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Posted: Jan 14 2009 04:17 am

Yes, the ignorant and uninformed still run much of the country. In this case, cranky old Congressman Joe Baca of California. Crap, that's my state.

However, it wont matter what state you're in if proposed bill H.R. 231 passes, because it's a federal bill. It would label a game rated T and above with "WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."

You know, just like cigarettes.

Of course it doesn't point out how some of those studies have been debunked, while other studies have found no link whatsoever. It fails to mention the fact that since home game consoles came out, youth violence has plummeted to all-time lows. (No, probably not because of the games, but that's not the trend you'd expect if video games were turning us all into maniacs.)

Nope. In his ill-informed press release he states instead:
“We must hold the video game industry accountable and do everything in our power to ensure parents are aware of the detrimental effects that violent games can have before making decisions on which games are appropriate for their children to play,” concluded Rep. Baca. “I am proud to introduce the Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2009, and am hopeful my legislation can work to stop the growing influence of violent media on America’s children and youth.”

Joe can be reached at:

201 North "E" Street, Suite 102
San Bernardino, CA 92401

Posted: Jan 14 2009 05:00 am

this is a great idea. I think they should put a warning on mcdonalds food saying Waring this makes you fat. Or maybe label on gum that says warning you may choke on this. Or a warning on bullets that say warning if used in conjunction with a gun, product may be lethal.

Oh wait, those would be accurate warnings, not a warning based on select, questionable studies and assumptions. I love how there was no such thing as violence before video games. I think a parent should use discresion on what to let their children play, but a warning label based on inconclusive evidence is just dumb. Society always needs a scape goat, and it's never the parents or the fucking child who are at fault.

This reminds me of the VT shooting or the Colunbine shootings. People look for something to blame, whether it be the schools security, video games or music. My feeling is that it's because the aggresors killed themselves, there is no sense of justice for the wrongs they caused, so people try to find somebody to hold accountable to get a feeling of closure. Shit happens. People have been killing eachother since the beginning.

Posted: Jan 14 2009 05:02 am

I think congress should be labeled with a warning that says: "Warning! Fat dumpy old fucks in congress have been linked with ruining the country and taking away personal freedoms."

Posted: Jan 14 2009 08:53 am

Should we send him hate mail about what an ignorant fuck he is? How about we all just elect me to congress instead? I promise to completely wreak havoc!

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Jeebus, you'll get my vote. I know you would use pork barrel spending for the common good.

Posted: Jan 14 2009 10:35 am

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

Should we send him hate mail about what an ignorant fuck he is? How about we all just elect me to congress instead? I promise to completely wreak havoc!

Let's do it! Very Happy

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

What's next... they going to tattoo penises with labels that say "Warning, may cause pregnancy."

Now that I think about it, people who are diagnosed with HIV/Aids should have to tattoo that on their junk, while women should have to have a small sewer grate installed on their crotch.

Posted: Jan 14 2009 01:04 pm

sidewaydriver wrote:

I think congress should be labeled with a warning that says: "Warning! Fat dumpy old fucks in congress have been linked with ruining the country and taking away personal freedoms."

heheh

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

Maybe we should frame him with a $50,000 prostitute. Just like Spitzer.

Posted: Jan 14 2009 09:49 pm

GPFontaine wrote:

What's next... they going to tattoo penises with labels that say "Warning, may cause pregnancy."

Now that I think about it, people who are diagnosed with HIV/Aids should have to tattoo that on their junk, while women should have to have a small sewer grate installed on their crotch.

i lol'd @ work because of this

Posted: Jan 14 2009 09:56 pm

This'll be shot down when it reaches the courts, just like the 12164125631371 similar laws that tried to control games.

Posted: Jan 14 2009 10:14 pm

That law won't work for one reason: The Sims.

Think about it: that game has very little violence, and it doesn't have blood and gore of any kind. If any game rated T has to have that label, does that mean that The Sims has to have it too?

I win! Eat that, Joe Baca!

Posted: Jan 14 2009 10:15 pm

hehe, my nephew's wow characters name is 'joebaka'

Posted: Jan 14 2009 10:25 pm

Burt Reynolds wrote:

this is a great idea. I think they should put a warning on mcdonalds food saying Waring this makes you fat. Or maybe label on gum that says warning you may choke on this. Or a warning on bullets that say warning if used in conjunction with a gun, product may be lethal.

Oh wait, those would be accurate warnings, not a warning based on select, questionable studies and assumptions. I love how there was no such thing as violence before video games. I think a parent should use discresion on what to let their children play, but a warning label based on inconclusive evidence is just dumb. Society always needs a scape goat, and it's never the parents or the fucking child who are at fault.

This reminds me of the VT shooting or the Colunbine shootings. People look for something to blame, whether it be the schools security, video games or music. My feeling is that it's because the aggresors killed themselves, there is no sense of justice for the wrongs they caused, so people try to find somebody to hold accountable to get a feeling of closure. Shit happens. People have been killing eachother since the beginning.

You know, I have seen a couple of parents every now and then say "No" to their kid at game stores, specifically Gamestop. The parent sees a "T" label or something like that, and tell their kid to put it back. Very rarely you see that nowadays.

Posted: Jan 15 2009 05:52 am

GPFontaine wrote:

What's next... they going to tattoo penises with labels that say "Warning, may cause pregnancy."

Don't tempt me...that would be hilarious. Or better yet..."Government Warning: May cause pregnancy, gagging, or the desire to spit or swallow. Use caution when trying to walk after use."

