Congressional predictability is depressing. If there is an issue and anyone anywhere says anything on it, there is a member of Congress who will run with it. I mentioned yesterday where a police officer had stated that the Sandy Hook killer had studied and planned to carry out his attack as a gamer. Jay Rockefeller, the Senator who originally proposed the bill within three days of the Sandy Hook tragedy, has promised to bring the bill back up and is once more pushing for legislation on violent games.
In today’s world, where kids can access content across a variety of devices often without parental supervision, it is unrealistic to assume that overworked and stressed parents can prevent their kids from viewing inappropriate content… The only real solution is for the entertainment industry to reduce the often obscene levels of violence in the products they sell…
Take a moment and let all of the implications of that quote sink in. People need to really understand that quote and the fundamental viewpoint it espouses. That right there, ladies and gentleman, is a U.S. (Democratic) Senator quite literally saying that it is not fair for a parent to be expected to limit their offspring’s exposure to violent media.
Referring to certain forms of media influence, it’s an argument that has a case. If a family has internet access it can be very difficult to properly police it, especially with the number of twisted individuals out there who delight in perverting normally-safe places on the net purely for the sake of having done it. Regulating television can also sometimes be difficult, given what even network television is allowed to show.
The answer to both situations is to keep the child in question properly educated about what is and isn’t appropriate. If your child sees a scene of graphic material that they are not prepared for, talk to them about it. Explain how wrong it is and why. Don’t turn and start blaming other people when you could be enlightening and supporting your child.
Getting back to the specific example of Jay Rockefeller’s quote, he is referring to video games. He’s saying that parents cannot be expected to regulate something they have to purchase for their children. Parenting isn’t supposed to be easy. I feel very sorry for the apparent multitude of children whose parents literally cannot even bother to look at a rating before buying a game.
