Mitt: I’ll “go after” retailers who sell violent adult video games

HotAir ^

[Sir Gawain]

Mitt: I’ll “go after” retailers who sell violent adult video games

posted at 5:03 pm on December 21, 2007 by Allahpundit

This comes courtesy of HA’s resident IT czar, Mark Jaquith, whose inner libertarian shivers at the prospect of it. Mine too. We’ve been binging on Huck’s nanny statism for weeks now, but with Mitt emerging as the viable alternative it pays to remind ourselves of the lengths to which he’s willing to go to clean up the “cesspool” that is America.

I want to restore values so children are protected from a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex, and perversion. I’ve proposed that we enforce our obscenity laws again and that we get serious against those retailers that sell adult video games that are filled with violence and that we go after those retailers.

As Mark says, follow the link and compare his answer to Bill Richardson’s or Obama’s. They want to educate parents, presumably through a ratings system; Mitt wants to start locking people up. Obscenity laws are notoriously fraught with First Amendment problems since it’s hard to write one that doesn’t accidentally (or intentionally) go too far and end up prohibiting forms of protected speech. Because they’re so ripe for abuse, they rarely withstand constitutional challenge and thus the government’s basically given up on using them to prosecute people. Mitt’s promise to social cons is that all that’s going to change, with the obvious goal being to intimidate retailers into not carrying violent games in the first place lest they risk prosecution.

The good news is any law would probably be struck down. And even if it isn’t, this is Mitt we’re talking about. He’ll probably just change his mind later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFyDWjATbok&eurl=http://hotair.com/archives/2007/12/21/mitt-ill-go-after-retailers-who-sell-violent-adult-video-games/

[weegee]

Those who shoot up our schools have already been diagnosed and treated for clinical depression. It isn’t the video games that make them kill.

They should be institutionalized (and this can be done at home with family and a leg bracelet). They are not able to walk among a free society. I hear that they a “functioning” members of society. This is false. When they rape and gun down the masses they are malfunctioning. They are able to PASS as functional members of society.

If we are going to say that the mentally ill are unaccountable for their actions because of mental problems, then they should be in the presence of their legal guardian who is accountable for where they go and the guns they buy.

[SuziQ]

I want to restore values so children are protected from a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex, and perversion. I’ve proposed that we enforce our obscenity laws again and that we get serious against those retailers that sell adult video games that are filled with violence and that we go after those retailers.

Does he mean going after retailers who sell these games to UNDERAGE folks, or to just anyone?

[mnehring]

If you can, find a video of the back and forth between the two, Dee Snyder really put her in her place.

[DTogo]

"Obscenity Laws" written by Congress.

HA! HA! HA! HA!

[bmwcyle]

Mitt get a shovel. You can dig your political grave much faster.

[bubbacluck]

If the video game didn’t exist he would have done the exact same stunt,

You don't know that.

[Outership]

“This is a security issue because being so morally depraved makes us more vulnerable. Really violent games are very detrimental to the spirtual well being of our country. I think this is more important then trying to reform education, because issues like these are at the root of children not being motivated to learn. I think No Child Left Behind is a lousy idea because it doesn’t get at the root of the problem. I am not saying this is the only root, but it is one of the roots. I respect Mitt for his vision and I am sure this comes from being a life-long family man with strong spirtual roots. You can degrade him if you want to, but it won’t change the way I see it.”

Video games are not the root of any problem. The problem is bad parents. The root of this problem has been the same since the beginning of humanity: the sinful nature of man. See what your father does that is sinful, but don’t do as he does. Therefore, your children won’t do it. Make yourself like Christ as much as you can, and your children will have a good role model. If an adult has no control over his sinful passions, then his children will have even less control over theirs.

There is one, maybe two video games in the history of such games that has content that is truly morally disturbing. Yet, that content is nothing compared to the standard fare of prime time television shows. Even more frightening, children will be exposed to worse morality in an average public school. You can try to ban all entertainment rated R and above, but how do you ban the bad morality in life itself?

If you care enough about your children to feel the need to protect them from moral corruption, you need to monitor everything they watch, listen to, and play. You must also home school them and have at least one parent at home with them at all times. It goes without saying that you need to have both a mother and father for every child, those parents must be practicing Christians, and they must be married in a Christ centered relationship. As an added bonus, children raised this way will be better schooled than the public school valedictorian.

