Let’s all get really really upset about this. Barack Obama, in a campaign speech in Indiana, briefly touched on the matter of GTA IV and video games in general. And, as gamers are a touchy breed of people, I’m sure there will be many who might be offended by what he said or what he implied. In fact, his statement are rather innocuous, at least in the opinion of this squishy liberal.
The actual transcript of Obama’s remarks on video games were as follows:
I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is gonna break all records and make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it. Now, this isn’t intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids…
And further:
Across the board, middle-class, upper-class, working-class kids, they’re spending a huge amount of their time not on their studies, but on entertainment.
And so part of our job is going to have to be to inspire the entire country to say, ‘How are we giving our kids a thirst for knowledge?’ And turning off the TV set, and getting them to be engaged and interested, like their future really does matter on how well they do in school.”
The gist of Obama’s argument regarding video games is not that they are at fault for violence or ill-behavior. The point is that parents have a responsibility to ensure that video games (or television or movies or whatever) are not the primary source of education for children. I happen to think that such an approach is perfectly reasonable. It is, in fact, what politicians should be doing. Rather than over-regulating the industry, the onus should be on parents to manage their own children.
The original video is available here, and here is one of the comments on the video from “JCinDE”:
I’m gonna have to call foul here. He doesn’t “call out” GTA4 he references it when talking about how parents are letting kids spend too much time playing games and watching TV and not putting an emphasis on education.
I like it when comments on the Internet are reasoned and when they aren’t flame bait. It’s such a rare treat.
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