Don’t Read This, part 3

Before we get into any debates (assuming anyone is even reading) about how studies show that TV and video games influence behavior vs. studies that show they don’t influence behavior, I thought I’d just look at a couple of bottom line statistics.

United States: land of morals, where we are free to worship as we choose and make sure that everyone around us knows it, country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world, where any act of violence can be toned down enough to keep a movie available for teenagers but god forbid we show them breasts, where several courts are trying to convict young teenagers as violent sex offenders for sexting (sending their boyfriend or girlfriend a nude picture via crappy cellphone camera): annual rapes reported per 100,000 are about 33.

Japan: land of bunny, a country which produces more child pornography than any other and refuses to make it completely illegal (or even to fully enforce the laws they have), where rape games have been popular for many years, a place with porn inserts in their mainstream magazines and animated films that feature tentacle rape: per capita rapes = less than 2.

Canada: country filled with hippie peacenik spawn from people who fled the US during the Vietnam War era, where they love to protest the US because they have no issues (or apparently politicians) of their own, where the moose and beaver and maple syrup roam free: per capita rapes are about 78. New motto: “Welcome to the land of SPREAD ‘EM, BITCH!”

Note – rape statistics taken from this 2002 UN report (pdf format). Country with the least rape: Saudi Arabia at 0.27 per capita. Worst: South Africa at 115.61.

I think both countries could do better to find some kind of middle ground. I think it would be ideal if we outlaw child pornography with the understanding that two kids playing doctor does not constitute a felony offense, lose the bestiality but let them make incest videos as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, and let adults play any type of video game they want with the understanding that video games are not intended to teach morals or acceptable behavior (Ultima IV requires you to follow a spiritual path in order to win, but I could still think the primary lesson taught is that it’s okay to slaughter people with medieval weaponry if I deem them evil and think they have it coming, like Scientologists). Despite my initial revulsion at the existence of perverted video games (and my lack of desire to play them), I can’t think them of them as worse than the violent games I like to play. Besides, we must strive to understand, or at least accept, our Japanese brethren / sistren because I firmly believe that their women are totally hot.