
As police and city officials in Chicago deal with a rash of recent shooting incidents, the local
Fox News affiliate has questioned the posting of ads for
Grand Theft Auto IV on buses and buildings of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).
And, just like that, CTA president Ron Huberman folded on the issue, telling Fox News through a representative that the ads would be removed.
It's not the first time that Chicago's buses have provided the setting for a GTA controversy.
In 2004 Gov. Rod Blagojevich railed against transit ads for GTA San Andreas.
Over the years, GTA transit ads have come under fire in other cities as well. In 2006 Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and others forced the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) to
pull ads for
GTA Vice City Stories. The transit chief there justified his decision by issuing a policy which equates M-rated games with X-rated movies.
In the past, GTA bus ads have also come under fire in
Portland, Oregon and
Denver.
GamePolitics is awaiting comment from GTA IV publisher Take Two Interactive. We also sought comment from the ESA, which referred us back to T2.
GP: The GTA IV transit ads shown by Fox News depict neither violence nor sex. Does the CTA reject ads for R-rated movies? Suggestive or violent television programs?
As I've
written before, the video game industry needs to assert its First Amendment rights in these cases, which essentially come down to selective censorship by quasi-governmental entities.
UPDATE: I should add that in 2003 a group called Change the Climate
successfully sued the MBTA when it refused to run ads calling for a debate on marijuana laws. In that case, the U.S. First Circuit Court held that:
There is direct evidence through statements made by MBTA officials that the reason for rejecting the advertisements was actually a distaste for Change the Climate's viewpoint.
This suspicion of viewpoint discrimination is deepened by the fact that the MBTA has run a number of ads promoting alcohol that are clearly more appealing to juveniles than the ads here.
Comments
It should also be mentioned again that Blago spent millions of dollars of taxpayer funds in his ill-advised crusade against games. All during a year of historic shortfalls in the state budget. To think, there was no other suitable alternative last gubernatorial election cycle.
I think he meant it to be sarcastic. but its hard to really tell with text. if he isn't being sarcastic, then your comment stands as is.
If the industry went around suing everyone that talked shit about them, they'd be no better than Jack.
I think it's ironic considering Portland has so much real world violence on the streets.
Actually, I think all of those people should lock themselves up- the world would be a much better place.
Why wouldn't GamePolitics be a reliable website?
THe industry has no BALLS!!!!!!
They'd be suing the shit outta these dirt bags right now if they had any guts.
Unless the transit authority has lots of other advertisers lined up to take GTA's place, though, it doesn't make good sense. Transit authorities, like any government agency, like money.
I don't know if the CTA accepts money for liquor or r-rated movies offhand, but if they do I don't think they can claim this move does anything.
It's called discrimination technically, but to put more of a point on it, there's also things like "Equal rights under the law" to consider. They won't all games but an r rated movie gets a pass?
BULLSHIT!
I still say the industry should be laying the legal smackdown on there ass.
Having news stories about how the ads were pulled off buses is going to give GTAIV more overall advertising (globally) than the ads would have achieved on the buses were they simply ignored by the press...
So basically I don't care about this. Once again the sensors achieve the complete opposite of their objective.
You can always advertise elsewhere.
Now if the government is preventing most or ANY advertising by you, you may have an issue at that point.
I am not sure this is worth pursuing.
GP: I have to disagree. This is the further demonization of games and, by extension, gamers. What's more, the bus companies are not private firms. They are quasi-governmental agencies, propped up in large part by tax dollars.
Finally,
NORMLChange the Climate successfully sued the MBTA on this very issue in 2003.Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Yeah, this from a person who apparently isn't paying much attention to the fact that the industry has been whopping Censor ass in court for the past 5 years.
Save your self serving rants for the brain dead minions in your church group.
That is what I would be doing.
As for cases where Fox NEWS has said some bad things about a single Videogame and exagerates to a point where they are lying and the politicians get into the game too, well the Videogame Industry just has to say to itself "OK, enough is enough, we are not going to be treated like this anymore" and start to stand up for itself.
Did they actually enter into a contract to display the advertising or was this a "coming soon to busses everywhere" thing? If they had a contract, then on the surface, chicago would seem to be in breach of it.
I don't see this as a First Amendment argument. There really isn't a law against pulling the ads. It could be seen as unfair especially if the city is seeing problems before the game is even released.
