| Re: Thanks Arnold [message #174481 is a reply to message #174429] |
Wed, 12 October 2005 08:55   |
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NukeIt15
Messages: 987
Registered: February 2003
Location: Out to lunch
Karma:
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Colonel |
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It's the idea behind it that is problematic, not the practice. Parents are already supposed to be the key of the ratings system. This sort of legislation does four things:
1. It fingers videogames as a cause of violence in children, which is a claim that we already know holds no water.
2. It removes responsibility from the parents, it does not give them more. This bill says, in no uncertain terms, that parents can't be trusted to watch what their kids are into, so the government should play watchdog instead. That is dangerous ground to tread on.
3. As a result of #2, parents get the message that they don't HAVE to watch what their kids are doing anymore, BECAUSE the government will do it for them. Another shaky assumption, which leads to parents that are less and less responsible (and more and more apathetic) about their childrens' behavior and upbringing.
4. Paves the way for lawsuits against the entertainment industry. While the parents are paying less attention tot heir kids, and the government is only pretending to care, the kids go out and do their thing anyway, having not learned differently from anybody. The parents, shocked and appalled, are quick to shift blame from themselves to what they see as the source of their childrens' behavior. And what more obvious scapegoat than the violent videogames that the government was supposed to be regulating?
In short, this won't do shit except for making things worse. If little 8-year-old Timmy goes out and buys Doom 3, it's supposed to be Mommy and Daddy's job to catch him playing it, give him a lecture, and make him return it. That's parenting. That's how people learn what is and is not appropriate- by trial and error. Remove the possibility of making an error, and you're never going to earn a lesson from it, are you?
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived of the use of them." - Thomas Paine
Remember, kids: illiteracy is cool. If you took the time to read this, you are clearly a loser who will never get laid. You've been warned.
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