The Governator Wasting More California Taxpayer Money Over Unconstitutional Violent Video Game Ban

from the how-much-money-needs-to-be-wasted? dept

Last month, California was the latest in a long list of states who discovered that passing a ban on the sale of violent video games violates the Constitution. This shouldn't be a surprise. More than 10 states have passed such laws and every single one of them has been thrown out. Any state still trying to pass such a law is clearly just wasting taxpayer money so some politicians can claim (incorrectly) that they're "protecting the children." It looks like California's Governor Schwarzenegger is joining the crowd of wasteful grandstanding politicians. He's appealing last month's ruling and making a bunch of factually incorrect statements in doing so. First, he claims that "many studies show the link between playing ultra-violent video games and violent behavior." That's incorrect. The studies that people like to cite have all been debunked, as the interpretation usually doesn't follow from the data in the studies. Furthermore, the real world evidence that violent crime rates keep dropping as violent video games get more popular should raise plenty of questions concerning any claim of the opposite. Second, the Governor claims "we protect our children from buying inappropriate movies and ought to be able to protect them from buying inappropriate video games as well." That's nice, but it all depends on who the "we" is. It's true that kids cannot buy certain movies, but that's based on a voluntary system, put in place by the movie industry -- and not a government mandated one. That's the key issue here -- and Schwarzenegger is being misleading by claiming that the voluntary agreement in the movie industry is the equivalent of a gov't-backed plan.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: california, politicians, video games, violence


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    GoblinJuice, 6 Sep 2007 @ 10:38pm

    Looks like I won't vote for this guy, again.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 6 Sep 2007 @ 11:01pm

    Well you have to be 17 to buy M rated games just like you have to be 17 to watch/buy rated r movies.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 7 Sep 2007 @ 12:24am

      Re:

      but yet the parents trust their kids. so goes to show what parents are doing now a days that they are too busy to teach their children any morals.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Wig, 7 Sep 2007 @ 1:13am

    What is "inappropriate"?

    Last I checked, the majority of the 'inappropriate' movies weren't rated so because of their violent but because of their sexual nature... Face it: a movie showing some nudity will more likely be rated PG than a movie where someone is violently killed.

    Hey, maybe 'they' just want to tell you whatever they feel will get them that bit of popularity/publicity they seek at that moment.

    Except... 'they' are not making themselves popular with parents that actually think about these issues: who actually do some parenting in educating and guiding their children how to deal with violent games (and violence and sexuality in general for that matter). 'They' only make themselves popular with the those parents that are foolish enough to believe that everything will be ok if you give enough control to the goverment. The ability to make a descision for yourself and, as a parent, for your children must seem too big of a problem for them.

    Maybe a law needs to be passed that denies these parents the right to have a kid? You know... to "protect that kid from the stupidity of its parents"?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      The infamous Joe, 7 Sep 2007 @ 4:22am

      Re: What is

      Except... 'they' are not making themselves popular with parents that actually think about these issues: who actually do some parenting in educating and guiding their children how to deal with violent games (and violence and sexuality in general for that matter).

      So, he's hurting his popularity with you and a few hundred other people, huh? :)

      If the "save the children" tactic didn't work, they wouldn't do it. Scorn should be placed more on the people who fall for (and thus, indirectly, encourage) this type of campaigning and less on the political action figures who see something that will work and use it. (Not saying they're in the right, just that solving the issue from the bottom up would be more effective)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Sep 2007 @ 2:27am

    So its OK for Mr. Schwarzenegger to make violent movies but not OK for some folks to play violent games ?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Sanguine Dream, 7 Sep 2007 @ 5:43pm

      Re:

      Well the comedian Chris Rock did say in one of his standups something to the effect of, "Once you get to the top the first thing you do is change the system so that no one else can do the same thing you did."

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Sep 2007 @ 2:54am

    Post 5 beat me to it....

    My thoughts exactly... from the guy who beheaded people with a sword. (Conan).....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      nunya_bidness, 7 Sep 2007 @ 4:19am

      Re: Post 5 beat me to it....

