Schwarzenegger v. EMA
Well, today was Election Day here in the States. It was also the day that arguments in Schwarzenegger v. EMA were heard before the Supreme Court. The transcripts have now been posted online via Joystiq and Scribd (among others). Going over them, I think I can say the state of gaming in the States is going to be just fine. It looks like those who predicted the only reason the Supreme Court took this case was to basically spell it out for the states that they need to quit wasting money on this idiocy were probably right.
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
18+ would be AO, A lot of stores don't carry AO.
So, the Supreme Court are going to say the same thing I have since I was 12 then?
Justice Scalia: But is -- is that -- are -- are we to sit day by day to decide what else will be made an exception from the First Amendment? Why -- why is this particular exception okay, but the other ones that I just suggested are not okay?
MR. MORAZZINI:Well, Justice Scalia, I would like to highlight the fact that the material at issue in Ginsberg was not obscene.Under no existing definition of obscenity was the partial nudity that this Court allowed States to regulate minors' access to -
JUSTICE ALITO:Well, I think what Justice Scalia wants to know is what James Madison thought about video games. (Laughter.)
JUSTICE ALITO: Did he enjoy them?
JUSTICE SCALIA:No, I want to know what James Madison thought about violence.Was there any indication that anybody thought, when the First Amendment was adopted, that there -- there was an exception to it for -- for speech regarding violence? Anybody?
California don't got a leg to stand on.
Funny story. I go Gamestop to go buy a copy of Dead Rising Chop 'Till You Drop and they card me and almost not sell me the game (just turned 18) [process took like 10 minutes], but some little kid comes in and gets the 360 version of the game they don't card him and are about to sell him the game after like a minute before his mom comes by. She then asks if the game is suitable for children under the age of 17, pointing to the ESRB lable. The same guy who almost refused to sell me DR:CTYD was like "oh yeah, it's perfect for kids of all ages. They got that because of a little blood."
Had my ride not been ready to leave I would've told the mom the truth.
Now for another story! I was like 16 and my mom drove me to Gamestop and I went to pick up a copy of The Suffering: Ties That Bind and I told my mom I was buying an M game so she'd need to come into the store to pay for it. The cashier wouldn't stop going on about how the game isn't fit for someone under the age of 17, about how it was so violent, and the nudity, and the drugs! My mom didn't care and I said,"Look, I'm 16 I'm a year under what's reccomended. In a year I'll be just as immature watching the same violent movies, 'sampling' (did air quotes by the way) adult sites, and laughing over my friend's drug problems. I think it's safe to say I've seen much worse then this game has." The clerk really wouldn't let go now. After 30 minutes of this (and the store being packed) my mom said,"Just give me the damn game." when we get back to the car mom told me she's never taking me back to this Gamestop.
Point of the second story? None, I just hate telling the two stories solo.
Anyway, I don't know why I shared that with you people, but there you have it.
Justice Ginsburg:
Is there any kind of opinion that the seller can get to know which games can be sold to minors and which ones can't?
Mr. Morazzini:
Not that I'm aware of, Justice Ginsburg.
Justice Ginsburg:
You should consider creating such a one. You might call it the California office of censorship.
JUSTICE KAGAN: Do you think Mortal Kombat
is prohibited by this statute?
MR. MORAZZINI: I believe it's a candidate,
Your Honor, but I haven't played the game and been
exposed to it sufficiently to judge for myself.
JUSTICE KAGAN: It's a candidate, meaning,
you know, yes, a reasonable jury could find that Mortal
Kombat -- which is, you know, an iconic game, which I'm
sure half of the clerks who work for us spent
considerable amounts of time in their adolescence
playing.
(Laughter.)
MR. MORAZZINI: Justice Kagan -*
JUSTICE SCALIA: I don't know what she's
talking about.
You... do know what Vulcans look like, right?
Torture this:
But not this:
Yeah. Our culture really needs to prepare for when we come in contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life.
No, I'm not joking. It might sound ridiculous, but just imagine this reasoning if the world had already been populated by intelligent non-humanoid beings. Imagine being in a world populated by people of a different species, who believe that you're allowed to be tortured simply because your species is different than theirs.
That was pretty much how I felt when watching District 9.
...
What time is it?
Only five minutes later? Really?
Okay...
....alright, now my clock is fucking with me, that was SO more than a minute!"
Yeah, it wasn't a perfect movie. It was kind of boring and it apparently couldn't decide whether it's a mockumentary or a standard film. But, then again, I understand what it was trying to say, and it got me thinking.
Oh, hey, that's how I felt when watching Citizen Kane.
OMG WAT.
No, wait. I never watched Citizen Kane, so I don't know how to feel about that statement. Though I always hate it when I ask people what their favorite movies are, and they say 'Citizen Kane', and I ask why, and they'll give me some generic response like 'Because it's one of the best films ever'. It's kind of a douchey, pretentious thing to do.
Well, you got your favorite gif out of it, so it wasn't a TOTAL waste of time for you.
Oh, I wouldn't call it a waste of time at all. It was time well spent, even if I had a hard time caring about anything in the story. Also, that's not my favorite GIF.
Well...most used? On this forum? That's black and white? (I'll keep on getting more and more specific until it's the only option that satisfies the conditions).
Where can I find this track? I would definitely be interested in these aspects of the film, just so I can know what makes it great.
Stuff that, enjoy the film for what you take away from it, not what you're told to take away from it. I am very dedicated to my ignorance.
But then I won't enjoy it at all!
The full thing is here though: http://www.scribd.com/doc/40744855/Schwarzenegger-v-EMA
edit: Ahaha... hahaha... okay, I'm going to read though this thing and post my favorite funny quotes. They start out even at the beginning.