oh Hillary, you are SO behind the times! Besides,there are a lot fewer teenagers who play "Grand Theft Auto" and are affect morally by it, than there are teenagers who were affected by your husband's protestations that his activities with Ms. Lewinsky were not sex, leading a whole generation of teenagers to follow his example.

[CHARLITE]

[didi]

I knew you would be here. (LOL)

[Trteamer]

How about a new game: TURBO SHREDDER. The police are knocking at your door and you have boxes and boxes of Vince Fosters documents to shred.

[CompSciGuy]

LOL! I love it... Of course plane crasher can be its sequel, you have an airplane with Ron Brown on it, and you need to guide it to a mountain.

Cheers,

CSG

[Delphinium]

Ahhhhh.....ummmmm....oh, yeah...the last Democrat President?

My point exactly.