The Supreme Court will rule on a California law that would fine businesses that sold "violent" video games to customers under a certain age. This sort of law has been attempted before, and in the past it has always been struck down in the courts as unconstitutional. In fact, this very law was struck down after it was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who vowed to appeal that decision all the way to the highest court. So here we are.
"Speech can take the form of a film, words on a page, and music, but in this case we're talking about computer and video games. That's the crux of what we're looking at here," Taylor explained. "[The law] targets a specific media form, computer and video games, and it tries to place it and elements within it as unprotected speech. That's where it runs into problems." The problem is a simple one: it legislates some forms of entertainment, but not others.
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Laws like this have been looked at by 12 other US courts in the past, and in every case the laws have been found unconstitutional. That sets quite the precedent for giving games the same protection as film and music, neither of which carry civil or criminal penalties in the case of sale to minors.
In this context, violent video games are defined as a title that "Enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury upon images of human beings or characters with substantially human characteristics in a manner which is especially heinous, cruel, or depraved in that it involves torture or serious physical abuse to the victim." The violence "causes the game, as a whole, to lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors." Taylor pointed out how subjective this definition is, and claimed it puts the onus on the stores to figure out what games fall under that definition. If they think a game doesn't fit that definition, but the government finds that it does, civil penalties could result. Selective enforcement is not only possible, but seemingly baked into the wording of the law.
Who has power to levy these fines? The law again offers a variety of options. "A suspected violation of this title may be reported to a city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney by a parent, legal guardian, or other adult acting on behalf of a minor to whom a violent video game has been sold or rented," it states. "A violation of this title may be prosecuted by any city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney."
While games already carry ratings that offer much more detail than you find on movies, music, or books, the definition of a violent game doesn't take into account the ESRB rating. Some mature-rated games would be a liability to sell, while others wouldn't. There would be no ratings system for retail stores to look at and make the distinction between violent and non-violent; what constitutes a violent game is up to the city attorneys, city counsels, or district attorneys. What can and can't be sold, and to what customers, is left up to those members of the government, and they can rule independently of the industry-backed rating system.
Taylor says this could lead retailers to simply not carry violent games, or at least to look at what games to stock as a risk/reward calculation. "We're talking about an industry where the average gamer is 35 years old. There is every reason to have a broad spectrum of entertainment options available... when you try to choke the availability of those types of titles, it does have a chilling effect on the type of entertainment you can access."
So, settle on a decision to engage in what makes a difference to you and to make a beginning (a small one) at this moment. You can make plans en route; you can sharpen goals en route, yet neither of those things will add up to a slope of beans except if you're locked in with a game that matters first.
Your mind can be an exciting monster, frustrating you in all kinds of clever ways you might never know about. To be gently and non-critically mindful of your own musings. Notice the thoughts that debilitate and those that empower. Recognize where your reasoning is engaged and check whether that is helpful or not. Work to know about the thoughts that remove you from the game.
Koepka pulled a pitching wedge to the left, down the slope and into thick grass. He chopped that up the slope with so much speed that it raced across the green and into the bunker. He blasted that out to 8 feet and made the putt to keep his lead at one shot.
And indeed, providing a market for same. Which is why I wanted to talk to him this week. A former Variety reporter himself, Gilroy is well aware of the world of entertainment journalism and how the lowered stakes of that beat can keep the ethical slope slippery. The line between news and entertainment is increasingly blurred, and so a mentality of providing the readership what it wants, not necessarily what it needs, more easily catches hold.
Seeing their near or distant relatives on the mountain slopes for miles to the north apparently consumed by fire but then next year spring up from the living roots, clothed in new green, surrounded by the blue spikes of lupin and the pink carpets of fireweed, has not improved the surly mood of the south bank groves, trod by cattle, hacked by axes, poisoned by pollution. 2ff7e9595c
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