A tax on videogames would combat knife crime in UK, claims a government advisor who lost his own son to inner city youth crime. According to the rather outrageous suggestion, videogames are "too cheap" and this makes it easy for children to buy them, which in turn causes them to become violent psychopaths. Typical logic from a man thinking with his heart and not his brain.
"I have young people who I mentor and I see them go up and buy the games and it saddens me that they are being able to have such a negative impact," claims Richard Taylor, who personally advices Gordon Brown on knife crime issues. He also criticized rap music, claiming that music, "especially from America," is far too negative.
First of all, I'd like to just say that I work, earn a good amount of money, and I find videogames too expensive. In the UK, the latest Xbox 360 or PS3 game can already sell for £50. Proposing an even greater tax, on top of the value-added-tax that is already factored into a videogame price, is incredibly unfair and punishes everybody for the sake of a few criminals.
That doesn't even factor into the completely illogical idea that videogames cause knife crime. In a recent Destructoid feature, we researched murders that had been tenuously linked to videogames and discovered that only twenty-five deaths had involved games, and most of that involvement was circumstantial at best. Twenty-five deaths in all of human history compared to the thousands of deaths that happen in the UK every year is a pathetic number, and trying to claim that games cause knife crime is even more so.
Go ahead, make it so children can't affort videogames. You know what'll happen? Knife crime rates will stay the same, and I can guarantee you that cases of theft and mugging will go up. Idiots.
Contest:
2:20 PM on 03.11.2009
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Aren't these people smart enough to realise that the solution is neither simple nor easy.
Sorry, what I meant to say is, this guy might be on something. Most likely crack/cocaine.
$60 is not cheap when you don't have a job and you rely on mumsy and daddie to foot the bills for you.
I hope they all suffer death in the fourth or fifth decades ahead of us.
like will smith?
this guy needs to be removed from office as soon as possible. this idea is fucking ludicrous and i don't want idiots like this being paid with my tax money.
I don't recall a single one of them citing GTA playing as the cause of the attack. They said he cut his eye at them so they chased him and mugged him and stabbed him.
Now - I no expert but this is down to factors such as the area they were raised in, the parental background and the failings of the community to come clean and say they all played their part.
I have had enough of people jumping on the "Video Games Killed My Son/Husband/Dog" bandwagon. Stupids and people with sociopathic tendancies should be neutered. END OF.
If you don't raise your kids and expect thier PC/X360/PS3 or their mates to do it for you don't come crying with the old addages. Accept that you are inadequate and remove yourself from the gene pool with immediate effect.
When your kid is killed by Car/Train/Dog/Knife/Orbital Cannon - Do not try to make the leap to Ban/Tax/Restrict/Censor something completely unrelated. You will look like a political lightweight and alienate those who may have sympathised with your plight.
F@ckwit.
Frankly, a knife killing is far more gruesome than a gun killing. I'd rather be shot 100 times than stabbed 100 times. Much more humane.
Anti-gunner will never learn. They're totally illogical nut-balls. And in the UK, now you've got anti-knifers because they anti-gunners won and had to switch to trying to ban new weapons (you can't ban knives, lol...) because they fail to realize that criminals are criminals, period.
I live in America and I carry a .45 caliber glock at all times. I've had to use it once and it saved me a lot of trouble. Some dude tried to rob me and I simply stuck it in his face and he ran off. No shots fired.
Wow, UK. That was easy, huh?
Lol
Scary - STAB STAB STAB!!!!!
Raising game prices, with more unnecessary taxes won't make a dent of change, because of the pre-owned market. It will just hurt publishers more, as gamers will buy more used games over new ones.
We already pay through the nose for everything in the U.K, that tax is the governments favourite word. Such a shame this guy can't think with his noodles without fork tongued biase.
Of course, don't repair the shoddy schooling system, don't force bad parents to attend parenting class, don't stop the British Media from releasing cultural sludge, don't stop the rampant sexualization of women in supposedly "traditional" english tabloids, don't repair housing for the poor and of course, don't provide opportunities for the unemployed! THOSE things don't work at all for reducing crime, OH HEAVEN'S NO, IT CAN'T BE THE BLOODY GOVERNMENT'S FAULT! And DON'T expand the police force and patrol the streets! That can't possibly reduce violence!
Why don't people understand! It's not/can't be/won't be/never will be/shall not be/ the government's fault..... it's the videogames who are to blame! All these little children having fun..... good gracious! Anything that's fun automatically leads to Satan worshipping because it makes them not think about god for a microsecond!
BRING BACK THE CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!!!!!
Stop bagging the pollies, they have a serious problem. Head-up-ass syndrome is a dehabilitating disease and this is the only option for these people.
.. rather than baseball bats?
Glass will be outlawed, followed by plastic bags, next diabetics will have to go to the hospital twice a day because some moron killed his friend while injecting illegal drugs... etc etc we become a society of people who never get hurt and are complete pansies.