The Rockstar Games title Manhunt 2 has been banned
Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing," said David Cooke, director of the BBFC.2Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing," said David Cooke, director of the BBFC.
The justification for banning the video game has been banned is that it contravenes a piece of legislation which is Draconian in spirit and Orwellian in intent, namely section 7(l)(b) of the Video Recordings Act 1989 which refers to "acts of gross violence or cruelty (including mutilation and torture).”
This kind of thing implies that adults in a free society are not capable of making informed or rational decisions about the experiences hey wish to have and are somehow excitable and influenced to the point of mass hysteria by so-called offensive material (I would point out that censors would be deluged all day everyday by these materials yet they don’t go out raping and pillaging like barbarians on crystal-meth). In a free society we should have the right to make decisions about what we choose to indulge in without the interference of “Big Brother” style government departments – yet it’s rare, if ever, the need for an official censor is questioned. For some reason no one seems to care that the great grey nanny of the state is editing our reality to suit there own inscrutable purposes.
Of course the usual cries of “its filthy” or “immoral” or a “corrupting influence” will be touted in defence of censorship but none of these arguments have ever had any substantial weight from a rational perspective. The near-cliché still makes the most sense “If you don’t like the show, switch over!”
What about it being a “corrupting influence”? You mean like heavy metal was in the 80’s & 90’s? Or Rock ’n’ Roll in the 60’s? Or reading Byron in the 17th Century? In all of these cases the hysteria surrounding so-called “corrupting influence” has turned out to be just that, hysteria. Unsubstantiated, knee-jerking non-sense based on the conservative ideal of maintaining the status quo by encouraging cultural stasis.
Here’s a piece of common sense evidence (easily backed up by the statistics) for those people who point to violence in the entertainment industry and media as the root of everything from school shootings and muggings to serial rapists and mass murderers. Penicillin causes severe allergic reactions in about 1% of people, of which, 1% will die or suffer serious long term health issues as a result. This equates to hundreds of thousands of people injured or suffering because of the drugs use, yet, we do not recall it because it is felt that the benefit and use it provides to humanity greatly outweighs the potential dangers. Considering the millions of copies of certain games with violent content sold (and the addition of others who will play or see it without purchase) who then go on to commit crimes that are similar or reminiscent of content found in the game, the ratio of players to criminals is suspiciously low for a so-called “corrupting influence”. Incidentally, it is worth noting that the violent crime rate amongst gamers is equal to (and in many cases substantially less) than the national averages – coincidence? I don’t think so.
I would suggest that if the 1989 Act is to be enforced for the likes of Manhunt 2 then, in order to provide equal treatment of all things, we should ban the “Passion of the Christ” for the following contraventions of the Act;
Gratuitous scenes and references (in many cases without penalty for the perpetrator) to:
Extended, unusual and humiliating torture and mutilation as well as premeditated and deliberate de-humanisation of the victim
Overt and deliberate anti-Semitism
Images and scenes of slow painful death
Glorification of acts of violence, crime, murder and racial intolerance
No justification is implied when the film is viewed “standalone”, the historical accuracy is questionable, it fails to show a balanced view of the topic and is therefore without artistic merit
Simply because it has a religious connotation “The Passion” is considered immune to the same legislation that Manhunt fell foul of. As a result, this two and a half hour snuff-movie is shown to children in Sunday school and held up as the cinematic cause for Christian revivals through the western world.
Whether you are editing cigarettes out of Casablanca or banning Manhunt 2 you are committing a crime against freedom and propagating the heinous belief that oppression of the mind or expression is acceptable when it is in the name of, or of perceived benefit to, society at large.
Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing," said David Cooke, director of the BBFC.2Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing," said David Cooke, director of the BBFC.
The justification for banning the video game has been banned is that it contravenes a piece of legislation which is Draconian in spirit and Orwellian in intent, namely section 7(l)(b) of the Video Recordings Act 1989 which refers to "acts of gross violence or cruelty (including mutilation and torture).”
This kind of thing implies that adults in a free society are not capable of making informed or rational decisions about the experiences hey wish to have and are somehow excitable and influenced to the point of mass hysteria by so-called offensive material (I would point out that censors would be deluged all day everyday by these materials yet they don’t go out raping and pillaging like barbarians on crystal-meth). In a free society we should have the right to make decisions about what we choose to indulge in without the interference of “Big Brother” style government departments – yet it’s rare, if ever, the need for an official censor is questioned. For some reason no one seems to care that the great grey nanny of the state is editing our reality to suit there own inscrutable purposes.
Of course the usual cries of “its filthy” or “immoral” or a “corrupting influence” will be touted in defence of censorship but none of these arguments have ever had any substantial weight from a rational perspective. The near-cliché still makes the most sense “If you don’t like the show, switch over!”
What about it being a “corrupting influence”? You mean like heavy metal was in the 80’s & 90’s? Or Rock ’n’ Roll in the 60’s? Or reading Byron in the 17th Century? In all of these cases the hysteria surrounding so-called “corrupting influence” has turned out to be just that, hysteria. Unsubstantiated, knee-jerking non-sense based on the conservative ideal of maintaining the status quo by encouraging cultural stasis.
Here’s a piece of common sense evidence (easily backed up by the statistics) for those people who point to violence in the entertainment industry and media as the root of everything from school shootings and muggings to serial rapists and mass murderers. Penicillin causes severe allergic reactions in about 1% of people, of which, 1% will die or suffer serious long term health issues as a result. This equates to hundreds of thousands of people injured or suffering because of the drugs use, yet, we do not recall it because it is felt that the benefit and use it provides to humanity greatly outweighs the potential dangers. Considering the millions of copies of certain games with violent content sold (and the addition of others who will play or see it without purchase) who then go on to commit crimes that are similar or reminiscent of content found in the game, the ratio of players to criminals is suspiciously low for a so-called “corrupting influence”. Incidentally, it is worth noting that the violent crime rate amongst gamers is equal to (and in many cases substantially less) than the national averages – coincidence? I don’t think so.
I would suggest that if the 1989 Act is to be enforced for the likes of Manhunt 2 then, in order to provide equal treatment of all things, we should ban the “Passion of the Christ” for the following contraventions of the Act;
Gratuitous scenes and references (in many cases without penalty for the perpetrator) to:
Extended, unusual and humiliating torture and mutilation as well as premeditated and deliberate de-humanisation of the victim
Overt and deliberate anti-Semitism
Images and scenes of slow painful death
Glorification of acts of violence, crime, murder and racial intolerance
No justification is implied when the film is viewed “standalone”, the historical accuracy is questionable, it fails to show a balanced view of the topic and is therefore without artistic merit
Simply because it has a religious connotation “The Passion” is considered immune to the same legislation that Manhunt fell foul of. As a result, this two and a half hour snuff-movie is shown to children in Sunday school and held up as the cinematic cause for Christian revivals through the western world.
Whether you are editing cigarettes out of Casablanca or banning Manhunt 2 you are committing a crime against freedom and propagating the heinous belief that oppression of the mind or expression is acceptable when it is in the name of, or of perceived benefit to, society at large.
1 comments:
Say it how it is. This is getting ridiculous with how much banning there is going on today. I wonder if there is another book burning about to happen?
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