For all of you who were restricted to Mario Kart for your video game privileges as a child, justice has been served. In a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court declared a proposed law banning the sale and rental of violent video games to under-18-year-olds unconstitutional.
The reasoning behind the decision? The time-worn idea that despite the best efforts of the world's adults, violence is out there and any attempts to protect minors from reality will be negated as soon as they set foot outdoors. It makes sense. If parents want to ban their children from playing such games, that's their prerogative. The supreme law has just decided not to meddle.
But from there, it's tricky territory. What about film ratings? The people who sell you your movie tickets have every right to turn eager 11-year-olds away from seeing, say, Kill Bill. But if we apply the Supreme Court's decision about video games, it would permit said 11-year-olds to watch that violence on the big screen as long as their parents are okay with it. And we all know that's not the case.
Then again, there's no way the law could prevent small children from pilfering their parents' copies of excessively bloody movies and popping them in the DVD player. Which brings us back to the original point — you can't stop people from seeing what's out there. Even if that doesn't hold true in your local movie theater, at least the Supreme Court understands it. For the full story, check out The Huffington Post.