If he is, then he needs to mark it /sarcasam or face my half asleep, exhausted tech support rage
I took for sarcasm because I don't think anyone could say that seriously. But my rage is the half asleep, just woke up, tech support rage, and so is more optimistic about human nature. I'll snap out of it in about 45 minutes or so.
And besides, as I have often said anyway, Chicago sucks.
Spongebob, Hannah Montana, Mario Party, etc will always sell. The industry will do just fine without violent games.
I wonder if 'Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood' has anything to do with this. I tell you, You want a commerical-free childhood? Get rid of the TV, the internet and lock yourself up ant home and NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE AGAIN! NEVER TALK TO ANYONE! DON'T READ ANY BOOKS! THROW THEM OUT! And there you have it. A 'commerical free childhood' and a 'commerical free life.'
Warren Lewis
The idealists can say it's unfair, and it is, but the pragmatists can also realize that there's nothing much to gain from pressing the point.
I understand the argument about picking your battles but this kind of case could really be a HUGE blow to the "violent video games are evil" crowd.
In order to have this kind of discrimination upheld the CTA would be required to show there is a COMPELLING state interest in this kind of restriction. Which means they'd have to bring in real, honest to God, evidence that violent video games lead to violent behavior.
As we all know the evidence of that is...sketchy...at best. So if Take Two or Rockstar were to fight this we could finally get a court ruling that says something to the effect of:
"The connection between the advertisement or playing of violent video games and violent behavior is simply too tenuous to uphold regulation of the medium. The state has shown no compelling interest in this kind of content based regulation."
It would be a major blow to the regulation supporters. It would create a pretty iron-clad precedent that would stick barring some kind of real evidence that there is a connection between violent behavior and violent video games.
They absolutely need to fight for this issue. It's not about minors seeing their ads since there is nothing on the ad that is suggesting violence. There are plenty of other M rated games that are and will continue to be advertised on public transportation. The issue should be that extremely violent movies like Saw can run ads without controversy on public transportation, and the violence with GTA IV will never be near as graphic as what Saw can be, yet get pulled due to media hype and scare tactics. I am guessing it is because the stations know they will lose hours of tv watching to this game. At least 15 hours for every copy purchased. Thats a lot of tv we aren't watching.
*Sigh* Yet another part of my hometown, Chicago, that I can't support. Thankfully I can feed the birds at the parks, they're at least neutral on the videogame issue.
one person thinks it should stay and everyone else wants them down? a little bit uneven air time.
that and mentioning a bunch of killings in the city before hand.
EA should have sued Fox over the Mass Effect slander to send a message that this kind of crap is not acceptable. but it is Fox so what do you expect.
I suggest an alternative angle that still proves they've got some cahones on 'em.
Sue CTA for misrepresentation of their product, aka advertising.
Those signs on those buses had to be approved BEFORE the contract for advertising was signed and CTA received funds. What went on the buses was no surprise, it was just Faux News making noise and the city of Chicago bowing down. Make them pay monetarily. Make this kind of action VERY costly to those who do it.
The State under funds them
The Buses are desperate
Can you say stupidity?
Poem by the StealthKnight
Probably. That was the thing about Boston; they took down the GTA ads, but left the Sopranos ads up. This is probably no different.
The first lady interviewed blamed the ads for violence?
Im sorry but if your child is dumb and retarded enough to be persuaded by and ad of a few guys in a lineup, you are a terrible parent.
The second lady with sunglasses was probably the smartest one there and even the FOX decided to bash her comment..
I hope the CTA pays back the money to Rockstar, if you cave in to the retards at FOX you got to pay back the guys who spent over 90 grand on their ads which under my assumption had a contract...
Plus that news anchor is a fool...period...what happened to unbiased reporting?
Sorry, aside from the lying fest that was Mass Effect,what else has FOX NEWS said that was false and misleading?I don't watch much(I may occasionally watch with My Dad)but I keep hearing stories about ho they mislead viewers.
Would you give me some examples?
News Affiliates are pretty much independent. It just seems to me, that people want any excuse to bash Fox News, when they didn't really have anything to do with this story.
As for flat out lying, the Mass Effect thing's the only one I'm aware of. Mostly it's how they birddog their guests whenever they dissagree with the reporters. Oh, and how they fired a lady for not lying on air, and when she sued them, they won. That upset many people.
