| That's an interesting take on it, Geoff. I might add my two cents:
My take on it is that what with violent video games (of which I am an avid collector) and related violent material, censorship is attacking the symptom and not the problem. The only way to deal with the problem is confrontation. We still watch Rambo flicks of mowing down dark-skinned peoples, we just don't call them Rambo flicks anymore - since that's taboo in Hollywood for much of the 90's under Clinton, but all the self-censorship serves to do is to maintain one giant smokescreen, because they still pump out Black Hawk Downs and Saving Private Ryans and Pearl Harbors and other great lessons in propoganda.
Likewise, in an effort to become more "cartoony" in order to stave off conservatives in Congress with major moral itches, game manufacturers come out with the likes of 'Command & Conquer: Generals' which is, according to Electionic Arts, "satirical," but plays more like a National Lampoon take on foreign culture - the game starts with Iraqis chemical-bombing their own civilians in Baghdad, and goes on with ever worsening platitudes about red Chinese hordes and Islamic terrorists - Every "Global Liberation Army" (the terrorist faction) building looks like a mosque. Coincidence?
There are undercurrents that must be addressed presently, and hiding them will simply delay the solution. It's pure folly to insist that once they're out of sight they're not there to be dealt with, because you can plainly see that without totalitarian measures they'll re-emerge over and over again. People buy this shit because it appeals to them. That's the real problem.
. . . whenever any government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such forms as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. |