Leonard Pitts Jr., THE MIAMI HERALD
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR »
Published: 7:25 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010
Dear Cuba:
Maybe you've got a point.
I refer to your outrage over a new video game, the object of which is to
assassinate Fidel Castro. In "Call of Duty: Black Ops," the player is
transported to Havana during the Cold War with a mission to kill the
young communist revolutionary.
As an article on your state-run news website put it, "What the United
States couldn't accomplish in more than 50 years, they are now trying to
do virtually." It says the game will turn American kids into sociopaths.
That's a dubious claim, at least according to Christopher J. Ferguson, a
psychology professor at Texas A&M International University and expert in
video-game violence, who was quoted in an Associated Press account. "At
this point," he said, "there is no evidence that video games, violent or
otherwise, cause harm to minors."
Youth violence in the U.S., said Ferguson, is at its lowest ebb in 40
years, even though research indicates that virtually all young men — up
to 95 percent — have at some point played violent video games. So, Cuba,
your suggestion that "Call of Duty" will produce kill-crazy psychos
seems naive, at best. Hysterical at worst.
All that said, it's not hard to empathize with your feeling of pique.
How would we like it if you produced a game where players had to shoot
their way through Washington with a goal of killing President Barack
Obama? The U.S. government would likely have a thing or two to say about
that.
Not to equate our duly elected president with your former dictator for
life, but only to say, I understand where you're coming from. Castro is
a murderous thug, but he's your murderous thug and it really knots your
knickers when people try to video-game assassinate him. Message
received. But the question is, what do you think we can do about it?
We have this thing in this country, maybe you've heard about it, called
the First Amendment. Among the things it guarantees is freedom of
expression. That's a right enjoyed by everybody — even video game
makers. Every American is free to say pretty much anything she or he
pleases, and the government is legally proscribed from stopping them.
That sounds crazy to you, right? How can the government be proscribed
from doing anything it wants?
In your country it's different. Say something the government doesn't
like and they whisk you off to the ol' gulag. You throw journalists in
jail. You throw dissidents in jail. You throw poets in jail. Don't do
the rhyme if you can't do the time, right?
And we're not talking some country club jail with conjugal visits and a
TV room, are we? No, we're talking jails with moldy, maggoty food,
roaches, rats, reek, rampant physical, mental and sexual abuse, and
cells so narrow you barely have room to sit.
Yes, we have some pretty draconian policies in this country, but I'm
afraid ours pale next to yours. Heck, we haven't a gulag to our name.
And no law to send video game makers there if we did.
But don't despair. Maybe your statement will get people talking about
the propriety of assassinating other nation's leaders in video games.
Maybe they'll debate whether that's in the best of taste. Of course,
maybe Activision Blizzard will tell them to take a flying leap.
That's kind of how freedom of speech works. Everybody gets their say.
It's messy and unpredictable. But we like it. We think it works.
Anyway, thanks for listening. And tell Elian we said hi.
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