Not to mention the slanted reporting on the game Mass Effect. I just find it very courious that Fox News or as I like to call them the "Cartoon Network" would rail against so called mature material considering the content that Fox has put on the "Public Airwaves over the years, and the tabloids owned by News Corp and the R movies made and distributed by 20th Century Fox and other studios owned by News Corp. I guess they can only rail against their competitor's smut not their own.
Well for me I need the facts not to told what to think I am more than able to do that for myself.
@ The Edge well you should watch it for a week and see for yourself. Well a major one "The War" but to be fair many lap dogs in the media took part in that one. The echo chamber they call fair and balanced. Isn't there a law regarding truth in advertising. Well I can suggest watch O'Reilly then watch Countdown on MSNBC I think you will get a clear picture on the bias.
You are free to do as we tell you!
You are free to do as we tell you!"
- We Want Your Soul, Adam Freeland
This reminds me of that trainstation in... Boston I beleave that was forced to take down GTA: Vice City ads but was plastered with ads for some brand of hard liqour
I never said it wouldn't I just meant that if GP started to report on more than just games I would trust it as unbiased... although if he did start to become biased I'm sure we would all crucify him... figurativly speaking.
figuratively,
My keyboard for an edit button
So why the buses? It's complete BS if you ask me. I see R rated movies with a lot of violence on bus ads all the time, what makes video games different?
Take a wild guest
"If this were Grand Theft Auto, you'd be home by now."
Sorry.
:-)
It's also nice to know that you won't mention the political affliation of the Governor and the Anti-Gun loser Mayor, because both of them are LIBERAL DEMOCRATS! Just maybe if Mayor Daley let law bidding citizen to own a gun since it's stated in the Consitution your city wouldn't be infested with gangs.
Did I just hear those words coming from a FOX news report...
err rapture watch guys you may want to take a look at this.
Apparently you weren't here when they called Mass Effect pronographic or when they won the right to lie and perhaps you haven't noticed their clear as day bias (oh and the reason we aren't bashing the other news networks is because this story comes from fox not the other networks)
And apparently you also weren't here for the HUGE gun-control debates we've had here. Not all of us are anti-gun (like me for example).
But please ranting nonsensical conspiracy theories are great to listen to especially since Jack has apparently left us.
Oh and neither the governor nor the mayor demanded the ads be taken down so bringing them up would also be off-topic.
you heard it here first.
I'd recommend finding a copy of the Al Franken book "Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right", it's a pretty comprehensive accounting of the bollocks in the media. Even if you take the not-unreasonable position of assuming he's hyping it up (Even though he actually cites sources & explains them), there's still a LOT of substantiated stuff.
Right on. At a time where our fare rates are almost increasing again, and a lot of maintenance work is to be done on the rail system, cutting back a few controversial ads doesn't sound like high priority. I haven't even seen one of those ads in the CTA buses so far. I still see a few on giant billboards, though, while riding on one of their trains.
Also, GTA is the only game where I see is aggressively marketed everywhere. No other popular mainstream games come close to it.
You are right Fox News don't express thier left wing views on air, they express their right wing views on air.
*****Off Topic Soap Box Moment*******
So Chicago is the only city with a gang problem and its down to the Mayor's political views; and more guns is going to solve gun crime? And before you decide I am anti-gun I am not, I disagree that more guns is going to make it better, That's like saying to someone with a drug problem take more drugs, or to solve the drug problem legalize drugs, you shifted the problem not solved it; but thats off topic about slanted news coverage and how video games is the cause of society's problems, before that it was TV and movies, Rock music, and way back when in Salem it was witches; but not to mention the problems, of poverty, poor education and lack of economic opportunity as causes .
http://cathodetan.blogspot.com/2008/04/cta-versus-gta-chicago-taxpayers-...
Just to clarify the pro-gun position is (summed up) that bad guys will always get their guns due to the black market so let regular citizens have concealed carry so they can defend themselves they figure if more citizens (who live in those areas) carry concealed guns muggings and whatnot will decrease since the criminals will now fear the armed victim even more (since there are more of them). It's not the same thing as saying drugs can solve a drug problem, since you can't use illegal drugs to cure addiction.
I just pointed of just a few situations where good intentions can lead to adverse out comes; so more guns don't make you safer the same as saying citizens can't get guns in of itself won't fix either. But the US has more gun death and violence than all of the other western contries combined yet something else to ponder.
