Over the last few weeks there have been a number of news reports and op-eds about the videos "Bum Wars" and "Ghetto Fights" and the like. If you look elsewhere on this blog you'll find a couple of articles as well as a response from one of the stores which sold the videos. The good news is that a reversal in policy was just announced. The stores have voluntarily pulled them from the shelves and the Ontario Film Review Board has also announced that they may slap a 'R' rating on the offensive DVD's.
If you recall, the videos included graphic images of thugs beating defenseless people half to death - all for profit. Some teens were actually going out and making their own violent videos in the hopes of cashing in on the new craze.
Brodie Fenlon, who originally broke the story in the Toronto Sun, announced the decision in an article today. Sometimes public outcry can make a difference. If you sent an e-mail or letter or made a phone call, thanks. Let's hope the review board does its job.
Showing posts with label Video-games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video-games. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
More On "Street Fights."
I actually received a response to my letter from HMV Canada. I must say I am disappointed but not surprised by their answers. I've included the letter below in its entirety for you to read for yourself. For those who want the short version, they basically say that they are not censors and if people want to buy this, they have no moral obligation not to carry it.
This begs the question: whose job is it, and where do we draw the line? Do all of us really have to have somebody else tell us what we should or shouldn't profit from? Is there no longer any personal or professional moral or ethical obligation to do the right thing? How do you try to justify profiting off of a drunk getting beat up purely for entertainment purposes? Who really needs a censor to tell you that's wrong?
Well, that's my rant for the day. If you want to check on the origin of this discussion, look below at "Things That Drive Me Crazy." The letter from HMV Canada follows.
Mr. Denbok:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Like other retailers, HMV offers a wide variety of entertainment product in our stores. This product spans a range of topics and subject matter leaving the personal choice of purchase to the individual consumer (subject to age-restrictions). Certainly we are aware that not all products we offer for sale will meet the value or moral judgment of each individual. As such, product of this nature, while available in some of our stores, is not actively promoted.
It has always been our practice not to act as a censor in terms of the entertainment product we offer for sale in our stores. We realize that entertainment product is a matter of personal taste. While we at HMV may not always agree with or like the content of each and every piece of product available for sale in our stores, or the fact that it is available at all in the marketplace, the reality is that we don’t decide what to stock or sell based on our own personal preferences or biases. It is our belief that the determination as to whether such product is approved for distribution in the mainstream consumer market falls under the responsibility of our elected officials and is subject to rating by Provincial Film Classification Boards. We then determine whether there is demand for this approved product amongst our diverse customer base. Given on average, nearly one million consumers per week shop at our stores, those tastes tend to be quite diverse.
We do understand that all product we carry will not meet the expectations of all consumers all of the time and we and our staff work hard to meet our obligation with respect to refusing the sale of age restricted product to those consumers not meeting the criteria. In the recent article in the press, it claims that we failed in that instance to do so and for that we are most apologetic. In that regard and in an effort to ensure we reduce the possibility of such an error we are in the process of initiating additional safeguards to ensure we don’t sell age restricted product incorrectly and so that we continue to meet our responsibilities as a community partner. Until those safeguards are fully in place we have removed identified titles from the sales floor in those stores that carried them. That being said, we do not censor or restrict product beyond the requirements established by Provincial law as to do so, in our opinion, would be to make value judgments on behalf of all our consumers.
Again, we do appreciate that you would take the time to send us your concerns on a matter that is obviously of great importance. While we would hope that at some time in the future you might again consider HMV we also respect your right to choose to shop in retail venues that you believe are most consistent with your beliefs and values.
Sincerely,
Diane Blois
Vice President Human Resources
My response is as follows:
Dear Diane:
Thank you for your response. I do appreciate it. I understand your position, but I do believe that it needs to be reconsidered. What you basically told me is that if and when snuff films and child pornography become legal in this country, your company would be glad to carry it, rather than make a moral judgment.
It is incumbent on each of us, whether in our business or personal lives, to be responsible "community partners." Surely your company has some standards, some level below which you refuse to sink, whether or not a censor board is asleep at the switch. I truly hope that those who make such decisions in your business will reconsider their position.
Yours Sincerely,
Tony denBok
This begs the question: whose job is it, and where do we draw the line? Do all of us really have to have somebody else tell us what we should or shouldn't profit from? Is there no longer any personal or professional moral or ethical obligation to do the right thing? How do you try to justify profiting off of a drunk getting beat up purely for entertainment purposes? Who really needs a censor to tell you that's wrong?
Well, that's my rant for the day. If you want to check on the origin of this discussion, look below at "Things That Drive Me Crazy." The letter from HMV Canada follows.
Mr. Denbok:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Like other retailers, HMV offers a wide variety of entertainment product in our stores. This product spans a range of topics and subject matter leaving the personal choice of purchase to the individual consumer (subject to age-restrictions). Certainly we are aware that not all products we offer for sale will meet the value or moral judgment of each individual. As such, product of this nature, while available in some of our stores, is not actively promoted.
