Supreme Court Violent Video Games Ruling

The court ruling stems from California's attempt to ban the sale of violent video games to minors.

Scalia apparently believes there is no time it isn't art.

(CLEVELAND) - Under a brand new Supreme Court ruling, video games legally qualify as art. The news dashes the hopes of those who wished to restrict and censor games, particularly over graphic violent content that many suggest can have a very negative impact on kids.

It was Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the Supreme Court Monday:

“Like the protected books, plays and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas — and even social messages — through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world).”

Nobody disagrees that the content of video games in some cases like the Grand Theft Auto series, have become increasingly bloody and violent.

It is also true that sexual innuendo is common, and without proper guidance from parents, at a minimum, it remains possible and wide believed that these things can potentially lead a kid in a direction they might not otherwise go in.

The court ruling stems from California's attempt to ban the sale of violent video games to minors. In the court's opinion, “That suffices to confer First Amendment protection.”

Special thanks to: New York Times for information in this article and poem.

Luke Easter is a poet who writes about things that are very close to the heart of Salem-News.com. Another former U.S. Marine, Luke heals the world with an approach that reaches people on a different level, one known for centuries, yet too often forgotten in the one we live in.

We live in a world of social & economic injustice. The main reason for founding America in the first place was to relieve the oppression of the King of England. Patrick Henry said it best, “give me liberty or give me death.” And yet, all too often death seems to be the only way out. Why is there such a high suicide rate especially among teens, in the land of the free & the home of the brave? What makes headlines? Good news? Ha! More depressing stories than anything else. I feel poetry takes an edge off the hurt of bad news while still delivering it but in a, “glitzy” sort of way. Giving a different perspective. Kind of like slap in the face as opposed to a knife in the back. At least with the slap you’ll live to see another day and you will know whom it’s from. I wasn’t here for the beginning of the world but at 59, I just might be here for the end.

Even though it’s still a knife, rhyme poetry helps to dull the blade. And that’s my job. You can write to Luke Easter at: lyricsfromlucas@aol.com