Are you ready for some FOOTBAALL, or some ultraviolence?
Courtesy of the La Times, here’s a hilarious Op-Ed about Hillary’s obvious attempt to pander to people who would never vote for her crusade For The Children(tm)!!!
Dear Sen. Clinton:
I’m writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children, and in particular the courageous stand you have taken in recent weeks against the notorious “Grand Theft Auto” series.
I’d like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility has captured the attention of millions of kids — a game that instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real-world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing.
I’m talking, of course, about high school football.
I know a congressional investigation into football won’t play so well with those crucial swing voters, but it makes about as much sense as an investigation into the pressing issue that is Xbox and PlayStation 2.
After that it sort of turns into a “Hand-eye coordination”, “Skills, digital workplace” blah blah essay, but over all, the point is sound - It’s ridiculous to pretend that GTA is something new and somehow incomprehensible, and that it represents a unique danger. I hope Hillary appreciates the people to whom she’s pandering, because with every boot lick, she loses what shred remains of the support people on her own side, like me, are willing to begrudge her, should the democratic party suicidally decide to nominate her.
Meanwhile, here’s a question for you all: Why do you think our so called liberal representatives consider progressives and social liberals so politically poisonous that they so easily flip to the right? It’s not our fault, so what is it?
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Yes, and as Ross can probably attest, he’s never been beaten up by a rogue band of GTA players after school. Also, funds desperately needed for high school music programs aren’t rerouted into buying uniforms for Grand Theft Auto teams and returfing Grand Theft Auto fields.
Comment by dAnimal — July 29, 2005 @ 12:00 pm
Also, in the real world GTA just hurts your thumbs, your tolerance for sunlight, and you chances at a date. No worse than SimCity. It can be played by anyone, anytime.
Football dislocates limbs, must be played in expensive armor, and encourages young men to shower naked in the presence of middle aged men, nevermind the denigration and objectification of women on the sidelines.
Comment by mdhatter — July 29, 2005 @ 10:13 pm
Gee, when I started to read the LA Times piece, I thought the punchline was going to be “The War in Iraq.” In other words, instead of wasting money on studying something that might possibly in a few already unbalanced people lead to criminal activity, let’s study what caused us to end up in a real war with real deaths on both sides- a war that turned out not only to be unnecessary to accomplish the goals stated by the Bush Administration, but one that actually made things worse.
Of course, it strains credulity to imagine that a Republican controlled Congress would actually want to find out how the Republican President screwed up so very, very badly.
Comment by James Finkelstein — July 31, 2005 @ 9:54 am
Re: why Democratic politicians are so much more willing than Republican ones to sell out their base:
One reason, I think, is that up until the last year or two, the GOP base has been much more organized, dating back to the late 70’s.
Thanks to blogs like yours, and things like Air America Radio (not to mention the unvarnished extremism of the Bush League) that’s starting to change. But politicians like Sens. Clinton and (let’s be honest) Kerry haven’t come to terms with that yet. And let’s face it, they have a point. The progressive base didn’t succeed in nominating, say, Howard Dean last year - many rank-and-file Democrats were still willing to go with a sellout in the name of “electability.”
After his loss, Kerry - like Gore before him - started to move back to the liberal politics that defined him before the 1994 GOP landslide. Hillary hasn’t caught on yet, though - after all, the politics of “triangulation” worked for her husband.
Thus, the question for 2008: will Democratic voters go for yet another “electable” sellout, ensuring that, even if they “win,” nothing much will change? Or will the progressive base finally nominate one of their own?
Comment by Mathwiz — August 1, 2005 @ 1:42 pm