redblueamerica.com

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, when not making the case for taking people's organs without their consent, is fretting over violent video games. Brown is concerned that knife-wielding fantasy characters in video games might be spurring very real street violence.

"I am very worried about video and computer games", Brown told The Sun newspaper. "No one wants censorship or an interfering State... But the industry has some responsibility to society and needs to exercise that." Yes, of course. And citizens have a responsibility not to stab passersby, and government has a responsibility to prosecute those who do, and not let off thugs caught carrying concealed weapons with warnings.

Now, Britain does indeed have a violent crime problem, though perhaps not as bad as people think. But the problem, it seems to me, has more to do with sharp cultural differences than the easy availability of hunting knives or the prevalence of games like Manhunt 2. Nihilistic games do not make nihilists, although they might have a ready-made audience.

It's funny, to me anyway, how Brown's arguments against knives mirror many of the arguments against guns in this country and elsewhere. Brown's proposed anti-crime legislation could ban "blades with no practical outdoor purpose." As if that matters. How about a ban on knives with no "practical kitchen purpose"? Or better yet, how about legislation and enforcement that does more than just treat the symptoms and look the other way?