Showing posts with label Indie Video games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indie Video games. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2013
Whitehouse.gov petition on media violence... Make sure to sign!!!
There has been a whitehouse.gov "we the people" petition petitioning the Obama Admin to admit Violent games do not cause violent crimes. It's really important that people who are against this media violence scapegoating bs (gamers,etc) sign this... The petition against SOPA caused the government to get involved to block it. We also need to be vigilant here.... I would suggest all gamers and people who are against bans of violent games and the endless nonsense BS scapegoating, media lies and crappy legislation against video games like the above mentioned video game tax, to sign this.... I can't state the importance of this any more... The petition is linked here...
Thursday, January 17, 2013
More on this rediculous tax on violent games...
So I've been reading up on the really badly written violent games tax bill coming from Missouri. My previous Post goes into it more. It basically levies a 1% tax on all violent games sold in the entire country, giving the proceeds away to "treat" non existant mental illnesses associated with the "exposure to violent games". But much more sinister is it's tax related "personal property" used, consumed or bought in "this state" (without saying what "this state" is, Missouri or USA). Basically it taxing anyone who is "purchasing", "using", "storing", or "otherwise" consuming violent games in "this state", to a tune of 1% of all the "personal property" that the person owns. I quote:
"144.1024. 1. In addition to any other tax provided for by law, there is hereby levied
upon persons storing, using, or otherwise consuming within this state, tangible personal
property purchased or brought into this state, an excise tax on the storage, use, or other
consumption in this state of all violent video games, based on the gross receipts or purchase
price of such property at a rate of one percent."
Here is the real issue. If someone lives in whatever the blue hell "this state" is, any property in this state would be have their value added into to the tax on any violent games they buy, use or otherwise consume... Everytime someone buys a violent game they could have to pay up to 100 dollars tax for this. I am not kidding. Here is a spreadsheet which I used to count what I own and it's price according to amazon.com.
The total value is around 5000 dollars. If I tried to buy, play, or store a violent game in "this state", I would have to pay an EXTRA 50 dollars tax each time!!!! That's ridiculous. What this could effect is insane.. Number 1, "this state" is not defined, so it is theoretically possible that It could be abused to prosecute anyone in the US. Even worse, every time I tried to even play a violent game, I would be required to play 50 dollars again! For people playing games a lot of the day, that could be a 500 dollar charge per run of a violent game.
Now you could say "this is not enforceable". Not true. All they need to do is stick a keylogger in anyone buying Internet access in "this state" that is designed to look for program names of games run, by screenshotting the desktop so that they can see what "violent" games are being played. Then apply the tax to the person who owns the computer.... It's not as "un-enforceable" as it seems.
Basically this is designed to punish people for merely owning violent games by, A) forcing them to pay obscene amount of money per game bought or played, and B) mandating "Treatment" for people who play violent games... Notice in the law it does not say treatment is only for children playing violent games, it is for anyone "exposed" to them. The tornado of bullshit is touching down. Contact your senators, it is really important!!!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Again with the legislation of Morality, the Missouri Game Tax Plan...
So I was looking through slashdot.com and Came up with this lovely
article... Basically some Senator or something from Missouri wants to
put a 1% tax on violent games that will fund treatment for "mental
illnesses associated with exposure to violent games". Blah. If the
whole idea that violent games lead to child molestation brought up
"indirectly" by Mr. Holier than Thou
isn't bad enough, it now turns out that this 1% tax may also tax
people who "use" or "consume" violent games in "this state". Read this..
(Section 1024 second page). Whether "this state" means Missouri or USA I
don't know... because state can also mean country not one of the states
of the US.
Now I need to do the following. I am posting a screenshot of the pdf in case they try to change or delete it which the anti-gamers have done in many cases (hide their evidence, or shut down sites debunking it).
The troubling part is the quoted part of section 1024 but I want to go first into the whole "mental illnesses associated with exposure to violent video games". To put it bluntly.... THERE ARE NONE.. The whole idea that violent video game exposure causes mental illnesses is based solely on a mutated version of 2 claims, the claim that Violent Games cause violence and that school shootings are caused by mental illnesses. The claimer just claimed that violent games cause mental illnesses for an excuse for whatever unethical "treatment" the "state" has for gamers. Now what do I mean by "treatment"...... Brainwashing.
Already mental illnesses are already being treated through military discipline, AKA Drill Instructors screaming, threatening, and abusing people to make them follow orders. This is the kind of "treatment" people like this want!!! To fund this kind of "treatment" they want to steal tax payer dollars? Number 1, any kind of "military discipline" on any civilian should be outlawed. It involves verbally abusing people, intimidating people, working them till they are exhausted, depriving them of sleep, giving them no rights, then finally beating and/or raping them into submission. In a christian fat camp run with military discipline in Alabama or some other Southern state, several cases of instructors sexually abusing children occurred and it was shut down. Stuff like this doesn't happen in military boot camps but this law was drafted in Missouri. There already is a generation of (mostly) Military Vets that think we "aren't disciplined" enough and want mandatory boot camp for all 10 year olds, even if they aren't in the military, because we are all out of control. These people run their houses just like Military Boot camps complete with the abuse to beat and (maybe, I don't know) rape their children into submission. They want this to happen to everyone? You really want people to be beaten into submission to treat an Illness that doesn't exist. Already in the country electroshock therapy is happening in cases where "mental illness" is diagnosed in people the Bush administration did not like. You want the "next step" to happen to anyone exposed to violent games?
