Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Another Puritan Win
Thursday
July 21, 2005
"There is no such place, oh yes I have seen it too
Just a little different from how you do
A river winding blue among the dunes and a marble bed
A sun that doesn't set but settles..."
-Augie March "There Is No Such Place"
Word came out late yesterday that Rockstar Games, which made the brilliant Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game, has now re-rated the game as A:O (Adults Only) instead of M for Mature. The reason? Because of a hidden part of the game where your character can be shown having sex with one of his many "girlfriends".
One of the main people coming out against this latest development is Senator Hillary Clinton, in her latest calculated move in building toward a run for the 2008 Democratic bid for the White House. Nothing more, nothing less.
But this move shows the vast gap that exists in this country when it comes to how people look at sex and violence. GTA: SA is a game where missions feature running from police, shooting at police officers, shooting down police helicopters, shooting rival gang members... I could go on and on. Meanwhile, a hidden part of the game appears that features simulated sex, not even in a pornographic way, but in a silly, almost Leisure Suit Larry type of way, and people hit the roof.
Where was Hillary Clinton when the game came out. Where was the outrage from Capitol Hill then? Am I to believe that our government believes that target practice on law enforcement officers is better accepted than a silly throwaway sex mini-game?
It's such a silly way to live, and to view life. It's yet another reason why I so value the time I had in Europe, where I got to see how people and societies could function without a preoccupation about sex being something horrible and dirty. Try telling that to Senator Sam Brownback and friends, though....
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