01-06-04: So quickly into the new year and I find something that tweaked me. I was on such a roll too!
Recently, the New York Post reported on the situation surrounding a company named Take-Two Interactive. For those who don't know, Rockstar Games (Makers of the well known Grand Theft Auto series) is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. Folks in the Haitian community as well as many others are taking Take-Two and a few other companies to court over a line in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The line is "Kill all the Haitians." Now don't get me wrong here, I don't approve of the line. But being that 0.00001% of the gaming public that hasn't rocked this most infamous of titles, I have no clue as to whether this is a vital part of the game's plot. Of course that doesn't matter worth a damn when people get pissy over it. The article, the lawsuit, and the opinions of everyone involved are of no consequence to me. What did tweak me was a line in said article stating the writer's personal view of the game. Here's the quote, copied and pasted fresh fromthe source:

    "People, this is insane. This is 10,000 times worse than the worst thing anybody thinks Michael Jackson ever did to a little boy - or than any lie the feds think Martha Stewart ever told them, or any line in any song that Bruce Springsteen ever sang that rankled a cop in the Meadowlands."

Okay. I'll buy that the game (More to the point the line in question) is 10,000 times worse than a Springsteen lyric. I'd even go so far as to say it's maybe 5 times worse than the Martha ordeal. But come on, stating you think a line in a game is 10,000 times worse than messing with little kids is like taking a bat and hitting yourself Very Very hard in your head. This is a valid opinion no matter how much I personally disagree with it. I'm okay with that part. What really irks me is that a newspaper published it in a place other than the opinions section. Granted that people giving others business advice is still very much personal opinion it still doesn't make it right to print something in such a wrong place. The New York Post is considered by many to be the tabloid-like kid sister to the Times for this very reason. They do very thoughtless things.

The Post isn't the only group that does this either. Major news organizations and respected information sources everywhere let personal opinions slip into reporting the news all the time. It happens and folks deal. But this is ridiculous. In today's day and age, were Political Correctness reigns and people sue at the drop of a hat, it's drilled into the heads of the masses that you must be careful of what you say. Even the slight beginnings of a word considered "Taboo" by the wrong group of people will bring down hellfire upon the person and/or the group they belonged to. I use past tense because the rest of the group have a tendency to leave the offending person out to dry. But this is straight stupid.

I'm sick of seeing things like this make waves. For those in the reading public who don't know this I'll put it all in capitol letters for ya': LET IT SLIDE. Crimes against humanity are committed all over the world, people starve while the leaders in their home country grow fat off their work, kittens are killed and yet obviously trivial things such as a line in a video game are considered big news! What the duce?! Did I not get the memo that stated this was the right way of thinking or was it just placed into the subconscious of the U.S. public during a Springer episode, only to be sparked at various times when pure stupidity is needed. And where do political higher-ups get off demanding an explanation for something like this? It's a video game that's available on many different game systems as well as the computer. You need an explanation, Buy the game like everyone and Play it. I repeat it because it bares repeating: Buy the game like everyone else and Play it.

Stupidity effects us all. For most of us, it happens and we deal. I just wish others would too. It would not only help people pay attention to the items that need to be attended to but also keep this rant space quiet forever.

Of course, that's just what I think.