Rated R for Rant

Okay, yesterday I attacked an American icon during a tirade about double dipping. While I stand firm in my opinion of Fun Dip (that opinion being best described as "Ewwwww..."), I do not in fact support the widespread boycott of Wonka products in general. Unless of course Hershey's was getting a case of almond bars together with my address on it. In that case, to hell with Wonka and his half-pint armies.

Seriously, I was trying to point out that every time anything happens in this country lately, it seems like someone is right there with the fear mongering, demanding that some group be regulated or some product be pulled from the shelf for our own safety. We do this for two very simple reasons: we need someone to blame our problems on, and we need to avoid personal responsibility at all costs.

A few months ago, all of the headlines rambled on about how studies proved that children's cold and cough medicines were dangerous. Soon after, the government began to push on the drug companies, and what do you know, now I can't get something to clear my kid's noses so they can sleep without coughing all night. Whew! Thank goodness we dodged that bullet.

Had anyone read beyond the headline, they might have caught the part where the kids who were getting sick and dying from this stuff had 12 times the regular dose in them. So the drug itself wasn't necessarily the problem, it was the moron parents who couldn't read the label and follow directions. Unfortunately, it's more difficult to outlaw moron parents, so we try to take their toys away instead.

The same thing applies all over the place. I'm a gamer, or as much of a gamer as one can be with a full time job and two kids. Still, I keep up on things. I read Penny Arcade and Ctrl-Atl-Del. I watch X-Play when the Disney Channel isn't on. Occasionally, I even sit down and play a game.

As such, I am thrown into fits when some uninformed boob declares that video games have to be federally regulated. It's the same argument that's been made about books, movies, music, comics...essentially any medium. "The children can get the games and warp their fragile little minds." Yes, the children can get the games, and do you know how? Their idiot parents buy them. Just because Billy Bob doesn't bother checking the rating on Halo before handing it over to his kid doesn't mean that we need to regulate games to protect Billy Bob Junior, it means we need to better educate Billy Bob. Besides, it's Halo - the worst thing to come of it will be Junior talking about his "pwnage" and referring to people he's never met online as "homos". (I was only on Xbox Live for a year, but judging from what I heard, there is a huge, gay, gaming community out there that I was previously unaware of.)

There is no reason for this. If we're seriously concerned about the children, how about teaching people not to have children? Or teaching people about rating systems and why they exist? For that matter, how about teaching people that THEIR LIVES AND THE LIVES OF THEIR CHILDREN ARE THEIR OWN DAMN RESPONSIBILITY AND THEY SHOULDN'T NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO MAKE THEIR DECISIONS FOR THEM.

Wow. Where did that come from? Apparently I'm a little pent up about this topic. Let's just leave off by reiterating that if you think something is a bad idea (e.g. Fun Dip), don't participate in it, and question whether you should let your children participate in it. If you're not sure if something is a good idea, ask someone who knows more than you about it, or look it up. Don't make uninformed decisions that lead to our government stepping in and making decisions for up. In the words of Funkadelic, "Think - it ain't illegal yet".

There, I said it. Now can someone please get these damned Oompa Loompas of my lawn?