Yesterday, we told you about a 12-year-old boy who committed suicide after his parents banned him from gaming. The most curious aspect of the story was the fact that Thailand's overbearing Ministry of Health did not use the death as an excuse to exercise more of its heavy-handed control over the country's games industry, as it usually does whenever game-themed violence appears. Seems like we spoke too soon on that count, as the Thai Government has been closing down dozens of gaming and gambling Web sites in the name of protecting the chilluns.
Seventy-two Web sites have been shut down without any formal investigation, all thanks to Thursday's suicide. Quite why online gambling sites were also targeted is unclear, since they seemed to have nothing to do with the case in question. Still, Thailand's authorities will use any excuse to exterminate things they don't like, so it's probable that the gambling sites were lumped in merely to satisfy an ulterior agenda.
This is par for the course with Thailand, and the only shocking thing is that something like this didn't happen while 12-year-old Pongsathorn Wattanabenjasopha's body was still warm. Thailand's usually quicker than this when it comes to repressing any form of interactive entertainment.
Way to use a boy's death to push your own motives. Classy.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
2:00 PM on 05.23.2009
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Also, cocks
...
Just kidding, Thai government is retarded and obsolete.
We were like "Teehee, you're an idiot. We are still alive to play MOAR GAMES!" Whereas they're like "SCAPEGOAT! People will let us undermine them for a minute because we have a stupid excuse from a stupid dead kid!"
I am now officially all over the internet. Awesome. I'm proud to be on the front page of Destructoid as an awful but hilarious image macro for a Sterling article. Goes to show that you never know where your images will end up. I just officially joined Destructoid because I had a moment of, "Those people look famil...WAIT HOLY SHIT THATS ME AND MY SISTER-IN-LAW WHAT IS GOING ON I DON'T EVEN"
Anyhow, my comment of real substance is this: LOL, Thailand. Donkey shows/ping-pong ball tricks are still cool though, right?
That's one big fucking tombstone.
OK, that was fucked up. Sorry.
Also, Thailand sucks. Hookers run rampant, spreading diseases and shit while these assholes worry about banning non-diseased things like gaming.
WTF?
Not to mention human trafficking, and child prostitution.
Ahh but in the spirit of serving ulterior motives I say ban only certain makes of car. Fuck Audis.
How long until that kind of crap happens here? *sighs*
Maybe Thailand is trying to decrease its population density...
But of course, probably tomorrow we will find out about other kind of stupid shit... look at Venezuela, they got a nice dictator that just loves to ban things. That imbecil of Chávez and his petro-usd.