Couldn't say it better myself...
Tycho and Gabe over at PennyArcade have an excellent political comic and commentary on the proposed "Truth in Video Game Ratings Act." It's entitled, "Censorship Made Easy."

Good ol' Lum the Mad expressed his opinion in an even more concise post which unfortunately only makes sense to the choir he's preaching to. But it's dead-on.

I don't know if I can add much to what is being said. While I don't necessarily agree with Tycho's conspiracy theory, he's very right in that controlling the media to a large degree controls (or at least powerfully influences) public opinion. I don't give Congress that much credit for being so forward-thinking. But there are already several games out there that lampoon or criticise U.S. politics and policy --- that's what Free Speech was REALLY supposed to be about in the Bill of Rights, anyway.

Sure, the ESRB system could be improved. We can find better / cheaper ways to do it. Like most of the videogame bills coming out of the national and state legislatures this year, this one is a ham-handed piece of political grandstanding that misses its intended mark. We're getting them because they are considered to be "low political risk" because of the belief that gamers don't vote.

Get out there and let your elected officials and political candidates KNOW how you feel about this.

Labels: Politics

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:05 AM (Permalink)