*'''[[Debate: Ban on sale of violent video games to minors]]''' - July 8th, 2011.
*'''[[Debate: Ban on sale of violent video games to minors]]''' - July 8th, 2011.
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:[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm3nxTSYeBw Supreme Court Overturns Ban on Violent Video Games] <center><youtube>lm3nxTSYeBw</youtube></center>
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:[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm3nxTSYeBw Supreme Court Overturns Ban on Violent Video Games] <left><youtube>lm3nxTSYeBw</youtube></left>
'''Featured pro and con arguments from this article:'''
'''Featured pro and con arguments from this article:'''
Revision as of 13:41, 20 July 2011
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PRO: If sex images can be banned for youths, so can violenceJay Albanese. ¨Albanese: Supreme Court got it wrong on violent video games.¨ Richmond Times Dispatch. July 2nd, 2011: "Legal definitions and prosecutions for obscene materials in the United States always have been directed at depictions of sexual conduct. Violence has never been part of that definition, and the Supreme Court continues in its belief that depictions of sex are harmful, but depictions of violence are not. [...]Objectively more harmful than gratuitous sex are depictions of gratuitous violence. A significant social concern arises when sex is depicted in a way that involves force against an unwilling victim, against children, or even when unjustified violence without sex is depicted. A similar case can be made for depictions of violence resulting from hate, due to race, ethnicity or sexual orientation."
CON: Violent video games are protected by the first amendment. Justice Scalia wrote in June 2011 "opinion of the court" against the California ban on the sale of video games to minors: "Like the protected books, plays and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas — and even social messages — through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection. Under our Consti-tution, “esthetic and moral judgments about art and lit-erature . . . are for the individual to make, not for the Government to decree, even with the mandate or approvalof a majority.” United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., 529 U. S. 803, 818 (2000).
Debate: Affirmative action Michigan appeals court strikes down Michigan's 2006 constitutional amendment that banned affirmative action in college admissions, employment and contracting.[1]
Debate: Israeli blockade of Gaza has been in the news with the attempts of a 10-boat flotilla of activists to break the blockade and provide humanitarian aid.[2]
Debate: Gay marriage Gay marriage was legalized in New York state on June 24th, 2011. It became the sixth and largest state in the United States to do so, supporting the case for gay marriage and reinvigorating the debate on the subject.[3]
War on Drugs, Legalization of Marijuana, Legalization of drugs. The executive summary of the Global Commission on Drug Policy report announced in early June: “The global war on drugs has failed,” reigniting the debate on whether the "war" should be abandoned or dramatically changed.[4]
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