New York, the state that seems to be in love with videogame legislation, is at it again, this time thanks to Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright. Wright is the man who wants to combat games that enforce racist stereotypes, but he also wishes to do something quite astounding — he longs for those evil, nasty, violent videogames to be sealed away in locked containers like plutonium.
This defender of children’s sanity wishes to protect all the kiddies from any game that “glamorizes … the commission of a violent crime, suicide, sodomy, rape, incest, bestiality, or sado-masochism …” Games would be expected to carry warning labels — since so many of them feature sado-masochistic bestial sodomy — with a potential fine of $1,000 for those publishers that don’t comply.
It’s the proposal, however, that such games be made “inaccessible to the general public” or “in a sealed and locked container” that really astounds me. Videogames are now as harmful as nuclear waste, it would seem, and should be kept away from society for fear of contaminating the population.
If you want to read the proposal, check it out. It’s quite badly written and probably won’t go anywhere, because it’s absurd and based on purely subjective assumptions. Still, if any state would write it into law, New York would.
When is that city just going to admit its politicians are loopy and start actually forcing Blu-ray discs to stand trial as if they’re alive?
