Dear Hillary Clinton,

It’s great you want to be president. I am very fond of our next commander in chief not being a rich, white man. However, there is one issue that might stop me from wanting you as our next president, and instead hold out for Oprah in 2012.

That issue is violent video games. Now, I might be coming off as dated, but the censorship debate on games has never left us. We are just waiting for the new “Grand Theft Auto” to offend America’s right-wing.

However, the new “Manhunt” didn’t slip under the radar of the video-game raters, who pushed its release date back almost an entire month because of the gruesome killings. The video game plays a lot like a first-person shooter version of “A Clockwork Orange,” and both have a strong sense of ultraviolence.

However, people such as you and your censorship friends are trying to stop games like these from being sold at chain stores nationwide.
Two years ago, this was more of a visible issue. USA Today quoted you, Hillary, saying, “There is no doubting the fact that the widespread availability of sexually explicit and graphically violent video games makes the challenge of parenting much harder.” Today, you may be able to sneak your views past voters. You can get elected on media choice topics while censorship takes a back burner.

Violent movies have been a mainstay in popular culture for decades. “Scarface,” “Casino,” “The Godfather”: All of these movies feature strong, brutal violence and are also considered substantial works of cinematic art. Why can’t video games be the same way? Young kids watch these movies, almost as much as they play games. When “American Gangster” hit theaters a week ago, it got Oscar-worthy praise. However, when a similar video game comes out, the media either bashes it for setting a bad example or completely ignores it.

This double standard works for game-to-game hypocrisy. There are several new U.S. Army games (some of which were actually made by the Army) where a player takes the role of a soldier in fighting bad guys. In the past, creators stuck with World War II games such as “Medal of Honor,” but does that mean violence is justified? What did these games do right that other games are doing wrong?

Clinton, when you take office Jan. 20, 2009, the last issue on your mind will be violent video games. You hate them, and we all know that. However, I hope a lobbyist group with a good amount of resources buys its way into your schedule and we can have a national conversation about what’s really messing up our kids.

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