Laughing

Joined: Jun 20 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 802

SSNintendo wrote:

You know, I have seen a couple of parents every now and then say "No" to their kid at game stores, specifically Gamestop. The parent sees a "T" label or something like that, and tell their kid to put it back. Very rarely you see that nowadays.

I work at Meijer, not sure if you're all fimiliar with that chain of Wal-Mart-like stores. I often work in the Electronics dept. and I see parents who still have a grip all the time. It's usually the younger, more inexperienced parents who let their kids buy whatever the hell they want. However, most of the older parents with young children pay attention to the labels.

As for this bill waiting to go through Congress, well in the words of Jay Sherman, IT STINKS!

Posted: Jan 16 2009 12:07 am

Wow, this is like trying to sell a seat in congress for a price! It's, well, um, what's the word, so many to choose from....idiotic, stupid, hell, it's just fucking RETARDED.

Violence stems exclusively from media? BULLSHIT. Violence, particularly those old school shootings, stem from more realistic things, such as people whose real lives, mainly in the past, were fraught with violence and trauma, like domestic abuse and such. Violence in children? Well, it's like common knowledge states, children learn through what older people do. Therefore, it isn't the media itself, it's that the media simulates violent acts that young children can often mistake as things they can do, or somesuch. That's right, you folks on capital hill, its an amazing discovery! Violence doesn't come solely from simulated media, it comes from PEOPLE!

Jackwad congressman...he doesn't even deserve such a cool sounding name.

Posted: Jan 16 2009 12:15 am

drewbocop wrote:

SSNintendo wrote:

You know, I have seen a couple of parents every now and then say "No" to their kid at game stores, specifically Gamestop. The parent sees a "T" label or something like that, and tell their kid to put it back. Very rarely you see that nowadays.

I work at Meijer, not sure if you're all fimiliar with that chain of Wal-Mart-like stores. I often work in the Electronics dept. and I see parents who still have a grip all the time. It's usually the younger, more inexperienced parents who let their kids buy whatever the hell they want. However, most of the older parents with young children pay attention to the labels.

I was at an EBGames several years ago and one kid came in with his mom and wanted GTA Vice City. She said "No" and they left. I continued shopping and they came back and she bought the game for the kid. Even the clerk was like "You know this is a mature rated game?" to the mom and she said she knew but still bought it anyway. The kid couldn't have been older than maybe nine or ten.

Posted: Jan 16 2009 12:54 am

If this stupidity is going to go away then it'll be due to time. The people who complain don't know anything about video games. Once the generation that really grew up with it is in charge, we'll know better. Unless we end up like the baby boomers and try to screw over young people by not letting them do the things that they got to do.

Posted: Jan 16 2009 05:59 pm

Yea I'm sure Hitler, Charles Manson and Jack the Ripper played violent videogames.

Oh, wait....

Posted: Jan 16 2009 06:11 pm

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

Yea I'm sure Hitler, Charles Manson and Jack the Ripper played violent videogames.

Oh, wait....

I'm pretty sure all these terrorists love to play themselves some Grand Theft Allah.

Posted: Jan 17 2009 04:20 pm

sidewaydriver wrote:

If this stupidity is going to go away then it'll be due to time. The people who complain don't know anything about video games. Once the generation that really grew up with it is in charge, we'll know better. Unless we end up like the baby boomers and try to screw over young people by not letting them do the things that they got to do.

I'm sure by the time we're our parents age they'll have some kind of holodeck, VR game out there that we'll be railing against. Wink

Unbelivable now (that we'd rail against the games, not that they'd exist), but then I doubt our parents imagined the twists and turns modern music and games would take, and how much most of them would fear and hate it. *shrug* From what I know of history, it seems like a fairly inevitable part of aging, and of new generations stepping in to claim their place in the world.

Posted: Jan 17 2009 04:42 pm

SoldierHawk wrote:

sidewaydriver wrote:

If this stupidity is going to go away then it'll be due to time. The people who complain don't know anything about video games. Once the generation that really grew up with it is in charge, we'll know better. Unless we end up like the baby boomers and try to screw over young people by not letting them do the things that they got to do.

I'm sure by the time we're our parents age they'll have some kind of holodeck, VR game out there that we'll be railing against. Wink

Unbelivable now (that we'd rail against the games, not that they'd exist), but then I doubt our parents imagined the twists and turns modern music and games would take, and how much most of them would fear and hate it. *shrug* From what I know of history, it seems like a fairly inevitable part of aging, and of new generations stepping in to claim their place in the world.

I agree, I'm only 24 and I'm already complaining about all the 15 + walking around with their faces shoved in their god damn ipodiphoneitexteridigitalshitstainsimulator, fucking put your phone down and look around once and while you damn kids! When I was your age cell phones were for rich fancy pants lawyer types and secret agents, and were the size of a can on coke, we had to scrape quarters out of the couch cushions and call people on the payphone in the snow uphill both ways and we felt privileged to do so! Mad

Posted: Jan 19 2009 04:17 pm

Ha ha, this reminds me of a mock interview with the Joker I saw.

Interviewer: Do you think the media influences people to do violent things?
Joker: No, I think people choose what they do, and the media has no control over it.
Interviewer: Well, What did you grow up on?
Joker: Pokemon. Those adorable little critters? Yeah. Now say I had your dog and your cat covered in explosives and you had to choose one?
Interviewer: Ummm, my cat I guess... *BOOM* FiFi??!?
Joker: You might want to rename him Boom Boom. Now did Pikachu just kill your dog, or was it me?

Joined: Nov 02 2008 Posts: 725

LOL nice mock interview.