This didn’t strike me immediately when the firestorm started over the apparent hidden sex scene in video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. People everywhere are freaking out because some scene with sex in it can either be hacked in, or unlocked in the game.

The striking thing is I think all these people are idiots and are barking up the wrong tree. I think Hillary Clinton, one of the most vocal on the subject, is politicising this to appear “strong on values.” That’s bad in itself, but the larger issue is that these “values”, in a lot of the US, are bad. None of these people have apparently looked at this game. They don’t realize that the game is extremely violent. You can run around in a free-form way, hijack cars, kill cops, shoot people, run people over, etc and are rewarded for how many random people you kill. I have nothing against that for adults, but we’re talking about kids here. Anyone over 18 can view a sex scene legally, so we’re talking about “protecting the kids.” Why the heck are the parents letting kids play this game?

This is nothing new, but it’s very telling when a society is willing to let their kids see horrific violence but can’t see a nipple. What does this teach them? It teaches them to be sexually repressed but think it’s OK to buy guns and shoot people. TV does the same thing. Remember the superbowl nipple incident? The superbowl was probably then followed by one of these cop shows where people are getting raped or murdered.

Nice. And people wonder why the US has such problems with gun violence. If given the choice I’d rather a kid grow up thinking it’s OK to hold a Playboy magazine than an assault weapon.