Grandma Sues "Grand Theft Auto"

Upon reading the article on msnbc.msn.com about the grandmother suing the maker of Grand Theft Auto, I feel as if it wasn’t the maker’s fault, it was the grandmothers. The rating clearly says rated “M” which is for audiences ages 17 and up and she had bought it for her grandson who is 14 years old. I do not understand why the maker had to change the rating from “M” to “AO”. Sure video games get hacked all the time and they show sexual explicit nature, but think about it… the entire concept of the game Grand Theft Auto is to steal cars, kill people, shoot cops, find hookers… and who knows what else! If this grandmother willingly bought the game for her son thinking that it’s just about cars, then she’s completely in denial. Just like movie ratings, rated “R” is for audiences who are 17 years and older. Rated R movies show soft-core pornography sometimes and it includes a lot of violence. Now, would the grandmother take her little grandson to watch a movie like that? I wouldn’t think so. It was her own mistake and the company should not have been punished for it.

One example I have for this is another game called The Sims. I have been playing that game for years, and many enjoy it including little children. I don’t exactly know what the rating is for the game, but it too has some violent intentions. For example, you can purposely kill a character in the game by locking a person up in a home while cooking and have them burn to death. Also, when you tell the Sims to make babies, the display this by crawling into bed with the sheet covers on and start humping like animals! Although you cannot see what they are doing, a person knows exactly what is going on under there. People don’t seem to mind though because it is entertaining and pretty fun to play. Video games such as these have ratings on them for a reason. I think this grandmother is an idiot and was just finding a way to make some cash on the side and putting the blame on someone else for buying the game for her fourteen year old grandson.

Works Cited:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8728577/

EOC, Week 1 -- Blog Comment

Flip Beats Productions;
I do agree with you that lawyers can be good or bad, depending on which side you are on. For example, if you were a bad guy, of course you would want to be seen as innocent. The lawyer working for her/him will try and do their best to defend them while you are the “good guy” on the other end. If the other person won, you would definitely be screwed. I also agree with you on the part where you had mentioned that if it dealt with children, it should always be on the best interest of them and the parents should not be a major factor in the case. Lawyers can be sneaky and conniving, but what can you do? They are in fact doing their job, and to get the best lawyer there is, you’re looking at coughing up tons of money (depending on what you did exactly). Overall, I agree with your opinions on lawyers and you have posted a great blog :)

MySpace Hoax

Whether the neighbor, Lori Drew, intended for Megan to commit suicide or not, she is still sick and wrong for creating a fictional character on MySpace to keep in contact with Megan. It’s just cruel for any person, especially a 49 year old mother with a daughter of her own, to play such an immature hoax on someone who is only thirteen! I wonder how the mother would have felt if someone was doing the same exact thing on her daughter. I know life as a teenager is hard, especially teenage girls. There’s so much change as it is in the world, especially for Megan who has attention deficit disorder and who is mildly depressed. I don’t know Megan, but nobody deserves to be treated the way she did. People are all different. Some people might not even care if people wrote mean posts about them on MySpace; others take it personally, like Megan. It’s not fair. It’s quite a relief that Drew will be facing sentences from probation to a year in prison and a fine of $100,000 for every misdemeanor account.

In my opinion, what Drew did is known as a tort, “A private wrong that injures another person’s physical well-being, property, or reputation” (Essentials of Business Law, Liuzzo, Pg. 31). She definitely did do a private wrong and injured Megan’s physical and emotional well-being. Also, I believe that what Drew did is a slander, “Slander is the term that describes almost all defamation that cannot be classified as libel. Slander includes spoken words, gestures, actions, and even omissions. Most cases of slander involve thoughtless statements that reflect on another person’s good name and reputation” (Essentials of Business Law, Luizzo, Pg. 47). Drew, her daughter, and her assistant spread damaging words and ideas that ruined Megan’s reputation; which is the definition of slander. I really do hope that Drew does get convicted of the felony charges and does face up to 20 years of prison.

What do you think of lawyers?

Today in class, the teacher somewhat discussed how lawyers are in general and how they are portrayed in the society. What I found interesting about lawyers was the whole “campaign, re-election” deals that they make with judges. What happens is lawyers will re-elect the judge and give them large amounts of money for the judge’s elections for the trade of favors. An interesting joke that is posted on myeclassonline.com that I found to be interesting about lawyers is, “What's the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer? -- A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the judge”. Lawyers are portrayed as sneaks, cheats, and liars when it comes to the law. In my opinion, those favors that they receive from judges can be good. For example, one day you’re driving on the freeway and all of the sudden a cop clocks you going 80mph. The speed limit is 65. The cop then writes you a ticket and that’s something you really don’t want on you record. You drive home one day pissed off about that ticket and you see a little piece of heaven, a billboard that says, “Got a ticket? Call us to get rid of it!”. You then call the number and for a little price, you’re ticket will be taken care of and it is then reduced to a parking citation. The teacher discussed that this is a favor owed by the judge to the “excellent lawyer” that reduced your speeding ticket.

One movie that came to mind about lawyers is Liar, Liar with Jim Carrey. I’m sure we all know the story, and if you don’t, I encourage you to watch it because it is a great movie. As a lawyer, he constantly lies and cheats to win cases and money until one day, his son decides to make a birthday wish for his father not to lie. He then goes through life without the ability to tell a lie causing him to lose cases and causes him to lose credibility in his firm. So it’s kind of ironic actually, lawyers are supposed to help us with the law, but then they have their own ways to twist and turn facts in order to win a case. As I’ve seen so far in media, yes lawyers are sneaks, but I’m sure there are good, loyal lawyers out there. Good luck finding them.