On MSNBC recently, the following back-and-forth occurred between MSNBC's Chuck Todd and Republican United States Senator Lamar Alexander (representing the state of Tennessee):
Todd: "Can you envision a way of supporting the universal background checks bill?"
Alexander: "Chuck, I'm going to wait and see on all of these bills. I think video games is [sic] a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people. But the First Amendment limits what we can do about video games and the Second Amendment to the Constitution limits what we can do about guns."
Video games "affect" people and guns don't? Say that again? Right, because during the shooting sprees in Newtown, Connecticut and elsewhere, nobody was "affected" by the innocent lives that were lost due to gun violence. Perhaps deep down, these parents, teachers, and children were just in denial about what really "affected" them - not their children, students, and classmates being shot and killed by a gun, but that there are video games which depict similar shootings, where no lives are lost as a result. While I've heard of the catchy slogan, "Guns don't kill people; people kill people," I can't say I'm all too familiar with this new slogan, "Guns don't kill people; video games do." Yeah, once it starts raining video games from the sky like hail and bops people on the head hard enough they perish, then we'll start talking. Once meteorologists start saying, instead of, "It's raining cats and dogs out there," "It's raining Grand Theft Autos and Mortal Kombats out there," I'll finally give Mr. Alexander his due. Even with the problems global warming is causing, though, I'm not seeing that happen - not in my lifetime anyway.
Sometimes I really wonder if these Republican Congresspeople (or conservative talking heads) actually know what guns are. This is the image I get of such a person when they're writing in a diary about a gun:
"February 14th of 2010 at 11:59:59 PM EST - Oh, how I love you. You're always there for me. Whatever I want you to do, you'll do. It's like we have a connection, like we're in love. Some people buy dogs. Others buy cats. I have you, and I wouldn't trade you for any other pet in the world. Some people blame you for things, but they don't understand you like I do. You're my precious little pet. I've trained you to not harm others. You're so gentle and kind when in other pets' and children's faces. When kids want to pet you, I let them, because I trust you. I raised you since you were little. Well, you were about the same size then as you are now, but that's what's so great about you. I know what I'm getting day in and day out with you. You always stay the same. My wife doesn't know this, but I love you more than her, especially during that time of the month. You don't ever have that moody time. You're always the same. Sometimes I wish we could get married and spend our honeymoon on a ranch somewhere, where we could make sweet love all night. I'm not sure how we could do that, but with all those crazy sex stores around town, I'm sure we could figure something out. Well, I'm getting tired, so I better place this pen down and cuddle with you while I sleep. Thank you, my sweet, precious pet gun. I love you and hope you'll be mine forever. Goodnight. Sleep tight. ...and don't accidentally go off again tonight."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/lamar-alexander-video-games-guns_n_2584837.html
Todd: "Can you envision a way of supporting the universal background checks bill?"
Alexander: "Chuck, I'm going to wait and see on all of these bills. I think video games is [sic] a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people. But the First Amendment limits what we can do about video games and the Second Amendment to the Constitution limits what we can do about guns."
Video games "affect" people and guns don't? Say that again? Right, because during the shooting sprees in Newtown, Connecticut and elsewhere, nobody was "affected" by the innocent lives that were lost due to gun violence. Perhaps deep down, these parents, teachers, and children were just in denial about what really "affected" them - not their children, students, and classmates being shot and killed by a gun, but that there are video games which depict similar shootings, where no lives are lost as a result. While I've heard of the catchy slogan, "Guns don't kill people; people kill people," I can't say I'm all too familiar with this new slogan, "Guns don't kill people; video games do." Yeah, once it starts raining video games from the sky like hail and bops people on the head hard enough they perish, then we'll start talking. Once meteorologists start saying, instead of, "It's raining cats and dogs out there," "It's raining Grand Theft Autos and Mortal Kombats out there," I'll finally give Mr. Alexander his due. Even with the problems global warming is causing, though, I'm not seeing that happen - not in my lifetime anyway.
Sometimes I really wonder if these Republican Congresspeople (or conservative talking heads) actually know what guns are. This is the image I get of such a person when they're writing in a diary about a gun:
"February 14th of 2010 at 11:59:59 PM EST - Oh, how I love you. You're always there for me. Whatever I want you to do, you'll do. It's like we have a connection, like we're in love. Some people buy dogs. Others buy cats. I have you, and I wouldn't trade you for any other pet in the world. Some people blame you for things, but they don't understand you like I do. You're my precious little pet. I've trained you to not harm others. You're so gentle and kind when in other pets' and children's faces. When kids want to pet you, I let them, because I trust you. I raised you since you were little. Well, you were about the same size then as you are now, but that's what's so great about you. I know what I'm getting day in and day out with you. You always stay the same. My wife doesn't know this, but I love you more than her, especially during that time of the month. You don't ever have that moody time. You're always the same. Sometimes I wish we could get married and spend our honeymoon on a ranch somewhere, where we could make sweet love all night. I'm not sure how we could do that, but with all those crazy sex stores around town, I'm sure we could figure something out. Well, I'm getting tired, so I better place this pen down and cuddle with you while I sleep. Thank you, my sweet, precious pet gun. I love you and hope you'll be mine forever. Goodnight. Sleep tight. ...and don't accidentally go off again tonight."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/lamar-alexander-video-games-guns_n_2584837.html
First of all, I've never played those GTA games and Mortal Kombat is a martial arts video game. You fight using different types of martial arts, like Karate, Shotokan, etc. And I play games where there are guns and violence, but youy don't see me going out and acting like Tony Montana from Scarface! I think it's all about how people let gun games affect them. That's why they have the ratings on the game, if it's M rated, that means that people only 17 and older should be playing them, not little 12 year olds like my stepdad's nephew Michael, He's only 13, but he's playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II, where there's shooting, blood, gore, violence!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have a feeling the last video game a lot of these Congresspeople played was Frogger on the Atari.
ReplyDelete