Earlier this month Madonna canceled the release of the anti-war imagery-laden “American Life” clip to video outlets. She said in a statement that she did not want to risk offending anyone and did not want the video to be misinterpreted.

This is total bullshit. Madonna? Worried about offending people? Are you kidding me?

This is a woman who made her career by smashing stereotypes and shocking audiences. If it wasn’t for offending people, she wouldn’t be the cultural icon that she is today.

Maybe, just maybe, Madonna is really just concerned about herself. Maybe someone clued her in to the fact that Americans generally support the war. Is it possible that perhaps Madonna isn’t worried about being “misinterpreted” but really she’s worried about being interpreted accurately and being thought of less favorably? If she really has strong feelings – express them! Let them all out! Release that video and take what comes.

Now on the other hand if she really doesn’t have strong anti-war feelings and just created a video so she could appear controversial, or if she had weak anti-war feelings based on a summary of the circumstances rather than a full comprehension of the facts, maybe it’s for the best if she slinks back and puts that video back on her shelf.

Although probably harmless reading to most people, it’s articles like this that really piss me off. A “war on video game violence.” Fucking ridiculous.

It amazes me that modern liberals can sit back and claim they want the government to keep their nose out of our private lives. They want government to keep their noses out of abortion, and they cry foul when things like the Patriot Act are created because it makes them nervous that the government is monitoring our personal business… and I’m with them! But then it comes to entertainment, and employment, and health care, and all of a sudden the government is great? “More government!” they say. I want them telling me what to do, and I want them paying for everything! What? I was with you guys for a while there, and then you all went looney. To be fair, it’s typically conservatives who love to crack down on entertainment (Brownback is mentioned in the article) and they also have their own slew of inconsistent views on the government’s role in our lives.

Someone explain to me why Joe Lieberman is using my money to pay for a study on video games. Explain it. Explain why it’s the role of government to do this. There are thousands of educational institutions and non-profit organizations conducting tons of studies and authoring plenty of papers on every subject known to man. Parents can give their money to non-profit groups to conduct this research if parents really care about this.

“Lieberman said in the statement that the game links violence with sex and rewards players for degrading and killing women. ‘This is sick and indefensible…'”

So there are two possible outcomes: 1) they find this “sick and indefensible” material is harmful to children, or 2) they don’t. Well, my guess is they’re going to find #1. Even if the study doesn’t find #1, they’ll keep doing studies until they come to that conclusion. That’s fine. We already have a ratings system in place. Just get it over with. Make it illegal for kids to buy mature video games. Make it illegal for kids to buy all video games. It doesn’t matter, kids have limited constitutional rights as it is. Just remember two things: 1) Game manufacturers should be able to produce whatever games they please, and 2) Adults should be able to purchase whatever games they please. This is a “war” we don’t need to start.