David Cameron, leader of the British Conservative Party and Gordon Brown’s biggest challenger for the position of Prime Minister today detailed worrying plans for a rather sinister sounding “social covenant,” a society where we combat crime and violence by essentially pretending it doesn’t exist and by blaming it on things like films, music videos and, of course, videogames. Because it’s never a criminal that commits a crime, is it? A disc of some kind is always the one that picked up the claw hammer and beat a child to death with it … right? Is that how it works?
“Today’s document sets out our view on popular culture – that the companies which make music videos, films and computer games have a social responsibility not to promote casual violence, the gang culture and the degradation of women,” Cameron erroneously stated today. “We are never going to deal with crime unless we look at the broader context and say, ‘Yes, tough laws, strong action on the police, but also action to strengthen our society. And that includes, I think, video games and things like that where we do need to think of the context in which people are growing up.”
Hit the jump for my in-depth and, of course, indignant view on this latest political garbage.
[Via OrangeGoblin’s Dtoid community blog]
I kind of liked David Cameron, but today’s borderline insane collection of puritanical, pious statements have plunged him right into the mire of reactionary insects who truly make this society as despicable as it is. What astounds me is he doesn’t realize the TRUE cause of social decline — people like him who make apologies for criminals by robbing them of accountability and shifting the blame onto benign things like music and videogames. If you make criminals believe it’s not their fault, that they are victims of a sinful and evil society, of COURSE they’re going to continue a life of crime. They no longer feel responsible for their actions, they feel almost justified.
David Cameron, if you’re reading this, and I know you are because we’re Destructoid, a site with far more respectability and influence than you, I am going to say this loud and clear, because I am sick to bloody death of people like you who don’t seem to understand the very society you’re hoping to govern. Ready?
Furthermore, Cameron’s lies that music, films and games have some sort of ‘social responsibility’ would be amusing if they weren’t so revoltingly disgraceful. I’ve said it before and, wearily, I’ll say it again. entertainment has only ONE responsibility — to be entertaining. However the means, however the method, a videogame’s sole job is to make the consumer happy. Let the priests and the social workers and the teachers and hey … the PARENTS provide the morals, that’s THEIR social responsibility, the role in society that they willingly took on. It’s not the job of music, films and games to educate our children or to mollycoddle grown men and women so we can pretend the world is all roses and buttercups and nobody ever feels pain.
Frankly, Mr. Cameron’s ideas of a covenant, a social utopia, are scary to me. That he truly believes in whitewashing the nation’s view of the world, that he genuinely feels the best way to tackle crime is to just close our eyes and ears, is frankly shocking. Taking away the violent games and the risque’ music videos are not going to somehow turn immoral people into a bunch of born again Christians. It’s … inconceivable to me that educated, adult humans still have such blinkered views of the world and feel that the removal of videogames will instantly deliver us from evil. For once, I am glad that the Conservatives still have an intense stigma about their name and not a shred of credibility, because I am definitely not hoping to see this madman in power now. Not with his plans to create some kind of Neo-China in the United Kingdom.
Just try it, Mr. Cameron, you will be sorely disappointed in the results. I assure you.
Oh, and David then accused of the Labour party of having “knee-jerk reactions” to crime. Does he understand the concept of irony, do you think?
Utterly pathetic.
