Hilary Clinton slams Grand Theft Auto
 

Cause you know, out of the millions of people who play GTA and don't act upon it in real life, those two or three wackos out there are starting an epidemic...............

http://psp.ign.com/articles/599/599798p1.html?fromint=1


Former First Lady Slams GTA
New York Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton sides with right-wingers against violent videogames.

by Douglass C. Perry

March 29, 2005 - Hilary Rodham Clinton, D, NY, has taken sides. Apparently, the wrong one. In an article with the Sunday Times, the first-time senator and two-term first lady, said she wants to launch a $90 million investigation into the effects of videogames on children.

Her efforts mirror long-time Senator Joseph Lieberman D, Ct, though this time she has sided with right wing Republicans Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum.

She cites Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto as as a "major threat" to morality in America.

"Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them," Clinton said in a statement. "This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it's OK to diss people because they are a woman, they're a different colour or they're from a different place."

Apparenly Clinton is new to the subect of violence in videogames, which first erupted over the finshing moves in Mortal Kombat. Having sex with a prostitute and then running said woman over in GTA is not a goal or mission in the game, leaving that option open to the morality and choice of the gamer. Furthermore, GTA3, which kick-started this new wave of complaints against violence in videogames, came out in 2001, almost four years ago. Clinton's statement appears to be the first part of her bid for the democratic presidential election in 2008.

Clinton's proposed $90 million investigation will study the impact of games and other electronic media on the "cognitive, social, emotional and physical development" of children, reports the Sunday Times.

We'll have more on Clinton's pre-presidential campaign ideas in the near future.

Sorry, I agree with her on this one. My 9 year old son wants GTA3 badly and I refuse to get it for him. I think that kids don't need to be exposed to that at a young age. When he's older, it's his choice, but when he's a child, it's my choice what he can and cannot play. I find the ratings very helpful in determining whether or not I'm willing to buy him a game. We saw a lot of violence in Bugs Bunny cartoons, but we never saw rape, and I'd rather my 9 year old not be exposed to that yet. As a parent, I'd say that's my right.

Dee

Oh I think there should be age limits obviously (all my cousins 12 only get to watch the game and can't play it), but there shouldn't be censorship or banning game sales.

My whole thing is that she's just NOW confronting this on the brink of candidacy...why wasn't she going all Jack Thompson before?

She's trying to pander to conservatives because she wants to run for pres in 2008. What I don't understand is how she doesn't get that she could become the next Strom Thurmond and conservatives STILL would never vote for her.

This is definitely your choice, and I can respect it, but there has never been any tie between exposure to violence or sexuality, and propensity to participate in these acts, in any major study I've ever seen performed.

I guess my point is that I can totally agree with your decision, because it's yours - but Hilary's move here is a $90 million brainfart to dbag into something she'll never get (the non-moderate right side) for something that's already been studied.

Why is it just folks on the right that believe in censorship? When the level of fines came to vote regarding the FCC, Democrats and Republicans, left and right, increased those levels to ludicrous amounts and in affect endorsed censorship.

In actuality, Clinton's husband (and in turn, Hillary) and Lieberman came from the moderate wing of the Democrat party.

-Rudey

I agree, but I think this was an attempt to reach out to a non-traditional base for her campaigning - in no way did I mean to imply that only the right half censors, as obviously the entire nation is full of this sort of garbage. Vote Libertarian, kids.

But what I'm saying is that this falls in with her traditional Democratic Leadership Council base just like it fell in with her husband's and Lieberman's. As for the Democrats on the whole, the DLC still holds large sway although you do have the outspoken anti-DLC radicals like Dean and Jesse Jackson.

-Rudey

i could care less whether she decides to run or not. what matters is that she's trying to do something positive.

although i purchased GTA for my boyfriend for christmas, i think it's terrible. children don't have the right mentality for such a "mature" game (it's really not mature at all). many video games are extremely violent, and i think her investigation has merit. what's the worst thing that could happen--they find there's no link? and what if they do find a link--think of the good and possible change she can bring.

Unless you want to shoulder the $90 million, feel free to reconsider why that's the worst-case scenario.

If they do find a link, that goes against dozens of previous studies, which will require even more money to go into it. This is not scientific review, this is government.

I think we should try and induce foreign governments into doing these studies. Seriously think about how great it would look if we feigned concern for the Welsh and asked them to run the study.

-Rudey

As a former Occupational Therapist, I didn't read this as "looking to ban these games", but rather looking at the impact of a relatively new activity that many children engage in frequently on their development. The article said:

Clinton's proposed $90 million investigation will study the impact of games and other electronic media on the "cognitive, social, emotional and physical development" of children, reports the Sunday Times.


The cognitive, social, emotional and physical development... not whether it makes them criminals. Previous studies have shown that video games increase reaction times, problem solving skills, etc. They've also indicated that there may be a correlation between time spent playing games and obesity. I think these things are worth evaluating, beyond whether it's going to make kids rapists, murderers and car thieves. I bought DDR and Eye Toy just so my son would MOVE around some while doing his favorite activity instead of sitting on his butt the whole time!

Dee

Just to show the exception to the rule......

1) My typie cousin lost over 50 lbs playing DDR for months

2) I hardly ever play video games outside GTA and I'm a fat tub of shit..

DDR is a great form of exercise! Of course there are other factors, which statisticians will have to factor in, but I'd be curious to see the research.

They get more scooter injuries in ER than any other injury for children during the spring/summer months in Michigan. I'm not for banning scooter use (even after my son broke his hand when he fell off of his last year). But, I think it's helpful to know risks/benefits of relatively new phenomena in our lifestyles.

Dee

As a statistician, I cannot see a way to separate the effects from background signals, and I cannot see a way to have a proper control for the experiment, and I cannot imagine how the sample size could be large enough to account for the variables, and so on and so forth.

It'll be interesting to see how this shakes down, but it feels like posturing.