But I do think gun traing and gun safety would help after all you have to get a license and past a test to drive a car why not something simular for having a gun?? Even law enforcement have to get gun certified and recertified?
The point I was trying to make that just the mere fact of more guns won't make you safer, and keeping guns out of the hands of citizens will solve it either. One approach mayne very harsh sentences for criminals even caught with a gun.
If at some point some game developer tries to run an ad and really needs the ad space and not the controversy-generator, then that's another fish to fry.
I'm not naive enough to imagine the cable network has no effect on the local stations, but there's definitely a difference in content and tone, particularly given how liberal Chicago is in general. I don't think you can apply the Mass Effect issues and so forth directly to this affiliate.
While I agree that the gaming industry needs to do a better job of standing up for itself, in a weird way having the local FOX news affiliate in Chicago get all moralistic and having the CTA pull the extremely tame ads for the game (I live in the Chicago area, I've seen 'em for weeks now ... there are "worse" ads the CTA has run) ... Somehow this all seems to suit the "self-image" of the game. It styles itself as the "bad boy" of video games, with more freedom for sex, drugs, violence, and crime than other games. Cripes, it's only got an "M" rating. You dig around, there's far worse crap out there with way more sex, drugs, violence, and crime portrayed. Just from the looks of it, though, most of the stuff exists for its own sake and not for good gameplay. And if I'm not misremembering, ESRB will, if you push the envelope far enough, actually label something with an "R". People comparing GTA to X-rated material are probably just more scared than anything. It's a new medium. People get scared of new media. But back to the point I was making, I think both the publisher and the developer stand to profit a little bit in this case over the fact that this particular series has a "rep" outside the gaming audience as a "shameful example of violence and debauchery". Think about it. When you step into the world of Grand Theft Auto, you're stepping into the world where your the game's protagonist/antihero is veiwed in much the same way. It's symmetrical. And it reinforces the gaming experience, I'd imagine, to some small degree. (I'm not a GTA fan, so I can't speak from personal experience here ... there have been plenty of other games that are more my type. I've been playing these way too long.)
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the “GTA” series it involves horrific violence, lewd sex including prostitution, profanity, theft, alluding authorities, and large amounts of other crude and morally depraved acts in a free roam open world atmosphere. That means you have no restrictions, but instead control what and where the player goes and does at anytime in an entire city which contains strip clubs, bars, drug and gun houses, etc. This new game GTA IV has been released on the new High Definition consoles like the Playstation 3 and the X-Box 360, which contain more photo realistic graphics (in other words you pretty much see every bad thing you do. I compiled or copied the post thread so many of you can see what the children (and some irresponsible and mentally unstable adults) are playing. The tone from these players is one of delight and laughter at these acts their admitting to doing in the game. I did not alter the comments, words, or even letters in anyway.
P.S. - LOL means laugh out load for those who don’t know. And Roman and Michelle are characters in the game. Numbered star wanted level is the level of authorities after you which include Police, Feds/Government, and Military. The higher the level the greater the authority will come after you (6 being the highest).
I do not wish to display the name of the board due to legal issues. But it is a well known one.
The comments. Each dash (-) represents a new comment or post starting with the opening post:
- Give it to me, your sickest experiance so far in GTA4. How *beep* up can you get???
- Shot up the hospital. One of the nurses was on the ground pleading and I shot her right in the face. Then after killing everyone inside, I killed all the cops charging in through the front door until I died.
- I cant believe you shot the nurse in the face!
- I cant play till I get home from work, but i am living my sickness through your sickness. So did her head splatter or what?
- Well her head kinda jolted back, and blood splattered all over the ground. And before that, when I first started shooting, there were a bunch of people sitting down. I went up behind some guy, aimed my shotgun at the back of his head and fired. He kinda slumped down onto the ground and everyone started screaming, a few people ran but most of them were kinda crouching on the ground looking scared. I went from person to person with my uzi, killing every single one of them.
Another time I shotgunned an old lady in the face through her windshield. Then I shotgunned her husband in the passenger's seat but he didn't die, and kinda stumbled out of the car. So I got inside the car and ran him over a few times.
- Oh! You guys are sick! lol but seriously tho omg...
- Stop being so sick!
- It's conversations like this that get me all moist and sticky.
