{"id":12090,"date":"2010-11-03T10:50:19","date_gmt":"2010-11-03T15:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=12090"},"modified":"2010-11-03T10:50:47","modified_gmt":"2010-11-03T15:50:47","slug":"what%e2%80%99s-the-difference-between-grimms-fairy-tales-and-postal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2010\/11\/what%e2%80%99s-the-difference-between-grimms-fairy-tales-and-postal-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Difference Between Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Postal 2?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question about the difference between Grimm\u2019s Fairy Tales<\/em> and Postal 2<\/em> sounds like the set-up to a corny joke.\u00a0 In fact, it was a subject discussed yesterday at the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices heard oral argument on a first Amendment challenge to a California statute banning the sale of violent video games to minors.\u00a0 The New York Times<\/em> reports <\/a>on a spirited question and answer exchange between the justices and attorneys for each side in the dispute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the report, the law imposes a $1,000 fine for selling violent video games to anyone under the age of 18.\u00a0 Violent video games are defined as those \u201cin which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being\u201d in a \u201cpatently offensive way,\u201d or a way that appeals to \u201cdeviant or morbid interests\u201d while lacking \u201cserious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Justice Scalia\u2019s comments and questions made it seem like he is leaning against the law, since he pointedly questioned both the definition of a \u201cdeviant violent video game,\u201d and queried whether, since Grimm\u2019s Fairy Tales<\/em> are indeed grim, whether they, too should be banned.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

He went on to point out that American free speech tradition has never been successfully used by the government to ban portrayals of violence, and that the drafters of the First Amendment would have found the idea odd.\u00a0 Questions by other members of the Court revealed a reticence to make it easier to regulate whole categories of speech, such as speech concerning violence.<\/p>\n

I am guessing that a lot of things about this case would have struck the Framers as odd: television and video games for starters.\u00a0 Moreover, there are legitimate concerns about creating less-protected categories of speech based on content.\u00a0 Although some would argue that this has already happened in the case of speech with sexual content that has crossed into pornography, speech about violence seems more established in the American tradition, and it seems more difficult to differentiate between violent speech and \u201cdeviant\u201d violent speech.\u00a0 Another category where we know it when we see it could be problematic.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there are legitimate concerns with exposing children to violence.\u00a0 Children who have survived actual violence or threats of violence, such as maltreated children or children who have witnessed domestic violence or wartime violence, often suffer psychological harm including post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, or anxiety.\u00a0 The concern with video games is less about trauma and more about what children might learn from the games.\u00a0 The military famously used video game-like simulations to train soldiers to overcome their natural inhibitions against shooting other human beings.\u00a0 Many people fear that video games allow children to become habituated to violence, such that they will act more aggressively in real-life situations.\u00a0 Yet, at least a generation has now reached adulthood after having played many sorts of video games, and there is no reliable evidence demonstrating an increased population of serial killers or sadists.<\/p>\n

The tough issue here, in my view, is whether the government can — or should — impose regulations like this as a means of helping parents to control the media to which their children are exposed.\u00a0 Earlier attempts to regulate websites with sexual content have failed constitutional tests, partly because they make it harder for adults to access the materials. \u00a0Here, a store can certainly card customers to ascertain whether they are over 18 (in the same way people are carded for liquor or cigarette purchases), and this will not seriously interfere with adult purchase of the games in question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The goal of preventing minors from obtaining access to violent video games\u00a0— unless their parents consent\u00a0— is an impossible dream, in my opinion.\u00a0 On the other hand, a law that sets such a goal might convey a powerful message to minors about society\u2019s dim view of sadistic and gratuitous violence.\u00a0 Grimm\u2019s Fairy Tales<\/em> and similar tales often included subtle or not so subtle moral messages in a way that (I\u2019m guessing) Postal 2<\/em> does not.\u00a0 A fairy tale wicked witch who suffered a terrible fate is a bit of a cautionary tale to children about the wages of sin.\u00a0 Where a video game does not carry a similar message, perhaps we should let the legislature at least weigh in about society\u2019s view of \u201cdeviant\u201d violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question about the difference between Grimm\u2019s Fairy Tales and Postal 2 sounds like the set-up to a corny joke.\u00a0 In fact, it was a subject discussed yesterday at the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices heard oral argument on a first Amendment challenge to a California statute banning the sale of violent video games […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-amendment","category-us-supreme-court","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}