It seems to me that Germany has gone berserk following their damned EU presidency. First they want to ban the sacred Hindu symbol in all of EU and now they are pushing for a ban on violent video games. “A certain degree of linkage between the growing violence among the younger generation and the growing diffusion of violent games exists,” said Franco Frattini, the European Justice commissioner, adding that “Protection of children cannot have borders.”
I totally disagree with Mr. Frattini, I think that the protection of children can have and should have borders. Censoring the Internet for example would be going too far, as would banning violent computer games. Why not ban violent books while you’re at it? Well that was a rhetorical question, but perhaps it will be useful to answer it. Dear Mr. Frattini, well-balanced, nonviolent and totally normal people read violent books, watch excessively violent action movies or play incredibly violent video games from time to time. Just for fun. Just for the hell of it – because they can, because they live in a free society. It’s fun to shoot an enemy in the head, blow up a building with C4 or to torture a hostage. Video games are good fun. Some of them just happen to be a wee bit violent.
The real question is, is there any scientific evidence which shows that violent games cause violent behaviour? And even if violent games did trigger violent behaviour in let’s say, 0.001% of the population, would that justify banning violent games from the rest 99.999% of the population?
“It’s important to protect the children, yada yada yada.” Whenever you hear the words “protect the children“, you should switch on your bullshit detector. You can’t ban drugs, violence, scary religions, telemarketing assholes, bad Italian food, liquids in carry-on luggage, homosexuals, homophobics, female drivers or rainy weather. These things are here to stay. There will always be plenty of scapegoats and plenty of fools willing to look no further.
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