Well, there is definately some bullshit going down to report on this month. Two Florida legislators are trying to pass 2 bills which would "prohibit the public display of...videogames displaying graphic violence" in Florida. The two ignorant human beings involved are Representative Barry Silver (D) and Senator John Grant (R). The bills have quite the way to go before becoming law, but they are a serious threat to our first amendment rights. If Florida passes the two, many states may follow suit.
These bills are aimed at coin-op arcade games with violent content. The two bills deem this violent content as "including, but not limited to: decapitation; dismemberment; repeated instances of blood-letting; or grotesque cruelty." The goal is to have such machines removed from any public area such as lobbies and arcades. Well, first of all I have to say right here that there is absolutely no proof that children who view violence will become more violent individuals. And besides, anyone can see more horrendous, real, violence on the daily news on public TV. A really scary thing about these two bills is that they were worded very vague and undefined. They could be used to have video games removed from store shelves, not just from arcades and lobbies.
What these bills are trying to do has been deemed unconstitutional in other forms of media. These bills are trying to enforce legal backing to ratings for violent content. Moving ratings have no legal backing to them except in the area of sexual content. Theatres enforce the ratings only by choice. Bills that people have tried to pass making the ratings legally enforced have been deemed unconstitutional by the federal government.
It should be noted that these bills definately infringe upon your first amendment rights. Anything that cuts even the slightest bit of our freedom away is a very, very dangerous and terrible thing. With each bill like this that passes, another one--that does twice as much damage--will be more likely to be accepted and become law.
Thanks to Next Generation Magazine for bringing this subject to my attention.
Also check out the EFF's Blue Ribbon Campaign pages for information on some new
legislation that would more or less abolish your first amendment rights on the internet.
OH GOODIE! MORE BULLSHIT!...... ehem... Monday 4/20/98 - At the Comdex Spring Computer Show
in Chicago something quite humorous happened. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, the featured speaker, was
showing off Windows 98 (his newest plot at a complete monopoly of the world) when the system CRASHED!
AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAAAHHAHAHAH!!! He then stated that they still had some bugs to work out, and that's
why they haven't shipped it yet. BULLSHIT BILL!
And last, but certainly not least, another story! Nasa released new photos of the "Face on Mars"
with the intent to disprove it. From what I've heard the new photos of the "face" have actually been
reduced in resolution and number of colors. The cameras the photos were taken with apparently
should have produced a higher resolution and a higher number of colors. Now, if Nasa was trying
to prove this don't you think they would raise all the levels rather than lower them. It sounds like
they might have something to hide afterall. I don't know about you, but in my opinion I still
see a face even in the new photos and what about those strange right angles, too?