Is this journalism?

If you know me, then by now you know I despise censorship in any shape or form, and today I was sent this ridiculous article written by someone who claims to be a journalist. Certainly not an unbiased one who isn't trying to push his beliefs on his readers, that's for sure.

If you don't want to read through all the drivel on that awful link I'll give you a quick rundown. It's basically about video games coming out or that are out now that he has labelled "pornographic". So, now, uptight people such as this have moved on from complaining about violence in video games, to "pornography".

Now, I haven't seen any information on the other games he mentions, but I have played and enjoyed playing the game Singles he speaks about. I'm betting that this guy hasn't even looked at the box of this game. The way he writes, I'm betting he's never even used his computer for anything more than typing the bullshit we've been subjected to.

Yes, the purpose of the game is to pair up couples. Yes, they have little cartoony genitals. Yes, you can eventually get your couple to have sex. Yes, it is an adult game. So they're selling it online now, so if a kid has access to a credit card they can buy it despite its adult rating. This "journalist" must see children as super geniuses, because he says the kids can "trick" mum or dad into getting this game for them. Err, excuse me? The game is called Singles. What would mum and dad think it was about? And if you were involved at all in your kids lives and were so friggin protective then surely you'd research stuff before you bought them a game. And if you couldn't trust your kid not to steal your credit card details, then you've probably not done a good job anyway.

Okay, so I don't have children of my own yet but I'd like to think that I have thought about certain issues and how I might address them with my child. It isn't sick or wrong for a kid to want to know about sex. It's a natural, healthy thing, and wouldn't you rather them feel that they can come and talk to you about anything then to go out and find things out the hard way? Ok, so I probably wouldn't go and buy them Singles, it has an adult rating after all, but The Sims 2? You can't be serious this guy is complaining about that. A couple giggling and tickling each other in bed is not throwing sex into the kids face.

What used to happen back in the day before video games? Well, back then, there were magazines. I guess this guy doesn't know about magazines. Well, lots of dads have magazines lying around. Kids find them. Their friends might come over and flick through the magazine and have a good giggle over it. Are these kids going to grow up perverted? No (unless they actually have some mental problem ofcourse). Are their minds now tarnished for life? No. Might they instead develop a healthy attitude towards sex instead of thinking it's something we should never ever talk about and is only to be kept secretive? I hope so. When I have children, I want them to be able to talk to me about anything. I may look over what they do (I'm not going to go out and buy my son porn when he turns 12, I'm not that retarded) but I won't lie to them or hide them from the world.

Parents need to think for themselves. Your views may be different from mine and I respect that, but please don't read crap articles like the one mentioned here and take the censorship side. Make the decisions, and then take the responsibility for them.

Censorship leads to repression, which can lead to resentment and unhealthy relationships. Ofcourse, these are only my views, but this article has really fired me up...