The
Supreme Court has lost your mind…once again. For all of
those “family values” conservatives, you’ve been shucked!
On Monday,
the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a California law banning sales or rentals of violent video games to minors
as a violation of free-speech rights, its first ruling in
a video game case. Did
the founders make room for this? This ruling is among the
most hypocritical of the modern, neo-conservative court
era.
The
people of California
thought it best to protect their children from the claws
of capitalism by passing legislation prohibiting sales of
unnecessarily violent video games to minors. You’d think
the states’ rights crowd would be up in arms about this
ruling. By a 7-2 vote, the justices upheld a ruling by a
U.S. appeals court that declared
the law, which also imposes strict video-game labeling requirements,
unconstitutional. What about the Tenth Amendment? Isn’t
that a part of the Constitution?
The
law, adopted in 2005, has never taken effect because of
the legal challenge. It defines a violent video game as
one that depicts "killing, maiming, dismembering or
sexually assaulting an image of a human being." Retailers
who sell or rent a violent video game to a minor could be
fined as much as $1,000.
The
law was challenged by video game publishers, distributors
and sellers. This is all about the money; you owe it all
to capitalism. You see, the nation's video game industry
makes about $10.5 billion in annual sales. More than two-thirds
of U.S.
households include at least one person who plays video games.
Chances are, that one person is under 18. So according to
this ruling, the welfare of our country’s children is secondary
to the almighty dollar, knowing that graphic images are
a breeding ground for violent behavior. You don’t need a
study for that.
Remember
Columbine? Eric Harris and Dillion Kleibold made a video
for a school project that showed them pretending to shoot
fake guns and "snuffing" students in the hallway
of their school as Hitmen for Hire. The video is
also known for its swearing scenes, in which they yelled
at the camera lens and said violent things - much like these
video games. I do understand that Harris and Kleibold made
those videos. They
both displayed themes of violence in their creative writing
projects for school; Harris' teacher said of a Doom-based
tale, written on January 17, 1999 by Harris, "Yours
is a unique approach and your writing works in a gruesome
way - good details and mood setting."
Why
is that relevant? Because the High Court said video
games are art, and they deserve the exact same First Amendment
protections as books, comics, plays and all the rest. Some
art doesn’t need to be protected.
Six
other states have adopted similar laws, and all were struck
down in court…so much for States’ Rights. I wish southerners
would quit it! The Supreme Court rejected California's
argument that the Constitution's free-speech guarantees
under the First Amendment do not prevent a state from prohibiting
the sale of violent video games to minors under 18. Since
the Court intervened in California’s affairs of commerce, would this make the High Court “activist?”
Surely, not! Finding the most outstretched reach to define
free speech? If we can prohibit minors from smoking, drinking
highly-caffeinated energy drinks, purchasing pornography,
from entering an R-rated movie, then how does this ruling
stand scrutiny? Justice Antonin Scalia is a prostitute…for
the gaming industry.
It
is a baseless rationale driven by video game publishers,
distributors and sellers, including the Entertainment Software
Association. Its members include Disney Interactive Studios,
Microsoft Corp., Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment…big
boys on the block. America, you just lost again to the corporations.
The people have been whopped by Citizen’s United,
by funeral picketers, Janus Capital, Wal-Mart
v. Dukes and a fourth amendment decimation that allows
for warrantless search and seizure. When will you quit allowing
Tea Party emotion to rule your lives?
These
neo-con judges have not only lost your mind, they’ve
lost theirs. In another court, a Wisconsin Supreme Court
Justice is accusing another one, Justice David Prosser,
a conservative, of trying to choke her during an argument
two weeks ago. Ann Walsh Bradley, a liberal, is doing her
job and this conservative is angry as hell about what he
wants…to destroy other people’s lives! Prosser is well-known
for surviving a re-election campaign earlier this year that
became a proxy war over the state’s collective bargaining
legislation. He denied the accusations, or course and the
local sheriff is investigating the incident.
But
I digress…as a practical matter, one honestly has to ask
themselves, “What redeeming value is there in allowing my
child to partake in mindless violence,” even if it’s a video
game? I don’t see any, but what I do see is a whittling
away at “liberties” (a euphemism for social justice and
quality of life) won through decades-, some centuries-long,
battles. This Court is “losing it.” I’d like to think the
Court reflects the evolution of a civilized society - you
and me. What conceivable good can come of this decision.
If you can come up with a sensible answer, then you ought
to be doing magic. More than anything, if you can come up
with a sensible answer, then you may have lost your mind.
BlackCommentator.com
Columnist, Perry
Redd, is the former Executive Director of
the workers rights advocacy, Sincere Seven, and author of
the on-line commentary, “The
Other Side of the Tracks.” He is the host of the internet-based
talk radio show, Socially Speaking in
Washington,
DC.
Click
here to contact Mr.
Redd.
|