Malaysian Politician: Ban GTA5, Just Like The British and Americans

from the wait,-what? dept

Tue, Oct 1st 2013 3:54am — Timothy Geigner

By now, I think everyone agrees that politicians lie. Sometimes they lie about spying on us as we take selfies with our camera phone, sometimes they lie in court, and it seems like sometimes they lie just for the fun of it. Many people talk about how awful it is that politicians lie. They think that politicians need to lie less. I disagree. I think that our best hope is to elect politicians so completely full of shit that their BS is instantly recognizable as such, which means we actually know the opposite is the truth. It's sort of a governance by photographic negative philosophy.

But what would such a politician look like, you ask? Well, probably a great deal like Malaysia's Reezal Merican ('Merican!) Bin Naina Merican (totally 'Merican!). See, Reezal doesn't like video games all that much, primarily because he thinks they are anti-Islam, and he's currently advocating banning Grand Theft Auto 5 (of course). Fortunately for him, he has some international partners in this ban. Namely the UK and his namesake, 'Merica.

In Malaysia, a member of Parliament named Reezal Merican Bin Naina Merican is asking his government to ban Grand Theft Auto V due to violence. His rationale is that the United States and the United Kingdom have already banned the game. They have? Oh really?

Confused? Me too, because just last night I was happily playing GTA5 while coincidentally shouting "'Merica!" with each and every gunshot fired from my avatar. I thought perhaps I was playing a banned game, which actually only made me revel in its glory all the more, but then I remembered that Reezal is a politician. One, I might add, who seems to be putting my super-liar government philosophy into practice.

Because, of course, GTA5 certainly isn't banned in the UK or 'Merica, something which I'd guess Reezal knows full well. But if you're going to lie, I say go big. At worst you'll get called out on it, but at best we all get to have a laugh and at least one politician becomes infinitely more transparent through the power of bullshit.

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Filed Under: gta5, lying, malaysia, politicians

18 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2013 @ 4:08am

the trouble is, as we all know only too well, the politician or company head(s) that tells the most and the biggest lies, always get believed! we have that with the bullshit put out, every day, by the entertainment industries, certainly in the USA and the UK! why would this guy not be believed? no one is going to bother to check out his statement about it being banned in the USA or the UK. it falls nicely with his aim, plus, we know how bone-fucking idle politicians are. they never want to get off their back sides and do anything, except pick up the next 'brown envelope'!!
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That One Guy (profile), 1 Oct 2013 @ 4:11am

Actually I agree with him
The country should ban the game just like it's banned in the UK and the US. And since it's not banned in either of those countries...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2013 @ 4:23am

You haven't reached anything in politics until you can lie to court, under oath, get caught, and get away with it.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2013 @ 4:27am

Re:
level 99 achieved
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OldGeezer (profile), 1 Oct 2013 @ 5:30am

I hope you don't mind Timothy, but that first paragraph was so hilarious I quoted it on my Facebook page crediting you. I figured more of my friends would read it and get a great laugh like I did than if I just linked to the article.
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Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 1 Oct 2013 @ 5:51am

I recently picked up a copy of this banned game (from the Darknet known as Walmart.com) and managed to die several times in the opening mission.

Two factors:

a.) I had been playing a lot of Saint's Row, which features a completely different controller setup.
b.) Rockstar has seriously revamped its cover-and-shoot system.

The button I thought would fire the gun instead holstered it. The button I thought would bring up the targeting reticule released me from cover. Consequently, I spent a lot of time out in the open swinging my fists at cops located 20-30 feet away, all armed with actual weapons.

Being that the character I controlled (very loosely) was Trevor, the unhinged psychotic, it almost seemed like something he would actually do.

tl;dr - all you have to do is set your VPN to 'Murica and you can get a copy.
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TideMan (profile), 1 Oct 2013 @ 6:00am

Re:
That almost makes me miss Prez Slick Willie
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Steve, 1 Oct 2013 @ 6:07am

But... Is lying not haram?
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OldGeezer (profile), 1 Oct 2013 @ 6:42am

Re: Re:
I would rather have a president that lies about a few blow jobs on the side than all that crap Obama is trying to feed us. Who wouldn't lie about getting your knob lobbed if you were married to Hilary?
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DOlz (profile), 1 Oct 2013 @ 7:22am

Re: Actually I agree with him
Of course the games shouldn't be banned. However; if you're talking about banning the GTA5 TV commercials I'm on board. In addition to being annoying they are right in the middle of the uncanny valley.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2013 @ 8:06am

I think they need to ban this moron from ever being allowed to make any decisions again.
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SolkeshNaranek (profile), 1 Oct 2013 @ 8:20am

>I think that our best hope is to elect politicians so completely full of shit that their BS is instantly recognizable as such, which means we actually know the opposite is the truth.

Feinstein, Rogers, Pelosi, (Lamar)Smith, Bachmann, Lowey, Obama...

I could go on, but do I really need to? Looks to me like we have met your goal.
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gnudist, 1 Oct 2013 @ 8:21am

Response to: Steve on Oct 1st, 2013 @ 6:07am
well if you're lying about it it's adultery
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2013 @ 11:46am

Maybe he's able to see into the future where the West has become a fascist dystopia where anything even vaguely offensive or advocating rebellion are banned.

Malaysia must be ahead of its time. Some politician will go forward with "but Malaysia banned this game too, and they haven't collapsed."
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no surprise, 1 Oct 2013 @ 2:19pm

Malaysia = shithole
It's no surprise that a politician from a 3rd world shithole of a country would lie. Just look what they've done to their own country.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2013 @ 9:56pm

I had a good laugh at the "'Merica" punchline. :)
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Bergman (profile), 2 Oct 2013 @ 1:02am

True irony would be if the Malaysian liar gets his law passed...then a politician in the UK points to Malaysia's ban as a reason why the UK should ban the game...
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Ninja (profile), 2 Oct 2013 @ 3:02am

It may be banned in the future and he may have received a message from Allah revealing it. Who knows?
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