- This is funny as hell
- Then get out of here!
- I know this is probably more of a "had-to-be-there" moment. I was going about 90 miles an hour not looking and then i glanced up just in time to see my car plow right into some sort of mime or mexican flamenco musician or something. He was just crossing the road right there in the middle. The reaction on his face and him flying over the hood was just perfect. By the way, it's really neat to see these things from the in-car camera. Also, there's boxes and barriers and cones galore and those are fun to plow thru as well. Also you can cross the bridges into the other boroughs and see what a six-star wanted level is like. I lasted 10 minutes one time. I can't wait to get the rocket launcher. And the helicopter.
- 3 STAR WANTED LEVEL feds are on my hummer, i dive out just as the chopper comes into play, the hummer is blown up by police bullets and takes out numerous fed and civillian cars. I am now on foot. I run up on a slick looking car and as i punch the drivers lights out and drag out the driver, as i do this the feds try to blast me with a shoutgun and in the process blast the driver who is covering me. He hits the floor and his blood is splattered all over the passengers door. I later die on foot. EPIC
- The sickest moment I've had so far was drunk driving. I took Michelle to a bar and got a little drunk but manage to drive her home OK. I thought driving drunk was pretty cool so I decided to take Roman out also. When we got out of the bar we were hammered. It wasn't too long before the cops were on our tail. Eventually the car caught fire and I jumped out, leaving poor Roman in the ensuing flames, which still looked sick. I had to pick him up at the hospital shortly after.
I'm sure that there are crazier things you can do in the game. I've only played for a couple hours, but if you haven't tried driving drunk I highly recommend it.
- Speaking of Michelle and the chicks, do they actually show you being intimate with the hos or dates? Or, is it like in the other ones, where the car shakes and that's about it?
- I have the Australian version, so the car just shakes when you pick up a prostitute. With girlfriends, it just shows the outside of the their house, and you can hear what's going on.
With prostitutes in the uncensored version you can actually see humping though.
- Ok, cool. I'm pretty sure mine is the uncensored version, since it has the "mature" rating/ I'll have to see what happens when I come across a whore.
- I found these two vagrants and I smacked their faces in with a baseball bat. When one of them was running away I got in a car and chased him to a dead-end where I smacked my car into him which smashed him into a wall and you could hear him shout 'BEANS!' as I crushed him.
- Oh, I thought of another one. I accidentally fired my pistol while I was inside my safe house and it gave me a wanted level. I didn't think anything would happen because I was inside the apartment, but funnily enough about thirty seconds later a cop showed up. I killed him, and then proceeded to kill all the cops who attempted to get into the apartment. One of the cops I shot a couple times and he fell to the ground. He started crawling along, and he said 'please...I have children...'
I aimed my shotgun down at his back and fired. It was at that moment that I realised I'm a morally corrupt human being...because I laughed.
- Did he try to make his death funny? You know, by shouting 'MURDER ME!' or 'Shakespeare!' as he got shot?
- Hah, that would've been awesome.
But no all he did was plead for his life before I put him out of his misery.
- MAN YOU ARE SICK!!!!!
Tell me more! Tell me more!!!
- I went on the train platform. Killed a few people . I like when they run and scramble. It's fun to shoot them in the back with the shotgun as they run down the stairs. Also fun to shoot them onto the platform as the train's coming in.
Anyway, the police were on my back so I ran down the track (there's a bit in the middle that trains don't come down) and stood there, about halfway between two stations. I knew the police wouldn't come. So I started firing down through the gap at the police on the street below me. They got snipers on nearby rooftops, they sent the helicopters, and I solved all of that with the rocket launcher. When I got bored, I put in the cheat to get rid of the wanted level and ran down the track to the next stop. At the next station, I pushed someone onto the tracks and fell down too. We fought a little on the track, but somehow some other guy started fighting him, and I got up and watched them from the platform. Of course, a train came a few seconds later, killing them both.
I've also annihilated the bowling alley and strip club. Shot the stripper while she was twisting herself around the pole.
- lso fun to shoot them onto the platform as the train's coming in.
Hahaha! Awesome! Man, we're all just a bunch of sociopathic killin' machines! I love it!
You don't spin a menorah.
- i was driving eratically down a hill in a sentinal when i hit a chick and she bounced off a lightpost into oncoming traffic were she was thrown into the ditch like a dead deer.
