Today, reading the coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on the Brown Vs. The Entertainment Merchant Association case, I was immediately reminded of something Daniel Tosh said in one of his stand ups about a commercial against Proposition 8, the law in California to legalize gay marriage which was struck down:

“It was a little girl at school. And she said ‘Mommy, mommy, mommy, teacher said when I get older I can marry a princess if I want to.’ And (the commercial is) like ‘WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO WHEN YOUR KID SAYS THAT?’ And every parent in California is like ‘Whoa we’re gonna have to talk to our kids? Sorry queers, nope’.”

I see some interesting parallels between the gay marriage vote in New York and the Brown Vs. The Entertainment Merchants Association case.

This actually seems to be accurate when looking at some of the detractor’s comments on this ruling. There are whole groups of people in existence in this country that believe that it would be better to restrict an artist’s right to sell their work than to actually take an active role in their children’s lives. People like Tim Winter of the Parents Television Council are preaching about the “rights of parents”. He says:

“When an industry trade group files a federal lawsuit to defend a child’s constitutional rights, the alarm bells should be deafening. It is hard to imagine a more cynical proposition. Sadly, today’s ruling proves the United States Supreme Court heard the video game industry loud and clear, but turned a deaf ear to concerned parents. The Court has provided children with a Constitutionally-protected end-run on parental authority.”

Are you freaking kidding me? How dare the video game industry defend a constitutional right? And I left out the word child there because they aren’t solely defending children’s constitutional rights. They are mainly defending the adult, artists’ constitutional rights. The people who make these games and create worlds to explore as rich as anything in literature and construct narratives that delve into the human psyche in ways that were never possible before. Those are the rights that the Entertainment Merchant Association, and the now the Supreme Court have deemed inaliable.  

Maybe some day porn video games will exist, but not yet. And Duke Nukem doesn't count.

Of course, I respect the opinion that violent video games can have a harmful effect on a child’s development, but I also can’t think of any time in our history when the government has been given the authority to restrict the sale of any kind of artistic product, aside from porn. And with respect to Senator Leland Yee, video games are not porn. (At least not yet) We have banned wonderful books such as Huck Finn from libraries, but never have we fined a book store or publisher for selling copies of Mark Twain’s classic to minors. We put a Parental Advisory Sticker on Eminem’s albums, but we didn’t put paper bags on them and stick them behind the counter. And in turn, the ESRB places strict ratings on games to help parents be more informed about the games their kids are playing.

I find it most interesting that in his comments Tim Winter calls out retailers for not doing enough to prohibit the sale of inappropriate games to minors, specifically excluding GameStop. So if GameStop is doing their job, then who does that leave? Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Costco, and other big box chains. Tim Winter decries retailers by saying “With the exception of GameStop, many in the video game industry appear to be either unwilling or unable to prevent the sale of M-rated games to kids.” I have news for Tim Winter, these stores are not part of the video game industry. He is right that retailers should do a better job, but let’s not confuse them with this all encompassing media devil that he portrays the video game industry to be.

Correction: Power to the parents!

That devil would be more accurately portrayed by companies such as Activision advertising Black Ops map packs during the NBA finals which are watched as much by sons as it is by fathers, or EA advertising Dead Space 2 on Cartoon Network, or THQ advertising Homefront on every bus stop in San Francisco where single mothers might be with their kids before school.

As pervasive as advertising is in this country however, these sort of tactics can’t be avoided. That is why the onus lies on the parents to be an active participant in their children’s lives. Don’t be that parent that won’t let their daughter marry a princess just because you don’t want to talk to her. Because before you know it, she may just hitch a ride to New York and marry a punk rocker named Cherry. (Not that that would be a bad thing. Pride!)