This article is about the chemical BPA. Peer-reviewers of studies claiming BPA is safe have expressed “concerns” about the results of these studies. According to the article, the primary manufacturer of baby bottles that contain the chemical BPA is going to stop making them (likely from PR problems). So, there’s at least some indication that the chemical may be harmful. But, the FDA refuses to issue a warning about it.

Consenting adults engaging in distasteful but not physiologically harmful activities in an online social site? Time to hold a press conference and argue for a consumer warning!

As I said above, there are a lot of other things that could benefit from the attention wasted on this non-issue. And, even if you hate Second Life, it’s still the principle of the matter because the core assumption is that the government needs to protect people from the scary internet. How about protecting us from things that actually cause harm?

You admit what they’re doing is dumb, and yet you don’t have a problem with them wasting your tax dollars to do it?

Then again, I’m of the general opinion that all politicians should by hung or shot or drawn-and-quartered. So maybe it is better if I don’t share my opinion of THIS topic.

There is no fight to pick.
A bunch of duffuses want to put a warning out to parents.

They can do that. It doesnt impinge on our rights.

If they wanted to send out a warning to parents that some magazines contain pornography – that would be ok to. It wouldnt be an assult of the freedom of expression.

What they are doing is dumb. But thats it – save your tears for when they do something wrong rather than just when they essentially just say they dont like you.

Meh. The aide probably already had an account if he managed to make it out of the newbie area in under an hour.

Pick your battles. IMO, this isn’t the one.

Actually, this is the fight to pick. Not that I’m a huge SL booster, but this is really a non-issue to bring up for a politician. Let’s break down the scenarios:

An adult wanders into SL and finds pornography and all sorts of unsavory things. Result: Welcome to the internet! Once you get your first glimpse of goatse.cx or understand what “2g1c” means, you’ll realize that being able to find a garishly textured location entitled “rape room” is the least of your worries online. As I said before, it’s not the government’s job to judge which kinks are good or bad if nobody is getting harmed. And, if you don’t already know that Second Life may not be all goth fairy wings and innocent flirty chat, a “consumer alert” is probably not going to help at all.

A kid wanders into SL: This is a failure of the parent, not of SL. SL offers the teen grid I talked about above, age verification, and all sorts of other systems in place to keep kids from seeing things like virtual hash dens. If a kid sneaks one of your Playboy magazines and hides it in his room, it’s not Playboy’s fault.

Really, SL is one of the companies that has done a consistent job of trying to keep minors away from the bad content. So, what’s next? Games have to track identities by social security number? Have games regulated like alcohol or tobacco? Sadly, history shows us that this is just the first step down a path we should prefer not to take.

The crowning bit here is the fact that this is from a Republican. You know, the guys that at one time advocated less government interference? Smaller government, less taxes? Instead, you get the “borrow and spend” Republican crowd that are all to happy to waste government effort on trivial things like this. And the “it doesn’t cost much” line of bullshit needs to stop; that’s the exact same reasoning that has gotten us into our current economic troubles. “Well, if we’re spending a billion dollars, a few million in pork barrel spending for my district isn’t that much!” Multiplied by dozens of congress people, of course.

So, yeah, this is exactly the fight to pick. Stop the cancer before it spreads. Sadly, this is more like King Canute beating back the sea than a real fight. The ignorant and apathetic attitudes shown here don’t make the fight any easier to win the fight, either.

Because this would’ve been better coming from a pig ignorant liberal?

Politicians are idiots using things like this to get votes from their constituents. It happens on both sides of the aisle, let’s not demonize one party over another.

I think Dart had a good point, though – violent kneejerk reactions to every little thing will only make the gaming community look immature, which we’re not. Pulling out the 1984 tactic isn’t exactly scoring points, either. They’re attempting to regulate this industry without a precedent, and it’s not going to work.

Pick your battles. IMO, this isn’t the one.