Living under dictator Hugo Chavez has just gotten a bit more rough for Venezualians, as a law banning the selling AND the playing of violent videogames has been approved by the Assembly.
And although it will be altered a bit before it hits the desk of the President, he is likely to sign it into law, effectively ending most gaming as it is now known in that country.
In addition to banning “violent” videogames (which may or may not include such tame fair as World of Warcraft), the law also bans toys that “include any kind of weapon or that imitate the armed force or state security apparatus.”
What I want to know is, whether or not a kid is fined or arrested for holding up a stick or pole and pretending it’s an arm cannon or a rocket launcher, like I used to do.
Naturally, the government says that the reason for these bans is to curb some out of control violence that has spiked in recent years. Where homocides have reached record levels with 2,710 murders in Caracas alone in 2007. This is equel to about 130 murders per 100,000 citizens and is one of the highest homocide rates in the world.
Of course, the evidence that shows linkage between violent crimes or violent criminals and violent videogames or toys is not very strong. Let’s face it, most of my generation grew up playing these so-called “murder simulators”, including myself, as well as “play fighting” and using “violent toys” and means of play (and by that I mean simulated violence, we didn’t usually actually hit each other) and none of me or my friends (or anyone I know for that matter) has ever murdered someone.
Joy will be the day when this kind of silly government intrusion on our freedom’s and rights won’t exist. Because it’s flat out ridiculous to make that link. But this is not a surprise coming from Hugo Chavez, who has slowly but surely taken away the rights of the people of his nation.
Thanks to Beth Tucker for sending this story in.
Via Globalpost