- I was doing stunt jumps on a motorcylce and got clotheslined by a highway sign. It took me off the bike and I fell into the highway where I got nailed by a semi. THe combination of the clothesline, fall, and truck was enough to take me from full health to dead.
- I dont really aim to do that many sick things but most mornings if im passing the beach I like to take a walk down to the water and punch that pussy in the face who's doing the Tai Chi. He always runs away. I never kill him tho, I like to come back thinking its the same guy everytime I punch him.
Oh actually, after one of my trips to the beach I saw a woman using those binocular things, I walked up and blasted her in the back of the head and then used the binoculars myself.
- As a morning exercise, when I lived in Roman's place, I walked out the door and shot the hotdog stand guy on the opposite side of the street in the head.
I went into the hospital and beat the people lying on beds with a baseball bat. When the cops finally showed up, I killed about a hundred. They were all lying at the entrance, so other cops fell over them.
A fun, though not sick, thing to do is to start a fight at the strip club. I love to do that while Roman is with me and we were supposed to go eat.
- Speaking of the strip club...
I went in to the club, had a nice little hottie take me back to the champaign room for a lapdance. After her dance she says "Ohh, i need to finish myself off after that one."
This offended me deeply, so in retribution I beat the hell out of her like a...well, like a cheap whore. Of course then the bouncer has to show up, and gets shotgunned as well as the few remaining patrons in the club running wild like cattle in a pornographic stampede. Noticing the strippers cowering by their poles I dispatch all but one and as I step on the platform and aim that gun at her head she mutters something about "college money" and I paint the floor with her head. Then I go down in a blaze of glory as the cops rush the place.....
This is what I seek in a game.
(THE END OF THE POSTS)
Be mindful parents and adults in general. This is what MANY children and deranged or *deranged in the making* adults have access to. I know the majority of players of this game will not immediately go out and start a murderous rampage. But the LONG TERM effects that this content may have on children is the concern. And this crudeness WILL manifest itself if not by action but attitude and speech as you read above... Advertising this game in very public settings will create the urge for kids to get their hands on it. As I have said before if they can't advertise pornography on the side of a bus why this game. It's for Adults only.
1. I'm an married and responsible adult in my thirties.
2. I would never BRAG about the atrocities of the game.
It's a guilty pleasure that I play occasionally. But I would never think it's okay for kids to play. And for those defending this game they sound stupid in there defense. Just play the darn game and keep your mouth shut. Defending it is just plain stupid.
Telling people to shut up about, as if it's something we should be ashamed of, is just plain stupid. It's a freakin' VIDEOGAME. No matter what you do in GTA4, you have not *actually* harmed *anyone*. You have wiggled your fingers and caused pixels on a screen to change color. That's all.
If getting titillated by depictions of sex and violence means there's something wrong with you, then there's something wrong with *all* of us, and we need to immediately shut down a majority of radio and television stations, and start burning books and film reels, because that shit pervades *all* human cultures.
Who exactly are you helping by pretending that your 14 year old -- in 2008, in the age of the Internet, in the age of cable television, when shows like South Park have been playing on the Cartoon Channel for over a decade -- is so naive and sheltered that GTA4 is going to represent his passage out of innocence? There are popular games like Dead Rising, where you literally hack people limb from limb, splashing blood and gore all over the environment. Nothing in GTA even comes close. Any number of TV shows have far more graphic sexuality than *anything* in GTA.
GTA presents a cartoonish, and often intentionally humorous, depiction of violence and sexuality. It's nowhere near as affecting as a good film, and nowhere near as able to influence as popular music, because emotional buy-in is much less intense in a non-linear format. When a little boy has his GIJoes shoot at each other, does that make him a sociopathic murder-to-be? Should we be appalled at depravity? No. It's *play*. It's not real. That's all we're doing in GTA, playing with digital Hot Wheels and action figures. Nobody gets hurt. It's not lowering our 'murder threshold' or tempting us to shoot up heroin and pimp out our sisters.
The ignorant hysteria over this is unbelievable. This is movies/comic books/heavy metal/etc. all over again. My wife, who's into history, points out that this kind of hysteria goes back as far as you want to look, to things like the introduction of the garter belt. Apparently people just aren't very good at learning from the past, and we are indeed doomed to repeat the same stupid shit over and over again.
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