Playing Games again with the 1st Amendment

So there have been a lot of attacks in the Mainstream U.S. Media lately about the "filth" in video games and how we need to crack down on it. Very dangerous stuff that continues to erode our 1st amendment rights.

Articles about people being arrested for pornographic drawings disturb me, especially as the prosecutors and proponents of it look at it as a case for cracking down on video games and other forms of media. So let me start with the unfortunately necessary disclaimer. I am not a proponent of rape simulators, excessive violence, or for that matter even pornography. In fact I would personally advocate against pornography and gratuitous graphic violence of any sort. At the same time I recognize that violence and even deviant sexuality have to be protected forms of free speech. To quote what is attributed to Voltaire:

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

The why is simply that I don't wish to see a repeat of history. Don't tell me while they're arguing about public burqa wearing in France that our pornography laws can't go that extreme.

There have already been a bunch of excellent arguments against this censorship. Game Politics and Neil Gaiman in particular are two excellent defenders of Video Game free speech. So I'll try to keep it short and simple:

• Banning rape in free speech is as likely to ban "The Crow" as "Rapelay", more so in fact as Rapelay is a Japanese game not an American one.
• The extreme majority of males (let alone female) is likely to be sickened or outraged by content in games like Rapelay than turned on. I trust the general U.S. public on this one, and I expect it wouldn't be socially acceptable.
  
• If there was a market for it, then the game would likely be marketed in the U.S. ... the company which produced has not seen a market for the game in the U.S. nor can anyone find examples of games that are.
• It is hard to argue that sexual violence is worse than the dismemberment and other gory horrific violence which is more prevalent in our speech n the U.S.
  
• It does not prevent violent or sexual crimes. Japan has prevalent pornographic and violent media, yet the rates of violent crime are far, far, far less than places like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc where the censorship of these materials are covered under the countries death penalties.
• The prevalence of pornography in modern culture has not coincidentally coinsided with the decline of legalized prostiitution and red light districts.
  
• Drawings and cartoons do not suffer, there is no 'victim' in a drawing, cartoon, or simulation game. Save the outrage for where it matters.
• Fictional depicitions of sex are preferable to actual pornography trade where Adultery and Fornication are rampant parts of the industry from my standpoint.

If you are a religious person like myself, doesn't it make sense that replacing prostitution with pornography is an improvement? and likewise isn't replacing porn actors with illustrations an improvement?

I'm also against "thought crime" of any sort. There is no picture it should be illegal to download over the internet. NOTHING. People should be free to get disgusted by filth and depravity on the internet. Not to encourage it, but to discourage it.

The ones you go after are the uploaders, and they're protected because anyone who downloads "illegal content" is afraid to report it for fear of being a criminal. Turn the whole world into deputized cops where you're it is okay to download evidence of crimes (whether terrorist chat rooms, illegal pornographers, etc) and anybody can report you to authorities who will stop you.

You shouldn't need to pay for a certification to wear a white hat and be a good guy. Expect it of all our people and enable everyone to be a force for goodness. Because as we're seeing in Iran simply hoping that those empowered by the government are not too corrupt is a bad gamble.