Once again there are various groups berating the release of the latest video game - Grand Theft Auto IV.
Citing the game’s violent content and the perceived effect this will have on society and families; many have called for the game to be banned.
It is of course completely within their rights to hold this view and to express it, and therein lies the irony in their argument.
Calling for entertainment or information sources that you do not agree with to be banned is tantamount to curtailing other people’s - in many cases hard won - freedoms.
And the same people calling for such bans would be as vociferous in their protests if their own forms of expressions are banned or censored.
Without singling out any groups, imagine the outcry if religious services were to be banned.
I for one would join those protests - regardless of my own religious affiliations or which religion is being targeted, because freedom of religion is a basic human right.
So is freedom of expression and freedom of choice.
Games are a form expression, just like music, books, movies, poetry and prayer. And the right to choose to buy and play a certain game, regardless of how offensive it’s content is to those who would not even wish to play it themselves, is an inalienable right.
Of course as a journalist I am riled by any whiff of censorship - especially since I grew up in Apartheid South Africa where just about anything that threatened the Christian Nationalist agenda was banned.
Having said that, I share the same concerns about the current levels of violence in society many of those who oppose games like GTA 4, hold.
However I do not believe solving the issue is as simple as banning a single game.
Humans are and have always been violent creatures - we have a litany of wars that proves this.
The causes of violence in society are far wider than violence in games, music, movies or books.
Violent games don’t create violent societies - violent societies create violent games.
Freedom comes with a price. An ideal or a dream that’s worth fighting for. I believe those heroes of yesteryear that died for a better tomorrow would spin in their graves if they knew today’s generation is using that hard-won freedom to slouch on couches and play with mindless violent games that enable players to shoot police, beat up prostitutes and set people on fire.
God save us from tomorrow’s de-sensitized kids that will grow up on a diet of violence in an apathetic society that puts up with anything in the name of rights and freedom without the counter-balance of responsibility.
This so-called entertainment dumbs-down society and incites violence is purely profiteering from the glamorisation of this violence. In a country that has some serious anger-management problems, that government campaigns are trying to stamp out, do we really need any format of this sad little game?
Have a look here to see how we are pouring $multi-millions into trying to stop violence http://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/media-information/pr-2007-09-04-factsheet.doc Then ask the Drs, nurses, police, fire-fighters, who mop up after todays violent society, if we need this mindless drivel. I think not. Well done Family First for speaking out and sticking up for a more pleasant society that the majority of us want.
People want to live in NZ for a more pleasant and safer way of life. Why drag the world’s worst offerings into the world’s most beautiful and lifestyle-envied country? For me the argument is that simple. Why???
Posted by: Georgina | May 1, 2008 3:00 PM