orichalcum

So, a Republican congressional candidate in Indiana claims that he didn't realize that the event he attended last weekend was a Nazi rally.

Take a look at the picture. It was a meeting in celebration of Hitler's birthday.

Money quote: "He pointed out the name isn't Nazi, but National Socialist Workers Party."

The New York Times just gave an incredibly favorable review to the new Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City (aka NYC) game. It praises the game's graphics, its sandbox design, its music, its variability, etc...

Nowhere in the review does the reviewer (Seth Schiesel) comment on the relative morality of the game or what age group it might be suitable for.

Keep in mind that, aside from the robbery, assault, carjacking, etc.. plots....this is a game in which you (_can_ - Edited for accuracy, thanks redhound) hire prostitutes, have sex with them, and _then kill them._ That's what women are for in the game context. Not one of the numerous characters mentioned in the review is female. In the preview, female strippers at a strip club talk about how stripping arouses them. The online dating club is called "The Twat."

So...my question is - should reviews in this case query the moral and age-appropriate content of a game? Admittedly, I don't necessarily expect reviews of, say, Sex and the City to condemn it for questionable relationships, or Deadwood to be slammed because of all the obscenity. But I'd kinda like to know about it in both cases.

GTA crosses the line for me where I wish, I really wish, that someone was devoting all that effort to making a game with content that I'd feel comfortable playing. But while it may have great gameplay, the thought of selling it to 10-year-olds upsets me.

Am I overreacting? Should this game just be evaluated on the basis of whether it's fun to play?

Apparently, Larry Niven is part of a group of 24 science fiction writers who give regular advice to the Department of Homeland Security about potential dangers.

His offered solution to the health care crisis? Spread rumors among the Latino community "that emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs for transplants."

Yeah, because what America really needs is more people _dead_ because they don't trust their doctors.

You just got placed in the "Orson Scott Card" Box of Shame, Mr. Niven.