This is the only way that will repair the spiritual well being of America. No law or other quick fix will work. With an upbringing as described above though, our children will have no interest in bad morality to begin with.

[Outership]

See post #67.

[romanesq]

Gaming has led to some fine soldiering. So, that’s all I have to say.

[4yearlurker]

I guess Mitt never watched an old Tom & Jerry cartoon or an old black and white western film. He’s just another gun grabber.

[EEDUDE]

“Based on the idiots Mitt put on the court in Massachusetts would there be ANY difference? And unfortunately my statement is not even remotely an exaggeration.”

BUMP.

A liberal would appoint conservative judges?

Right.

I cannot believe that we are even talking about Romney, Rudy, or Huckabee as possible nominees...man oh man are we ever in trouble.

[rodeo-mamma]

We need to start somewhere. That is an excuse to not do anything. Right now, we are seeing a free-for-all because people keep making the same kind of argument that you make. All it does is enable evil.

[BlazingArizona]

Hmm, we are not supposed to enforce laws?

I don't think we've had enough nannyism and property seizures the last few years. Yeah, that's it!

[Outership]

“If the video game didn’t exist he would have done the exact same stunt,”

“You don’t know that.”

In the biographical and autobiographical accounts written before the invention of videogames, television, and radio, there have been depictions of children doing the watch-me-pretend stunt; and there have been children seriously hurt or killed in such events.

It isn’t hard to imagine Babylonian children, upon hearing the Gilgamesh poem, turning to play pretend with their younger siblings. Before that they pretended their younger sister was from the enemy tribe their father went off to combat... stabbing her with a makeshift spear. Before that, children pretended they were the wild tiger they were warned to stay away from... pouncing on their younger sister and pretending to rake her with their pretend claws.

All stories come first in the imagination, so before any story was ever told people have been playing pretend. ‘Watch me show off for the others by doing this - oh no I accidentally killed someone’ is as old as man.

[Manic_Episode]

's

[bubbacluck]

Regarding the incident in Colorado:

I submit that the perp didn’t have the character to be able to know right from wrong. Remove the violent video game influence and he MAY have still drop kicked to death a seven year old girl. He was also drunk. That does affect ones perception of right and wrong. I may be the only on this forum who believes this, but repeated playing of violent video games desensitize the human mind.

[DoughtyOne]

“This is a security issue because being so morally depraved makes us more vulnerable. Really violent games are very detrimental to the spirtual well being of our country. I think this is more important then trying to reform education, because issues like these are at the root of children not being motivated to learn. I think No Child Left Behind is a lousy idea because it doesn’t get at the root of the problem. I am not saying this is the only root, but it is one of the roots. I respect Mitt for his vision and I am sure this comes from being a life-long family man with strong spirtual roots. You can degrade him if you want to, but it won’t change the way I see it.”

Video games are not the root of any problem.

They are contributory to a very big problem.

The problem is bad parents.

I'm not sure if you've been a parent or not yet, but that's a fantasy.  There are plenty of bad parents out there to be sure, but this is not solely an issue of 'bad parenting'.

The root of this problem has been the same since the beginning of humanity: the sinful nature of man. See what your father does that is sinful, but don’t do as he does. Therefore, your children won’t do it. Make yourself like Christ as much as you can, and your children will have a good role model. If an adult has no control over his sinful passions, then his children will have even less control over theirs.

How to say this as kindly as possible... this is empty rhetoric.  You simply cannot control everything your children are exposed to, because if it exists, they will be exposed to it whether you are a good parent or not.  As a society, we have deemed it reasoned to produce the vilest of products aimed at children.  If you choose not to procure those things for your home, you cannot keep your kids locked up in it.  Children go to school.  Their friends bring in materials that introduce them to shadey concepts.  And then you lose them as they feel deprived and venture off into uncharted territory on their own.  You simply cannot prevent this due to the prevalence of these materials.

There is one, maybe two video games in the history of such games that has content that is truly morally disturbing.

Oh cut it out.

