This is a response to Distaph's blog "The Evil Powers of Rock 'n' Roll and First Person Shooters"

To quote Distaph "There is something to be said for personal responsibility. Everywhere you look, someone is passing the buck for their own mistakes. Blame the media. Blame the movies. Blame the music. Blame the games." It's just as you say, it's passing the buck. Nothing can compensate for good parenting. If a child is properly raised and monitored, a parent would be able to tell if it's got some pressing mental issue that might cause it to act out it's sociopathic fantasies. Parents should stop letting the television raise their children, and if they're not prepared to do that (because they both work so hard to make ends meet) then they shouldn't have kids.

Any form of media can evoke emotions. It's the responsibility of the individual to monitor his or her own thoughts and make sure that these don't lead to actions which would have negative repercussions for himself or herself and others. This has been true since the advent of verbal communication. People didn't hear the story of Grendel and decide to go out and start ripping off arms... they just knew better.

The thing about the great video game debate is that it's getting the same treatment from certain politicians as music and movies did long ago, and it shouldn't be at this point. The end of harassment of the music industry came when they started using the parental advisory label. So they created a rating system just like the MPAA did. Except the RIAA only had to use two ratings... CDs without advisory labels, and CDs with advisory labels. Once Mortal Kombat hit, it was the ESA's turn to be called the devil. In response they created the ratings system we use today... but the harassment hasn't stopped.

Last I checked there was a hit single which compared a girl's vagina to taffy, which is far worse than anything contained in STP's "Plush" which was surrounded by controversy, so the music industry's content is becoming much more graphic; yet they still have only two ratings and noone is breathing down their neck.

So why are politicians all over the videogame content issues like flies on shit? Because it's a successful industry. Record sales have plummeted, so noone gives a shit what's in the music that noone's buying. Chuck Palahniuk writes some of the most stirring and controversial books ever written, but noone's burning books, because the sales aren't up.The videogame industry, however, is booming. As such someone's got to use this to get attention so they can get elected next year, and everyone knows the best way to get attention is to call for the outright banning of something.

Fuck this, I'm moving to the Netherlands... I won't miss pedophilia and racism too much.