THE COURTS UPHOLD MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO KILL ZOMBIES (ON MY COMPUTER). The New York Times reported yesterday that, despite their continuing popularity, laws restricting the sale of violent video games have universally been found to be unconstitutional. This is, I think, a good thing. As Richard Posner, who wrote one early opinion, put it:
Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low ... It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware. To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it.
It's not the biggest deal in the world, but it does make me feel good about my country.
--Sam Boyd