I sure do not. Half of my whole school was and we showed NO sign of violent behavior or mental illnesses. The idea that violent games cause mental illnesses is BS.
Now to get into the Tax Plan in section 1024 once this brainwashing BS is off my chest. I quote:
"In addition to any other tax provided for by law, there is hereby levied
upon persons storing, using, or otherwise consuming within this state, tangible personal
property purchased or brought into this state, an excise tax on the storage, use, or other
consumption in this state of all violent video games, based on the gross receipts or purchase
price of such property at a rate of one percent."
This seems to enact a tax for merely playing a game in "this state", while being ambiguous on what "this state" actually means, Missouri, Or all of the country. "tangible personal property" means anything someone owns in "this state". Now the real problem is that anyone who brings this "property" into "this state" now has to pay an additional 1% "excise" tax just to "store, use or consume" any or all violent games. 1) How will this be enforced. Will they barge into people's homes and demand daily payment for all the "violent games" used or stored or consumed in any people's homes in Missouri or the USA, which? There is no way in hell that taxing people for doing any of these things is even needed. These people clearly want to get big funds quick and don't care if the entire gaming hobby just dissapears overnight due to the million of people selling their video games because they can't afford the OBSCENE tax for simply PLAYING a violent game! I wonder if this was drafted to kill off gaming, because I think it would.
What goal do these taxes have? To make the gaming industry die, that's what. What tax would be effective enough for this goal? A) making games so expensive that no one can afford them cutting into the gaming industries? B) taxing all the companies so much that they cannot function without going out of business? or C) Taxing the fans of violent games so much that having them is not worth it so why buy them or even own them? A) won't work unless a 50% tax of violent games at stores is levied. For b) you need a 90% tax or so to affect all gaming companies, but C) which what this bill proposes "indirectly" (make no mistake, this could be abused like crazy to do this), only requires a 1% tax on people who own violent games in "this state".
"This state" (meaning Missouri), is DISGUSTING. Trying to extort money from owners of violent video games to the point where they are bankrupt themselves to "treat" victims of "mental illnesses caused by violent games" which don't exist, is a huge corruption of normal politics that must end.... If you are in Missouri or even in other states I highly recommend talking to your REP's about this. This COULD spiral out of control. DO you really want to owe millions for OWNING a violent game, or be sent to a "correctional facility" for being a gamer?
Now I need to do the following. I am posting a screenshot of the pdf in case they try to change or delete it which the anti-gamers have done in many cases (hide their evidence, or shut down sites debunking it).
The troubling part is the quoted part of section 1024 but I want to go first into the whole "mental illnesses associated with exposure to violent video games". To put it bluntly.... THERE ARE NONE.. The whole idea that violent video game exposure causes mental illnesses is based solely on a mutated version of 2 claims, the claim that Violent Games cause violence and that school shootings are caused by mental illnesses. The claimer just claimed that violent games cause mental illnesses for an excuse for whatever unethical "treatment" the "state" has for gamers. Now what do I mean by "treatment"...... Brainwashing.
Already mental illnesses are already being treated through military discipline, AKA Drill Instructors screaming, threatening, and abusing people to make them follow orders. This is the kind of "treatment" people like this want!!! To fund this kind of "treatment" they want to steal tax payer dollars? Number 1, any kind of "military discipline" on any civilian should be outlawed. It involves verbally abusing people, intimidating people, working them till they are exhausted, depriving them of sleep, giving them no rights, then finally beating and/or raping them into submission. In a christian fat camp run with military discipline in Alabama or some other Southern state, several cases of instructors sexually abusing children occurred and it was shut down. Stuff like this doesn't happen in military boot camps but this law was drafted in Missouri. There already is a generation of (mostly) Military Vets that think we "aren't disciplined" enough and want mandatory boot camp for all 10 year olds, even if they aren't in the military, because we are all out of control. These people run their houses just like Military Boot camps complete with the abuse to beat and (maybe, I don't know) rape their children into submission. They want this to happen to everyone? You really want people to be beaten into submission to treat an Illness that doesn't exist. Already in the country electroshock therapy is happening in cases where "mental illness" is diagnosed in people the Bush administration did not like. You want the "next step" to happen to anyone exposed to violent games?
I sure do not. Half of my whole school was and we showed NO sign of violent behavior or mental illnesses. The idea that violent games cause mental illnesses is BS.
Now to get into the Tax Plan in section 1024 once this brainwashing BS is off my chest. I quote:
"In addition to any other tax provided for by law, there is hereby levied
upon persons storing, using, or otherwise consuming within this state, tangible personal
property purchased or brought into this state, an excise tax on the storage, use, or other
consumption in this state of all violent video games, based on the gross receipts or purchase
price of such property at a rate of one percent."