It has always been our practice not to act as a censor in terms of the entertainment product we offer for sale in our stores. We realize that entertainment product is a matter of personal taste. While we at HMV may not always agree with or like the content of each and every piece of product available for sale in our stores, or the fact that it is available at all in the marketplace, the reality is that we don’t decide what to stock or sell based on our own personal preferences or biases. It is our belief that the determination as to whether such product is approved for distribution in the mainstream consumer market falls under the responsibility of our elected officials and is subject to rating by Provincial Film Classification Boards. We then determine whether there is demand for this approved product amongst our diverse customer base. Given on average, nearly one million consumers per week shop at our stores, those tastes tend to be quite diverse.
We do understand that all product we carry will not meet the expectations of all consumers all of the time and we and our staff work hard to meet our obligation with respect to refusing the sale of age restricted product to those consumers not meeting the criteria. In the recent article in the press, it claims that we failed in that instance to do so and for that we are most apologetic. In that regard and in an effort to ensure we reduce the possibility of such an error we are in the process of initiating additional safeguards to ensure we don’t sell age restricted product incorrectly and so that we continue to meet our responsibilities as a community partner. Until those safeguards are fully in place we have removed identified titles from the sales floor in those stores that carried them. That being said, we do not censor or restrict product beyond the requirements established by Provincial law as to do so, in our opinion, would be to make value judgments on behalf of all our consumers.
Again, we do appreciate that you would take the time to send us your concerns on a matter that is obviously of great importance. While we would hope that at some time in the future you might again consider HMV we also respect your right to choose to shop in retail venues that you believe are most consistent with your beliefs and values.
Sincerely,
Diane Blois
Vice President Human Resources
My response is as follows:
Dear Diane:
Thank you for your response. I do appreciate it. I understand your position, but I do believe that it needs to be reconsidered. What you basically told me is that if and when snuff films and child pornography become legal in this country, your company would be glad to carry it, rather than make a moral judgment.
It is incumbent on each of us, whether in our business or personal lives, to be responsible "community partners." Surely your company has some standards, some level below which you refuse to sink, whether or not a censor board is asleep at the switch. I truly hope that those who make such decisions in your business will reconsider their position.
Yours Sincerely,
Tony denBok
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Things That Drive Me Crazy
I wrote a couple of letters today to some company presidents. I don't remember if I've done that before but an article I read in the newspaper got me all riled up. The article was written by Brodie Fenlon and describes some of the disturbing content which is being packaged and sold by "respectable" outlets such as HMV and Music World.
The DVDs in question include titles like "Ghetto Fights" and "Wildest Street Brawls." These include brutal real-life gang violence. One example has a man dragged from his parked car and beaten repeatedly until he was unconscious. There are worse examples. Is it any wonder that our youth are increasingly becoming de-sensitized to violence. (And let's not get started on violent Video Games).
What particularly irks me is the companies that have decided to profit from this carnage and add to the pollution flowing through the TVs of our nation. Apparently Universal Canada distributes this junk through its partner Navarre Canada. Navarre's video product development manager Francine Winkley blames Ontario's film classification agency for not rating it as adult. She says that "it's not up to us to be the censor board." She also claimed that the videos are "absolutely not worse than anything you see on TV."
Here's my question - is there no such thing as being a good corporate citizen; looking out for the public good? When did we stop caring about anything other than whether or not we'll get arrested? What about the effect that this stuff has on our society? I'm not holding my breath waiting for a response from these guys, but it did feel better to ask. By the way, Music World said they'd received no complaints. Why don't we change that? Find the nearest Music World and ask them politely why they are profiting off some innocent person getting beaten up on video. It seems to me to be a matter of time before "snuff films" and child pornography hit the mainstream. God help our children.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Thoughts on the news.
- Does anyone else think the reaction of many muslims worldwide to the Pope's comments is a little odd. The pope quoted a medieval source who said that some of the teachings of Islam were "evil and inhuman" and referred to "spreading Islam "by the sword." Thus far, seven Christian churches in Palestine have been attacked by Muslim mobs and an Italian nun working in Somalia was murdered. Seems to me that there may be a better way to demonstrate your religion isn't evil and oriented towards violence than arson and murder! Just a thought.
- In the meantime, students are getting ready to return to Montreal's Dawson College. This was, of course, the site of the shooting rampage by 25 year old Kimveer Gill. As reported, Gill was a big fan of ultra-violent video games. The more blood and gore the better. What's wrong with culture that allows people to profit off of a schoolyard massacre by selling a video game that glorifies mass murder? These type of events always touch off debates about censorship, but we have always had censorship and always will have. You can't yell "fire" in a theater or say "bomb" on an airplane because it's not in the public's best interests. Isn't it about time we realized that promoting murder, killing cops, beating women, etc... in video games ought to be stopped? Again - just a thought!
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