Ben-DutkaOoooh…tricky.
After the tragic Newtown, CT school shooting, another CT town had planned to destroy violent media (including video games) in exchange for giving families gift certificates to a local restaurant, the Lake Compounce amusement park, or a bowling alley.
But now the town of Southington has canceled the proposed event, saying they've "achieved what they set out to do," which thereby makes the actual destruction process unnecessary. As reported by Polygon , spokesperson Dick Fortunato said:
"We succeeded in our program. Our mission was to create strong awareness in Southington for parents and families and citizens and children. And we accomplished that. Our other objective was to promote discussion of violent video games and media with children and with the families at the home. And we've accomplished that in spades. So we deemed it became unnecessary to have the physical return on Saturday of violent games. Also because it would create an unnecessary amount of logistical details for us."
So maybe they only wanted to get the idea for the event in the news, so people could start talking about it, and they never intended to destroy anything. If so, I have to admit, that's pretty clever. If not, it's undoubtedly in response to quite a few people going, "Uh…how close is that to a Nazi book burning?" …maybe it's the latter explanation.
Well that's good, I think it is a bit too close to a book burning myself.
I hear some video game honchos are talking with the White House now too, I'd be interested to hear from them about said discussions. I wouldn't be averse to an information campaign for parents who don't understand what game ratings are for or that they exist.
Has there ever been any parents taking blame for giving their children access to mature games?
Snaaaake: The answer to that question is "no."
Parents?….Taking the blame? Pffffft.
Why take the blame and feel wounded in shame when you can just play the BLAME GAME!!
I BLAME YOU BEN DUTKA!!….. Phew, now that I got that off my shoulders and I know I can't be blamed, I'm going to go get drunk and start beating my wife.[/harsh-joke] If police arrest me though, just try to make sure that they don't find my GTAIV so they blame it for my wife-beating problems.
i bet you they knew hardly noone will have turn out!
You're probably right, nobody RSVPed
I have to laugh when businesses, politicians and the like don't own up to their failings and instead change their message to make it look like they were successful/right all along.
Simcoe, that's about ALL they do.
I can understand the similarities to the Nazi's burning of books, but the idea has been around for centuries (Bonfire of the Vanities). In any case, I think it was a ridiculous idea from the outset.
As for the cancellation… okay. I'm not sure the mass media is talking about violent media any more than they did previously, but it hasn't caused that much of a change in the gaming media. Something tells me it was more of a move to spark tourist interest in their town. Kinda funny though, I won't lie.
Sometimes you just gotta wonder, how far can humans' ignorance go?
Stay tuned, we're not there yet..lol
Last edited by CH1N00K on 1/10/2013 5:06:12 AM
awwwwwww, come on and i was looking forward to that!
Whatever, if people are this naive to think this is the cause of others' psycho mental actions then the world really is lost. Violent media and guns do not kill people; Crazy idiots out of their mind kill people.
I've got something to burn and I'm not chickening out like some people.
Parents should adhere to the ESRB ratings and make it their business to inform themselves of what their children are playing. If children are being exposed to videogame violence it is the parents fault, nobody else's. There is an age rating system in place and there are age restriction functions on consoles. That is enough.