Yet, that content is nothing compared to the standard fare of prime time television shows. Even more frightening, children will be exposed to worse morality in an average public school. You can try to ban all entertainment rated R and above, but how do you ban the bad morality in life itself?

So your resolve on this issue goes something like this.  Murder exists, so it's pointless to try to eliminate rape.

Of course there is bad morality in television shows.  Why is that?  Is it going to damage your ability to judge things political if the cursing, sexual enuendo, and violence is eliminated, during prime time hours?  There are some shows I really enjoy, but they include murder and other violence starting at 8:00pm.  In the midwest it starts at 7:00pm.  Is that really necessary?

If you care enough about your children to feel the need to protect them from moral corruption, you need to monitor everything they watch, listen to, and play.

And why is that?  What you are saying here is that you know there is a very real problem, but it's the parent's fault if their children are exposed to it even if that problem is pervasive in our society to the point that children must essentially be locked up in their own homes.  Do you realize how idiotic that sounds?

You must also home school them and have at least one parent at home with them at all times.

While I agree that is what it has come to, I question most strenuously that our society should have come to this.  I object.  So does every person who home schools, which is precisely why they do.

It goes without saying that you need to have both a mother and father for every child, those parents must be practicing Christians, and they must be married in a Christ centered relationship. As an added bonus, children raised this way will be better schooled than the public school valedictorian.

I don't disagree with this, but that's like saying water out of the tap that is tainted, is just fine as long as we can go purchase bottled water.  I don't disagree with the notion that society would be far better off with good Christian homes where kids were home-schooled, but the schools should be such that sending kids off to them wasn't ultimately destructive.  I spent time in some excellent public schools.  They weren't trying to propagandize me and tell me my parents were the devil's spawn.  They weren't undercutting my parents, and my parents were not put in the position of having to undercut the propagandist materials presented by them.

This is the only way that will repair the spiritual well being of America. No law or other quick fix will work. With an upbringing as described above though, our children will have no interest in bad morality to begin with.

Do you understand that peer pressure by the third or forth grade has grown to be almost as powerful an influence on children as the most well intentioned parent?  Are you aware that teachers are teaching children today that parents mean well  but are often very wrong about important issues?  Are you aware that propagandist materials are presented to those children that refute what their parents have taught them?

We have a society that has been corrupted at every level, and then blame it on the parents.  Both of us realize that there are certainly problematic or even missing parents, but even two parents being of a same mind cannot block out what has become so pervasive that it's like asking a kid to stop breathing to try to prevent the incredibly bad influences from creeping through.

You and I both support blocking inappropriate influnces on children.  Tell me, is it then okay for them to be introduced to the world at 16-18 to find what a vile culture ours has become, one that is so far from a healthy environment, that grown adults cannot even recognize it for what it is any longer?

You seem to recognize a problem.  You seem to think parenting is the best way to combat it.  Yet you don't seem to understand the problems with trying to do what you have suggested, or what the results will ultimately be if you have been successful and those kids are then turned lose into what has essentially become quite a corse society.

We need to back it off a little...  well, actually a lot.

I expected a lot of disagreement over this.  There are a lot of people who see it your way.  I still wanted to voice an alternative view.

I do appreciate the response. Take care.

[geopyg]

“The parent/parents have the responsibility to monitor their own children’s behavior but I believe the game also had some influence.”

My 13-year old son once a week plays a teen video game (WW II first shooter type thing). I’ve watched it a bit and it looks pretty fun and not too graphic. However, one time he did come home from playing it and said something mean and “shot” his 10-year old sister with his finger. He got to skip the next week’s time to play it (at a friend’s house) - and has been good about it since. Same thing with PG-13 movies - if he gets caught using a swear word - that’s it.

[Russ]

"That is 'nanny politics', Mitt."

How right you are. These candidates are amazing. Listen to each of them and count the number of things they, personally, are going to do for us "for our own good". They don't have enough hours in a day for them to do all the things they claim they will do.

I would gladly vote for the candidate who promised to take four days a week off to go fishing, two months a year off to go hunting, and the rest of the time do absolutely nothing except veto legislation, protect our borders and wipe out terrorists.

[bubbacluck]

That’s kind of how we do it here. Playing some of these games is a privilege and can be quickly yanked. Consistency is the key for us.