Politics – the illusion of choice
That’s it. I’ve had it with Labor and Liberal and the absolute crap that they’re spouting.
Stephen Conroy, as you may have heard, wants to censor the internet. Won’t somebody think of the children?
But now my stance has gone from ‘eh, clean feed is bad’ to ‘What is the hell is the matter with you? Does this look like communist China?’.
Australia is the only developed country without an R18+ classification for games, meaning any titles that do not meet the MA15+ standard – such as those with excessive violence or sexual content – are simply banned from sale by the Classification Board, unless they are modified to remove the offending content.
So far, this has only applied to local bricks-and-mortar stores selling physical copies of games, but a spokesman for Senator Conroy confirmed that under the filtering plan, it will be extended to downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard.
<snip>
Senator Conroy’s spokesman said the filter would cover “computer games such as web-based flash games and downloadable games, if a complaint is received and the content is determined by ACMA to be Refused Classification”. All games that exceed MA15+ are deemed to be RC.
The filtering could also block “the importation of physical copies of computer games sold over the internet which have been classified RC”, the spokesman said.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (emphasis mine)
Flash games. Are you kidding me? It’s bad enough that Australia doesn’t have an R18+ rating for video games (because of one Attorney General who just won’t back down), but to have the Government censor things as trivial as flash games is absurd. And why should our taxpayer dollars go to some idiot at the ACMA to play flash games in order for them to determine whether it is ‘Refused Classification’?
Labor is full of idiots. (see NSW) Liberal is full of idiots (utegate – seriously? The country is in financial turmoil, we’re waging war in Afghanistan and all the leaders of Australia can talk about is some fake email?)
So, here’s my message to the people of Australia.
DON’T VOTE LIBERAL OR LABOR.
The two-party system is broken. You have a centre-right party which favours the rich, and a centre-left party that has absolutely no freaking idea what the hell it’s doing. Don’t encourage it further by keeping these idiots in parliament. Next election I’m going to find an Independent or Third-Party (Greens, Democrats, whatever) candidate who lines up with my political views and I’m going to vote for them. By keeping the power away from the major two parties I’m doing my part to prevent idiots like Stephen Conroy from destroying the country.
Oh, but wait. If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.
You know, that’s why I never remotely got into politics. I feel lucky that I’m oblivious to what’s going on in our government. When push comes to shove, e.g. elections, I’ll pay attention to see who out of everyone will be better, but in the middle I don’t care about that crap.
Chroisman
June 28, 2009 at 2:33 am
WTF? I never knew that bit about video games. If anything’s to blame its the Australian political culture, that resembles British politics too much – that we know is too badly screwed.
I don’t why they can’t stop sniping at each other and be bipartisan, like Obama in the U.S. with Robert Gates as Secretary of Defence.
There’s good talent on both sides – they’re just too stubborn, proud and set in their ways to change. That’s why we need younger politicians – you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
That’s why next election I’m voting independent/Green.
akatsukisan
June 28, 2009 at 8:40 am
Greens can be crackheads too.
The only solution would be run for politics yourself (there was a show this year on SBS where the first episode was about the guy trying for politics with a open honesty slogan, Monday nights I think) and we all know no one will bother doing that unless you happen to be named Prince Aryan…
materix01
June 28, 2009 at 9:02 am
Some aspects of Australia are rather quaint and behind the times, e.g. Sydney Airport and, of course politicks.
Aladdin
June 28, 2009 at 9:58 am
When I’m eligible I am going to vote for Greens
Although I do not like their non-existent economic policy (which I think is crucial in creating a sustainable govt), their environment policies do carry substantial weighting.
Australia and the world needs change! A cultural change! It’s not just about installing solar panels and recyclign, it’s about revolutionising the way we live, how industries can be economically sound and environmentally sustainable. he greens have a rather extreme goal, to be carbon neutral by 20__ (someone google it
). Many have argued “But it’s not economically viable! Solar panels/carbon neutral is too expensive!” And yes I agree at the moment it does seem quite far off. However the science is there, it needs to be nurtured, encouraged and fostered into economically sound ideas. Labor and Liberal will never support such extreme policies because, quite plainly, it’d be political suicide.
VOTE GR33NS!
Bosco
June 28, 2009 at 11:16 am
Independents ftw, seriously.
TripleS
June 28, 2009 at 11:20 am
The whole point of voting is to try and pick the lesser of two evils
diti
June 28, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I’ll vote whoever does good for public education.
Because I think that having an educated public is the most important thing
mishmashmosh
June 28, 2009 at 1:43 pm
yeys politicsl; you’ve become one of us, brother [ie. the “politics makes me angry club”
eh, lesser of two evils….its like telstra and optus. still….goes to show how society’s a piece pf crap right now
Z-hang
June 28, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The lesser of two evils, or, as Joseph suggests everyone can vote for some random third party to make the system really warped. Australia could be like Lebanon’s voting in Hamas…randomly. Yeah, everyone’s pissed off at the politicians, and Joseph has joined Ye Olde Ranks of Cynics. His cynicysm beats diti’s anyday.
dr4g0n
June 28, 2009 at 3:16 pm
SHOOTERS PARTY FTW =D
Nathan
June 28, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Sustainable Future, Go Greens!
bk201
June 29, 2009 at 4:58 pm
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY!
Not really, although one does exist..
jonald
June 30, 2009 at 5:33 pm