President’s Day ’08
As GamerDad I often comment on politics but presidential candidates almost never get mentioned. The reason is simple, video game violence and its effect on children is the only middle ground left. Anti-video game zealots on the Left and proponents of the so-called “Nanny State”, stand side by side with Republicans concerned about evil and filth in our culture. The so-called “culture warrior.” It’s the only issue the “think of the children” set (of which I’m arguable a part) on both sides of the aisle completely agree on. “Media violence = Bad”, truly a bipartisan issue. That’s how we get things like Hillary Clinton standing in a photo op with the likes of Rick Santorum. Well, guess what? Barak Obama is something different.
Hillary Clinton has said she’d support legislation effectively censoring or banning violent video games. I doubt she’d actually do this. I doubt she’d introduce this kind of legislation or fight that battle on her own – I think she’s pandering in other words – but she does have a long history of annoyingly misunderstanding this hobby.
Barak Obama isn’t a gamer, or at least he doesn’t strike me as one, but look at what he said recently (and repeated at the rally where I took these pictures in Milwaukee). When asked 
about violent television, movies, and video games, Obama said the following:
“The primary responsibility is for parents, and I reject the notion of censorship as an approach to dealing with this problem.”
Familiar? I’ve spent the past four years of my life and worked myself toward an early heart attack espousing exactly this reasonable, sane, middle-ground. Nobody wants kids exposed to unnecessary violent media – Nobody wants to censor everything away, except the extremists.
I agree with him on nearly everything, but that’s neither here nor there. At the rally I felt the mystical “Obama magic” (Linda teared up). I wanted to shake his hand. I’ve spent the weekend figuring out why. It’s not his ease, grace, intelligence, or the fact that he has two daughters roughly the same age as my own kids. He struck me as honest. And politically what I’m really looking for in 2008 is integrity … and truth. Gimmie some truth.
Whether you’re liberal or conservative (and I have a lot of respect for McCain – even if I didn’t bother researching his position for this blog entry), if you’re part of GamerDad you agree with Barak Obama on this subject at least. Even if his bid’s unsuccessful – repeat his words. Quote him. Don’t let this sane message get drowned out. Grand Theft Auto IV is coming people, it’s going to get ugly. But Barak Obama has at least shown us where the truth lies. Here’s more of his quote:
“[My daughters] … mostly are (watching) Nickelodeon, but they know how to work that remote”
Preach on!
“I do think it is important for us to make sure we are giving parents the tools they need in order to monitor what their children are watching… not just what’s on the airwaves, but what’s coming over the Internet.”
Tools like GamerDad.
I thought you should know that.
It bears repeating to other gamers.
The Barak quote, I mean.
Happy President’s Day!
(This entry was inspired by the current “Final Cut” column by Mark Harris in Entertainment Weekly)
February 19th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Albeit not american, who sits in the white house has an impact on all of us. Thanks for highlightening this issue GamerDad.
Although I have naturally only seen Obama through the media, he does strike me too as an honest man. In a time where global politics is about anything but trust and integrity (well, I guess that’s always been the case..), this is a fresh wind ineed.
Further, naturally, words cannot describe how much us Europeans and the world at large dislike (to use a benivolent word) Mr. Bush. I’m counting the days untill he leaves the oval room. But I digress.
It would be really cool if Obama would actually mention you somewhere, somehow. His team of marketing people seem to be open-minded and creative – perhaps you could contact them and see if you could do something together. It may be something simple as you providing them with a short and concise ‘official stance’ on gaming which Obama could use if cornered by blood-thirsty nurse-packs.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Maybe it sounds like a weak argument – and as a logical creature I’m aware that it is kind of weak – the best thing about Obama to me is his ability to speak and write. I mean, anyone is better than GWBush but Obama is clearly special in a historical sense. Forget his background and ethnicity, with Obama I’m reading/hearing Kennedy/King/Lincoln style rhetoric. This is probably related to my majorning in Communications and my studying speeches but Bush Jr. has had exactly two good moments. (“Soft bigotry of low expectations” is one. “They’ll hear us” was the other.) Even better with Obama, I bet he writes a lot of his speeches himself. They sound like his book reads (I’m reading the autobiography, not the political one).
Does this matter? I think so. Inspiration is a wonderful gift for a leader and we’ve forgotten that the President’s role in the world isn’t to be a badass. Anyway, our European friend above demonstrates what I mean by that..
—
I’d love it if Obama mentioned me! He’s more likely to mention the government sanctioned CommonSense Media nonprofit, I think. I can imagine being hired into a position like that, but for now I’m content with my “small i” influence in this market.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Oh come on – Bush is a brilliant public speaker. He leaves you in stitches every time.
You know, Hillary would make a brilliant Republican. She’s stuffed with ‘morality’, ‘the evils of videogames’ and the rest. Still, the strangest part is you have a presidents day. If you put in a PM’s day over here, all we’d do is laugh and go out on the piss.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Bollocks. Forgot to change the name..
February 19th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Well, President’s Day is a combination of Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays. Both of those actual days used to be seperate holidays, but they were combined and the extra holiday was given to Martin Luther King’s birthday. It’s not a day when Georgie gets a cake or anything (though he might have been disappointed the first time he’s probably used to it by now).