      I also think he was in on the law banning steroids from bodybuilding.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Sep 2007 @ 5:20am

    He needs to be terminated :|

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sir Cucumber, 7 Sep 2007 @ 5:56am

    man, Terminator 2 on the NES was friggin awesome! Except you'd lose at the end for throwing Arnold in the molten steel before talking to John Connor, who would say to throw yourself in the molten steel, after which doing it would make you win.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    DIAF, 7 Sep 2007 @ 7:01am

    passively pissed

    Ummm.... so this censorship crap has gone too far. Been gaming since I was three. I have played every violent game out there. Been cappin Nazi's for years, demons, zombies...etc. I have yet to harm another human (but I can still dream, right?)

    My daughter is now 3 months old. I have grown weary of politician douche bags attempting to legislate what clearly is a parental choice. Here's an idea, STAY OUT OF OUR LIVES GOVERNMENT. We can handle just about any situation without your intervention, and usually better than you ever could. That's my daughter. I feed her, clothe her, and care for her. I will chose what she consumes, not you. Not ever.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Seeker, 7 Sep 2007 @ 7:05am

    Cite, please.

    What are the 10 states (plus California, which makes 11) that tried to ban the sale of violent video games?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    TheDock22, 7 Sep 2007 @ 7:50am

    I don't get it....

    I thought video games already had ratings and restrictions. When I bought Grand Theft Auto I was carded because the lady though I was under 17 (nice flattery, but she was waaaay off). Heck I got carded buying the game strategy guide for Grand Theft Auto. Then again, maybe it's a store by store thing.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Brian, 7 Sep 2007 @ 10:32am

      Re: I don't get it....

      I know...I'm 34, look 34, and got carded when I bought Gears of War. I don't even get carded for alcohol. WTF?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    barren, 7 Sep 2007 @ 8:38am

    ratings

    I love the irony of this. We are supposed to be tolerant of other peoples beleifs and values in todays world. The government sponsors countles organizations promoting moral responsibility and tolerance...then turns around and gives us the FCC and all the organizations behind it. A story cannot be told without some kind of obstacle for the hero to overcome. There has to be conflict of some sort or all we will have are stories about people who get up, go to work, and come home to sleep. Interesting. So, we have the government preaching tolerance at us, while being intolerant to our varying beliefs and values, as well as regulating what we can and cannot see and hear. So much for the constitution. Heil FCC!!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    RandomThoughts, 7 Sep 2007 @ 9:03am

    How did the Terminator get linked to the FCC?

    Is this anything new? Didn't they want to ban Elvis? Buddy Holly? Didn't they burn books back in the day? Didn't they burn disco records at a baseball game (oh, that was actually because it sucked, not because of censorship, nevermind.)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Sep 2007 @ 1:42pm

    Don't blame me, I voted for GARY COLEMAN!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    teknosapien, 8 Sep 2007 @ 7:51am

    Wait a moment

    /sarcasm/ Does this mean that the next arena to be attacked would be violent movies, I mean after all violent games are an evolutionary step up from violent movies.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    edward, 9 Sep 2007 @ 11:17pm

    The Gap Between Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence

    There is far way to go for the gap between Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence filled, or close to be filled, trust me or not

    1. Where is the natural intelligence coming from? What is the essence of intelligence?

    2. What is the key difference between life and matter? What consciousness? Shall modern Artificial Intelligence be built upon life, or matter, or both?

    3. Natural intelligence can be either very rational or very passionate, how shall robotics model passion, or spontaneousity?

    4. Incremental Learning is one of major characteristics of natural intelligence, how shall robotics model Incremental Learning?

    5. How will robots evolve from individual-based, to team-based, to community-based, and to society-based ? Will a Third Life like Second Life appear in the future?

    6. Business-wise if robots start to replace us both at work and at office, how will it impact our traditional business model since the inception of market economy?

    7. How shall we deal the situation when the Artificial Intelligence of robots to surpass natural intelligence of human being? How to address robot security?

    For more details, please check
    Frontier Blog at - http://www.hwswworld.com/wp

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Freedum, 10 Sep 2007 @ 12:07pm

    Liberalism lives!

    Remember Arnold was and is a very liberal politician, regardless of his party affiliation. The dems Always think that they know better, and want to control every little nook and cranny of our personal lives.

    I say leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. Mess with my stuff or my loved ones, we have a problem. What you do in your home is your business. If you or your kid commits a crime, you go to jail.

    Stop telling us what to say, think, do, or enjoy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    eric, 14 Sep 2007 @ 8:18am

    i will like to have u as my friend

    hello how are u doing as i am fine

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.