Video games and cigarettes.
Usually, these two things don’t come up together in conversation – well, except for those who like to smoke while they game.
Besides that, not many similarities exist between the two other than some enjoy one, the other or both. However, two clowns in Congress are trying to link the two together to warn parents of the dangers video games bring to the youth of America.
I didn’t know the circus was in town.
House Representatives Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Joe Baca (D-Calif.) have introduced the Violence in Video Games Labeling Act (H.R. 4204) which would treat all games with an “E” rating or higher like cigarettes, placing a warning label alerting parents and children of the “dangerous” content.
A rating of “E” stands for “everyone,” which means games like “Madden,” “Pokemon,” “Big Brain Academy” and “Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess” would require the following label on their front cover: “WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.”
I never knew Dora to be so violent.
What’s interesting is there is still no conclusive study that links video games directly to aggressive behavior.
Sure, there have been short-term studies showing videos games have a correlation to such behavior immediately after play, but there’s a big difference between correlation and causation.
On the flip side, there are as many studies that show no link between video games and aggression as there are that do.
This isn’t the first time Wolf and Baca have introduced bills filled with lies to the House. Merely three years ago, this dynamic duo wrote the Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2009 which was basically the same bill – it just applied to games with a rating of “T” for “teen” or higher.
Like most old congressmen, these two obviously don’t understand technology or proper parenting.
Instead of taking the time to inform parents of the current Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) ratings on games and educate them on what the ratings mean, politicians like Wolf and Baca want to ban everything they don’t understand.
Because they produced many failed attempts in the past decade, Wolf and Baca are now trying to link video games to something dangerous everyone is familiar with – cigarettes.
A majority of the general public is still naïve when it comes to gaming, but most of them know about cigarettes and the harm they can do to one’s body.
However, the fact these two professional morons are now trying to link something like video games to cigarettes only helps prove they have no idea what they are talking about.
They can’t link gaming to real violence, so they are now treating them like something people already know can harm them. The difference is a video game can’t harm you like a cigarette can.
When I play a game and kill someone on screen, I’m doing nothing more than inputting a command for the software to execute code to output on my television. Nothing physical is happening except for minor wear-and-tear on my controller.
Physically smoking a cigarette may or may not kill you, but that isn’t what this column is about.
It’s about these two idiots who have no idea what they’re talking about trying to induce fear and spread lies linking something as innocent as Dora the Explorer saving a Snow Princess to smoking a cigarette – or physical violence.
It’s clear this bill will never be passed because of how glaringly unconstitutional it is. But if no one sees a problem with this obvious waste of tax dollars, there’s a bigger problem in this country than a weak correlation between smoking and gaming.
Adam Arinder is a 22-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]