February 19th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Nope, doesn’t make any sense at all. The US is a very strange place.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I guess even a broken clock is right at least once a day.
Of course, if Obama wanted my vote he’d have to go back in time and change his positions on practially everything else that he actually bothered to vote on. Given his respect for other parts of the bill of rights ( http://volokh.com/posts/1203389334.shtml ), I’m not all that convinced he’s being genuine on this issue. I suspect you’re being naive if you don’t think the “tools” he’s proposing have any government ties whatsoever.
As for his skills as a public speaker, the man’s such an empty suit that he’d have to be a great speaker (as long as his teleprompter is working, anyway. He’s not as impressive on index cards). All he talks about is hope and faith, and faith and hope, and being audacious while you’re being hopeful and faithful. Not once have I heard him utter a word of substance on anything I’d consider important.
Then there’s the fact that every single time he gets caught casting a controversial vote, he blames his staff. ( http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamavotes24jan24,0,713086.story ) He contends he “pushed the wrong button.” Hey, no problem. It’s not like there are any Presidential metaphors involving buttons, are there?
I have a handful of issues that are of great importance to me, and I vote them. From my perspective, Obama’s wrong on all of them. I don’t go in for the cult of the personality, and I’m not going to vote for a man just because he can give what Hollywood thinks of as an inspirational speech.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
A broken clock is actually right twice a day, but I get your meaning.
I disagree that I’m being naive for thinking Obama won’t use the “tools” of government to censor media. He won’t. How do I know this? I don’t believe Clinton would and I know McCain wouldn’t (we’ll see how much the evangelicals make him pander once Huckabee is out of the picture) because Bush Jr. didn’t. Seriously, the anti-violent media issue has been big news since 2000 and GWBush has done nothing like this. All Clinton did was trumpet the V-Chip – which is something this website isn’t really against.
Cynicism is a form of naivte too and I can’t imagine a bigger “cult of personality” than Bush from 2001-2005. Rapturous approval from half the country without ever considering how things were actually going….
But,
if Obama disagrees with you regarding your most important issues then, yeah, I can see why you’d not want to vote for him. I respect that.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
To save people’s time, the first link above is about Obama’s gun views – yeah, the guy worked as an organizer in the inner city of Chicago so… much like Police Officers… he’s pro-gun control. Not to get into an argument here but I’ve always enjoyed how the “law and order” party treats this nation’s police. FWIW I’m not pro-gun control myself – because I think its impossible. Surprise!
The second link is to an LA Times article regarding Obama’s STATE Senate voting record and yeah, that’s pretty embarrassing stuff. If a little on the petty side.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:16 am
I am interested in seeing what “tools” he wants to give parents. Until I know, it is hard to decide if what he is saying is good or bad to me.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:23 am
He’s answered that several times actually. But it might not be satisfactory to you. When Barack says “tools” he means “what works.” That’s why the teacher’s union hates him. He won’t promise to get rid of charter schools and vouchers. He won’t rule out anything that gets positive results for children and… if you think about it… isn’t that the only sane position? I mean instead of lying on the stump to pander to the crowd?
This makes his moderate stance, to my mind, clear. His view is that parents need help and that the government’s ONLY role is in helping to provide that help (if that) – not in censoring content. The tools that exist right now are literally the parental controls, the ESRB rating, and sites like this one. There aren’t any other “tools” for him to talk about.
This is seriously the most Moderate message I’ve ever seen from a national politician on this issue. They always pander, he doesn’t. Unless you consider appealing to reasonable people “pandering.”
February 20th, 2008 at 9:12 am
… which is why Hilary keeps attacking him on ‘words’ …
I really like him, and don’t believe that getting up and handing out blank checks to every special interest is an effective means of motivating real change. I don’t know how he’ll do, but I do know that 8 years of Dubya has wrung out every last bit of possibility to vote Republican from this otherwise fairly conservative body of mine …
February 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Well, what works sounds almost as vague as ‘tools’. Lots of things work. I am a pragmatic person, but I want some specifics. I am glad he is not in favor of censorship, but I still want to know what he thinks and what it will cost. Frankly, I am tired of, “trust me, I know what is best for you,” from a politician. I know that is not what he is saying, but tell us what you want do, so I don’t have to guess. Where has he talked about the current tools being adequate? In the EW article, the author seemed to think that Obama is irked at Hollywood for some of the stuff they have been putting out. I like Obama, but I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect specifics.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
In the same speech you quote above, he mentions how technology should help parents make these decisions. He also said:
“I’m concerned about sex, but I’m also concerned, you know, [with] some of the violent, slasher, horror films that come out — you see a trailer, and I’m thinking, ‘I don’t want my six-year-old or nine-year-old seeing that trailer while she’s watching ‘American Idol.”
and,
“The one other thing I will say is — I don’t mean to be insulting here — but I do think that it is important for those in the industry to show some thought about who they are marketing some of these programs that are being produced to”
I agree with him 100%, but he seems to be talking about more than just educating parents about content and a ratings system.
As for the whole cult of personality, it is kind of disturbing. Having women swoon at events is creepy, as we are not electing the crooner in chief. That being said, you can’t place all the blame on Obama. He has plenty of intelligent supporters and he can’t control what all of them do. I diagree with him on some very important issues, but I am willing to see if he is genuine in wanting to reach out to independents and disgruntled conservatives.