Posted by JM Ashby
Parents beware! According to Fixed News, a new video game that is decidedly rated M for Mature and therefore only sold to people ages 17 and up might turn your children into future rapists and murderers.
“If a younger kid experiences Bulletstorm's explicit language and violence, the damage could be significant,” Dr. Jerry Weichman, a clinical psychologist at the Hoag Neurosciences Institute in Southern California, told FoxNews.com.
“Violent video games like Bulletstorm have the potential to send the message that violence and insults with sexual innuendos are the way to handle disputes and problems,” Weichman said.
Now my question is this: If a video game that is set in the future on a distant planet where you battle mutants and aliens has the potential to influence young people to commit acts of violence, why doesn't Sarah Palin? Sharron Angle? Michele Bachmann? How about the former vice president telling a member of congress to go fuck himself? Doesn't that have the power to send the message that violence and insults are the way to handle disputes?
Isn't there a double standard at work here? You can't have it both ways. You can't claim that asking people to be "armed and dangerous" is ok and then also claim that violent video games, which are explicitly fictional, have the influence to turn normal children into violent thugs.
The likes of Palin, Bachmann, and Angle do not exist in some virtual world burned onto a DVD. They exist in this world and their words have true repercussions and consequences. When you tell people that your political opponents are out to destroy America, you influence both children and adults alike.