Everyone's second favorite scary conservative Catholic after Mel Gibson is at it again. John Bambenek is apparently taking a break from trying to censor the Daily Kos off to internet with the FEC and is going after... Grand Theft Auto.
MercatorNet.org, an Australian religious magazine, published a piece by John Bambenek called Unsuitable for Children (and apparently publishes a good deal of Bambenek's excrement). In this article, Bambenek repeats the usual religious right fist-pumping horror about violent video games. Except he takes it one step further... he goes beyond keeping it away from children and is honest about the agenda of the religious right... he's about taking it away from grown adults.
He says, "If some video games are too violent to be suitable for kids, what exactly makes them suitable for adults?" So not only does Bambenek want to be the censor of political speech, he wants to censor video games too. Why? Because he's special and knows what's good for you, even when you don't.
It really is another fine example of a "limited government conservative" wanting big government to regulate what we see and hear. They're for limited government before they are against it.
Not only does Bambenek want to censor video games, he wants to channel Rush Limbaugh in downplaying Abu Ghraib. He says, "People may fault video game manufacturers for supplying debased entertainment, but they are simply supplying a demand. America was shocked by the obscene and sadistic images of its soldiers tormenting prisoners in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison. But the dirty secret is that people across the developed world are gloating over material substantially similar -- but calling it private entertainment."
I'm not sure about what these religious nutjobs think, but most of us can tell the difference between a video game and real life. The rational community doesn't have to worry about subtle suggesting manipulating our behavior... that's the purview of blind faith.
He even goes so far as to say that Grand Theft Auto will make you violent and want to start cutting up prostitutes.
It is clear now why everyone in his local community can't stand him and he couldn't even get elected to the local school board... he's a straight out medieval religious nut.