And this ban will do, um, what?
The state of Illinois is in the throes of passing a law that make it illegal to sell "violent" and sexually explicit videogames to minors, but conveniently leaves it up to the stores to determine which games are too violent or sexually explicit.
Um, hello?
Is this some sort of stupid morality play. where the legislature passes (and the governor signs) some sort of asininely stupid (and probably unconstitutional) legislature, confident that the state Supreme Court will overturn it wjth extreme prejudice, so that they can wrap the flag of protecting the Chiiiiiiiiiildren around their shoulders while being certain that nothing is actually done? Or do they really think that letting the people who run stores that depend on people buying video games from them will take the moral high road and not sell Grand Theft Auto -- Oak Grove! to the unwashed masses in Aurora, Napierville, and Lisle?
A nasty suspicious mind would think that this is an undercover subsidy to the nasty little pretend computer boutiques that you find in suburban shopping malls; the few remaining downtown computer stores may just preemptively belly-up to avoid the lawsuits, while Computer Kitsch and More! will continue blithely selling Ultimate Assassin V -- Kill The Liberals!, knowning full well that their US$500/hr legal staff can put the law down with only 2-3 months of legal fees (which are more than paid for by the indy cred that comes with standing up to the man™) during which time they can get the appropriate restraining orders so they can keep selling the "offensive" computer games.
I suspect that nobody in the Illinois state legislature has read The Prince, so I may be getting a little bit elaborate with my paranoic fantasies here.
(link via Utopian Hell)