Hillary hits out at games violence

March 28, 2005

NEW YORK: Violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto, in which players peddle drugs and steal cars to become top gangster, have been condemned by Hillary Clinton as a "major threat" to morality.

"Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them," the US senator and former first lady said.

"This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it's OK to diss people because they are a woman, they're a different colour or they're from a different place."

Senator Clinton, who is expected to seek the Democrats' presidential nomination in 2008, has teamed up with two arch-conservative Republican senators, Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback.

They want President George W. Bush and Congress to launch a $US90 million ($116 million) investigation of the impact of electronic media on children's "cognitive, social, emotional and physical development".

Senator Clinton has been declaring her shared values with Republicans on issues as diverse as abortion and the war on terrorism.

Her campaign against video game violence has alarmed right-wing opponents of her expected bid for the White House.

Brent Bozell, president of Parents Television Council, an influential conservative watchdog, said: "Hillary's would-be Republican competitors had better take notice. She is successfully outflanking them on a hugely important issue she intends to make her own."

Senator Clinton's attack was delivered at a childcare symposium hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies children's leisure habits.

Its latest research shows that daily use of computer and video games by children has almost doubled since 1999 to almost two hours.

Violent games are a favourite with teenage boys.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma recently found that two-thirds of school fights were instigated by regular video game players, but in the study of 607 students only four fights were started by children who had never played such games.

Other studies showed that violent games would not cause serious problems in healthy families, but could do so in families where children were left alone for many hours.

Dick Morris, an adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton in their White House years, said Senator Clinton was following a playbook he had devised with her.

Polls undertaken for her had shown that women were perceived as better than men on issues involving children and education, while men led on foreign policy.

She was "using that stereotype to help her candidacy", Mr Morris said, by pursuing family issues while becoming "hawkish" on defence.

The Sunday Times

Hillary's political posturing is blatant. Lord, does she really need to hook up with Santorum?

Video games still don't get the respect they deserve. As an art form, they need protection from censorship and encouragement of innovation. As a cultural influence, children should be supervised.

I don't have a complete answer, but that much I know.