This seems to enact a tax for merely playing a game in "this state", while being ambiguous on what "this state" actually means, Missouri, Or all of the country. "tangible personal property" means anything someone owns in "this state". Now the real problem is that anyone who brings this "property" into "this state" now has to pay an additional 1% "excise" tax just to "store, use or consume" any or all violent games. 1) How will this be enforced. Will they barge into people's homes and demand daily payment for all the "violent games" used or stored or consumed in any people's homes in Missouri or the USA, which? There is no way in hell that taxing people for doing any of these things is even needed. These people clearly want to get big funds quick and don't care if the entire gaming hobby just dissapears overnight due to the million of people selling their video games because they can't afford the OBSCENE tax for simply PLAYING a violent game! I wonder if this was drafted to kill off gaming, because I think it would.
What goal do these taxes have? To make the gaming industry die, that's what. What tax would be effective enough for this goal? A) making games so expensive that no one can afford them cutting into the gaming industries? B) taxing all the companies so much that they cannot function without going out of business? or C) Taxing the fans of violent games so much that having them is not worth it so why buy them or even own them? A) won't work unless a 50% tax of violent games at stores is levied. For b) you need a 90% tax or so to affect all gaming companies, but C) which what this bill proposes "indirectly" (make no mistake, this could be abused like crazy to do this), only requires a 1% tax on people who own violent games in "this state".
"This state" (meaning Missouri), is DISGUSTING. Trying to extort money from owners of violent video games to the point where they are bankrupt themselves to "treat" victims of "mental illnesses caused by violent games" which don't exist, is a huge corruption of normal politics that must end.... If you are in Missouri or even in other states I highly recommend talking to your REP's about this. This COULD spiral out of control. DO you really want to owe millions for OWNING a violent game, or be sent to a "correctional facility" for being a gamer?
Moron right wing christian nutcase compares violent games and pedophilia (also blames violent games for sandy hook shooting)
So I am browsing the internets when I go to gamepolitics, and this fucking moronic article and video are posted... A right wing christian preacher has gone on and posted a video on youtube that 1) Blames violent games for the Sandy Hook Shooting, and 2) Compared violent games to Porn, Bestiality and Paedophilia. Paedofuckingfelia?
Number 1, not once has there ever been a substantiated or proven claim that playing violent games lead to ANY of these, never mind paedophilia... How anyone could even sanely claim that one is related to another (when one's old religion's practitioners have committed the third of these, none the less) is well, disgusting, hypocritical and just plain stupid.
I've heard tons of people complain violent games and their not so existing effects to cigarettes causing cancer, Violent games to porn, but Child Molestation. There hasn't been ONE case of this happening ANYWHERE, EVER. What kind of morons do we have in this country, trying to blame violent games for school violence and DARE to claim that they make school shooters want to kill but also molest children. This kind of crap has to stop. For 10 years I have been publishing articles that debunk this crap, but this is the worst. They always want to up the supposed crime that the games "cause" to the next level, from Murder, to Rape, From Rape to Paedophilia. This just angers me to no end, because every time they make something or someone or the people who are fans of this something (if it's a form of entertainment) indirectly or directly responsible for molesting children, you will get tons of people put on sexual offenders registry for no crime, more than likely. And that is the great fall of justice folks... When Paranoia over violence leads to paranoia that violent games cause child molestation... Who cares if there is no proof. Why? Because that's the only way to start a bigger moral panic. A moral panic on violence alone won't get violent games banned and the players of them separated from the rest of society for being "evil". Spreading that moral panic to paedophilia, child molestation and similar will.
Number 1, not once has there ever been a substantiated or proven claim that playing violent games lead to ANY of these, never mind paedophilia... How anyone could even sanely claim that one is related to another (when one's old religion's practitioners have committed the third of these, none the less) is well, disgusting, hypocritical and just plain stupid.
I've heard tons of people complain violent games and their not so existing effects to cigarettes causing cancer, Violent games to porn, but Child Molestation. There hasn't been ONE case of this happening ANYWHERE, EVER. What kind of morons do we have in this country, trying to blame violent games for school violence and DARE to claim that they make school shooters want to kill but also molest children. This kind of crap has to stop. For 10 years I have been publishing articles that debunk this crap, but this is the worst. They always want to up the supposed crime that the games "cause" to the next level, from Murder, to Rape, From Rape to Paedophilia. This just angers me to no end, because every time they make something or someone or the people who are fans of this something (if it's a form of entertainment) indirectly or directly responsible for molesting children, you will get tons of people put on sexual offenders registry for no crime, more than likely. And that is the great fall of justice folks... When Paranoia over violence leads to paranoia that violent games cause child molestation... Who cares if there is no proof. Why? Because that's the only way to start a bigger moral panic. A moral panic on violence alone won't get violent games banned and the players of them separated from the rest of society for being "evil". Spreading that moral panic to paedophilia, child molestation and similar will.
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