Quite the opposite. The overpowering idiocy here is to be seen in the US citizens claiming that the US is the best place in the world to live on the basis of nothing more than blind prejudice. Bear in mind that of the developed nations the citizens of the USA are among the least traveled and are as a result not generally well placed to comment. BTW an "eight countries in five days" tour of Europe doesn't count as experiencing another country.
@Home Solar Energy
Hardly. While you may live that life the vast majority of people (as in at least five nines) do not have the option. You are a statistical irrelevance.
The whole thing isn't very well thought through is it? I read the first few sentences and thought: "So the point of this is that the player is being punished for using the weapon." And "Deary me, we're laying on the moral allegories a little thick here aren't we?"
Then I read the part about assuming that violence is being rewarded. Er, hello? It seem the author is the only person making that assumption.
Either the creator of the game isn't nearly as clever as they like to think, or they have made the same mistake as many slightly intelligent people in so far as they make assumptions about other people's intelligence and reasoning.
Sorry, but the vast majority of people can tell the difference between computer games and real life. And know full well that violence in real life has serious repercussions. Jeez, computer games are just for fun. Some people may take them seriously, but only for a certain value of "serious". Indeed some research has shown that children who regularly play violent computer games are less likely to use violence in real life. Presumably because those games have taught them the consequences of violence can be very serious.
So please, please take your cod psychology back to your bedroom until you can think of something truly insightful to say with it.
Charlie remains the funniest columnist around and it's very, very sad that there are people who, on reading that piece, think only to put finger to keyboard in order to perpetuate the whole pointless Mac v. Windows debate. Ah but what about Linux? Linux? Linux! It isn't as good as FreeBSD. You're all forgetting BeOS. etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. The ennui is mind blowing.
To paraphrase Bill Shatner; For christ's sake people, they're only computers!
The particular concern here is that the victim wants the charges dropping after a civil suit was settled. This is perhaps even more disturbing than the original crime. That anybody thinks you should be able to buy off a victim in order to avoid criminal charges is a worry. That there is a legal system that formalizes this sort of thing is very, very scary.
The compensation of the victim and the punishment of the offender are two completely separate issues and the one should never be allowed to affect the other. Justice must always be seen to be done, otherwise you have a two tier system where the rich can avoid criminal conviction.
To patronize his work is to put money into the pocket of a paedophile.
The Dead Hand could have been FUD created by the Soviets to make the west fear them. Or it may have been FUD created by the west in order to make it's own people fear the soviet bloc and thus support their own government's war mongering. Either way it never existed.
The idea that the soviets had technology decades ago that the west still don't have today is frankly ridiculous.
I'm constantly surprised by how intolerant a nation the US is. The mention atheism in most western countries will barely raise an eyebrow. In the US it always seems to cause major arguments. What chance do you have of tolerating other's beliefs if you can't tolerate the lack of belief?
Quite the opposite. The overpowering idiocy here is to be seen in the US citizens claiming that the US is the best place in the world to live on the basis of nothing more than blind prejudice. Bear in mind that of the developed nations the citizens of the USA are among the least traveled and are as a result not generally well placed to comment. BTW an "eight countries in five days" tour of Europe doesn't count as experiencing another country.
@Home Solar Energy
Hardly. While you may live that life the vast majority of people (as in at least five nines) do not have the option. You are a statistical irrelevance.
Then I read the part about assuming that violence is being rewarded. Er, hello? It seem the author is the only person making that assumption.
Either the creator of the game isn't nearly as clever as they like to think, or they have made the same mistake as many slightly intelligent people in so far as they make assumptions about other people's intelligence and reasoning.
Sorry, but the vast majority of people can tell the difference between computer games and real life. And know full well that violence in real life has serious repercussions. Jeez, computer games are just for fun. Some people may take them seriously, but only for a certain value of "serious". Indeed some research has shown that children who regularly play violent computer games are less likely to use violence in real life. Presumably because those games have taught them the consequences of violence can be very serious.
So please, please take your cod psychology back to your bedroom until you can think of something truly insightful to say with it.
Charlie remains the funniest columnist around and it's very, very sad that there are people who, on reading that piece, think only to put finger to keyboard in order to perpetuate the whole pointless Mac v. Windows debate. Ah but what about Linux? Linux? Linux! It isn't as good as FreeBSD. You're all forgetting BeOS. etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. The ennui is mind blowing.
To paraphrase Bill Shatner; For christ's sake people, they're only computers!
The compensation of the victim and the punishment of the offender are two completely separate issues and the one should never be allowed to affect the other. Justice must always be seen to be done, otherwise you have a two tier system where the rich can avoid criminal conviction.
To patronize his work is to put money into the pocket of a paedophile.
The idea that the soviets had technology decades ago that the west still don't have today is frankly ridiculous.
Oh and yes I'm an humanist and a taoist too.