On Censorship

This has been an interesting week for Freedom of Speech advocates and the issue of censorship, in general.

The state of New York passed a law making it a felony to sell video games rated M (Mature) to minors. I see nothing wrong with this excepting the felony part. It's illegal to sell pornography, tobacco products, alcohol, and other potentially harmful items and substances to minors, so why should video games be any different? This reminds me more of the mainstream outlook on comics as being for kids than it does the Comics Code debacle of the 1950s-60s. By that, I mean to say that video games most certainly do not just appeal to kids and I'm glad they ruled the way they did because, were they to rule that designers could not make any "mature" video games, then that would be censorship.

An appeals court has ruled against the FCC regarding statements made by Bono, Cher, and Nicole Richie, all of whom used the "F-word" during primetime network specials. The FCC wanted to make the case that the word itself always connotes sexual congress, but many disagreed with them. This one I'm not sure of; on the one hand, the "F-word" does not always connote anything sexual, regardless of the etymology of the word. On the other hand, the public has a right to watch TV without fearing that their children will be subjected to off-color words, slurs, comments, or actions. On the third hand (don't ask), most normal people should kind of expect behavior like this from rock stars and socialites. I mean, "Duh."

Amnesty International is bringing attention to increasing online censorship by governments across the globe. These cases are clear-cut signs of censorship, I'll agree, but it's not like the governments involved in this online censorship are bastions of human rights. Again, like the rock star thing, it's more a big, "Well, duh," than a, "Shock and awe!" situation. Sure, it would be nice if more of the rest of the world stood up for those who are being censored in these countries, but I think it's probably slightly more important to stand up for the people who are being stoned to death and victimized by "honor killings" in these same, third-world shitholes.