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GTA: Chinatown Wars gets Nintendo Power banned from school photo

The latest issue of Nintendo Power has been banned from a middle school library in Ohio because of the cover, which features a piece of artwork from Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. The cartoon image of a woman holding a gun was seemingly too extreme for the shool, which yanked the issue and started rolling a rather large snowball of controversy.

After Principal Brian Sharosky pulled the mag from Roxboro Middle School Library, Ohio's ACLU stepped in with condemnation. Executive director Christine Link argues that literature should never be taken out of a Library on the whims of one offended individual. 

"Literature should not be removed from a school library simply because one person may find it inappropriate," she states. "[the school board should] immediately order that the magazine be reinstated."

Unfortunately, the school board is backing Sharosky on this matter, helping to keep Nintendo Power #234 away from young hands. It seems that this decision could go so far as to result in a lawsuit.

"The principal doesn't get to say, 'Whatever I say goes.' There's got to be some mechanism by which decisions are made and a process of review," explains ACLU legal director Jeff Gamso. "Or maybe tomorrow it'll be ' "Hamlet" -- that's an iffy play.'"

Considering you could probably find all sorts of juicy murders and graphically violent content in any school Library, it does seem rather arbitrary to pull the magazine. I wonder, if it was a book on Al Capone, featuring an image of a man holding a gun, would that have to get yoinked as well?


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36 comments | showing # 1 to 36

killatia's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:42
killatia
Heres what i put down at Gamepolitics:

"Literature should not be removed from a school library simply because one person may find it inappropriate... [the school board should] immediately order that the magazine be reinstated."

Agree. As a matter of fact i belive there was a court reading that state that principals can't just wank out certain literature just because he dosen't like the artical.
IroN1c's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:45
IroN1c
A book on Al Capone wouldn't be removed because it is history. GTA instead is a videogame. Videogames, being the source of all violence in the world, need to be kept away from children. We all know that without GTA, Al Capone would have been a teacher.
Niero's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:45
Niero
/ facepalm

But's cool for dad to own 48 shotguns!
comradetrotskii's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:46
comradetrotskii
that principals can't just wank out certain

Is...is that a typo?
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:47
Jim Sterling
The best typo EVER!
Demtor's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:48
Demtor
Wish I had a gaming mag when I went to school. Lucky little shits.
Bango Skank's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:49
Bango Skank
All this does is make me continue to hope for a day when the people in charge actually "get it".
killatia's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:53
killatia
@ comradetrotskii & Jim Sterling,
Both of you are correct.
MrSadistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:54
MrSadistic
It's because Asians are offensive.
Spartacus's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 09:56
Spartacus
I wonder if he knew it was a videogames magazine, and if he gave it back after school.

Banning anything short of pornography in a school library is going down an iffy path, methinks.
Kraid's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:08
Kraid
@ Bango
give it 15 or 20 years top and our generation will be in power.Than we'll be able to train our kids into cold-blooded killers and Pedophilic racists with these killing simulators! ...Wait what?!
SamBasinger's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:13
SamBasinger
shool?
Swizzler121's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:27
Swizzler121
OMG GUNZZZ!!! HIDEZ THEM FROM THE CHILDREN SO THEY CANT EVER KNOW WHAT THEY ARE!!!

C'mon, you know ever boy in that school doodles guns in their spare time, you just took away an example to work with, way to ruin their creativity principal hardass.
Monodi's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:28
Monodi
I AM THE LAW
Kraid's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:38
Kraid
YOU CAN'T BEAT THE LAW!!
Phoenix Gamma's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:45
Phoenix Gamma
I'd ban Nintendo Power if I was principal. Except I'd ban it for being a bad magazine. Then I'd tell the kids to go back to the library of EGM issues.
Corak's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:48
Corak
I'd be willing to bet that somewhere in their "magazine" section at school, seriously wtf is that I never had gaming magazines at my school library, there is a Guns and Ammo magazine sitting there somewhere.
Saint Demon's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 10:52
Saint Demon
Why don't they just remove the cover of the magazine? I understand both sides but lets compromise on the issue. Besides its not like there is a level in the game where a character shoots up a school. In other words its not FEAR 2. And children, evil ghost children who are trying to destroy the world or not, should not be shot at.
Dr Milkdad's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 11:07
Dr Milkdad
Wasn't there a Nintendo Power issue that had Shadow the Hedgehog holding a gun? Did that get banned?
GunSlap's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 11:16
GunSlap
This is pitiful, an absolute new low. I feel sick.
ScottyG's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 11:23
ScottyG
Wait...

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait just a second here!

Since when have video game magazines been in school libraries?

...

God damn spoiled kids. Back in my day all we had were Radio Shack and Woolworths adverts for our video game fix! ... and Sears catalogues for our more... primal fix...

AND WE WERE GRATEFUL DAMMIT!
necrozen's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 11:43
necrozen
Fucking Ohio.... They're right above me (I live in northern Kentucky, so I'm 10 minutes from Cincinnati). They are a funny bunch up there.
Chicken008's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 11:55
Chicken008
WTF, there have been like Resident Evil covers before..
Tino's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 12:06
Tino
Hey kids, decapitation is fun!



PLEEEEEEEEEEASE WORK BBCODE.
Tino's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 12:11
Tino
Oh screw you vgmuseum.



FINE I'LL DO IT THE RIGHT WAY.
The-Excel's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 12:12
The-Excel
@MrSadistic:
I'm cynical and I love it.
Kira Plaga's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 12:20
Kira Plaga
When I was in middle school a few years ago, the library had a magazine section wich featured a video game magazine. Although I can't recall the name :/
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 12:42
Holyetheline
I used to draw guns all the time when I was a kid... AT SCHOOL
Discarded Couch Sandwich's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 12:53
Discarded Couch Sandwich
The most outstanding part is where they couple Nintendo Power in with 'literature!'

Not to mention that this story shows that same level of moral stupidity we've all come to adore. At least it gives evidence that Nintendo has finally got that hard edge back to the casual observer. Hamlet, a play where everyone dies horribly: that's completely fine. But a name like Nintendo!!! and with a gun on the front!! God we should be terrified.
Greylocke's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 13:03
Greylocke
You fail Jim, thats not the latest issues of Nintendo Power.
Chronic Logic's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 13:24
Chronic Logic
A picture of a gun is too extreme? How many books are in the library which features whole pages of pictures of all sorts of weapons? Paranoid, much.
SubOrbital's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 14:05
SubOrbital
Fail.
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 15:05
Dexter345
Still, it's nice to hear that some people are fighting this.
Jetsetlemming's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/24/2009 18:05
Jetsetlemming
It annoys me that that asian chick is used so predominantly in all the CW media, since she fucking bites it two minutes into the game and is instantly forgotten.






Oh, spoiler alert.
motti's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/25/2009 01:15
motti
Okay:
1. They won't pull hamlet from the library because nobody reads it for leisure. Simple.
2. Ironically enough, the authority of the time hated Shakespeare with a passion, for the simple reason of OMG violence! Sound familiar?
3. I wonder if they ban books such as Eragon, for example, in which a 16 year old goes around disembowelling people and breaking their necks while his dragon roasts them to death? How about Harry Potter, in which Malfoy gets his chest ripped open and Fred/George (can't remember which) loses an ear in a bloody way. Of course not, because they make kids read.
Autumn's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/26/2009 08:13
Autumn
If that principal were a woman I'd totally do her. With a rolled up copy of Nintendo Power. With a gun in it.
She'd love that.
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