MCV, the British version of Gamasutra, has an article up about some recent comments made by Labour MP for Leicester East Keith Vaz, in which he claims that whether a member of Parliament plays video games or not has absolutely no bearing on their ability to regulate them. Keep in mind that this was the guy who urged Tony Blair to ban Canis Canim Edit (Bully, here in the States), as if Mr. Blair didn’t have more important issues to deal with (like fellating Dubya, or finding Billie Piper’s phone number for me).
Hit the jump for more from the article.
The really confusing thing about the article is that Paul Jackson, director of the ELSPA (the British ESA), agrees with him! To wit:
“Clearly you do not have to be a gamer to suggest policies on the games industry any more than you need to be a doctor to do so with the NHS [the British socialized healthcare system], however, games are rated on their content and senior politicians need to make sure they are properly informed of the content before making a public statement that could possibly be damaging to an important British industry.”
Ok, ok, ok. Let’s forget for a moment that the British healthcare system is the epitome of the practical failure of socialism. Let’s even forget that it’s more than not likely gone in that direction because the people in charge of the legislation that governs it have no medical experience and would only barely qualify as humans if they didn’t do such a fantastic job of hiding their horns under those powdered wigs.
In the end, we can all agree that it would be preferable if the rules that govern things like gaming (and books, and movies, and pornography) were decided upon by people who actually use the aforementioned media, but since the legislators and the people who are supposed to be looking out for gamer’s rights seem to be on the same side on this issue, it looks like we won’t have any choice.
Ladies and gentlemen, I propose that we not stand for this injustice. If our government won’t change to meet our needs, we are the ones who have to change it. With that in mind, I propose we elect bears. An all-ursine Parliament is a government you can trust. If you’re like me, when you think of trust, competency and vicious claws, you think bears, and bears are exactly what England needs.
The preceding article was paid for by the Committee For Bears Who Want To Wear Powdered Wigs.
