Southington SOS Will Not be Destroying Games Now

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is reporting that Southington, Connecticut, will not be holding their gathering were they asked people to bring video games, DVD’s, and other formats of entertainment to be trashed and possibly destroy by inceneration.

In a press conference covered by gaming site Polygon, group members did not say whether those logistical details included the multitudes of gamers across the nation who were hatching plans to turn in bargain bin or unwanted games in exchange for $25 entertainment vouchers, which were to be donated by a member of the local Chamber of Commerce. Spokesman Dick Fortunato said that the actual destruction of games was rendered unnecessary because SouthingtonSOS had already accomplished its main goal:

We succeeded in our program. Our mission was to create strong awareness in Southington for parents and families and citizens and children. And we accomplished that. Our other objective was to promote discussion of violent video games and media with children and with the families at the home. And we’ve accomplished that in spades.

Whatever the reasons why I’m just glad it was cancelled.  Whenever I hear about a burning of anything it stirs ill feelings in me personally and harkens back to eras that I don’t want to see revisited.

http://cbldf.org/2013/01/nevermind-ct-community-cancels-plan-to-destroy-violent-media/

Burnings Call Back to Past

Maren Williams has posted an article on Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s website about a community in Connecticut that will be burning material deemed to be violent in content.  This is being done in Southington Community by a public organization, Southington SOS, within the community and is not sponsored by the local government.  It is a buy back program where the group will give out gift vouchers to area businesses for Video Games, CD’s and DVD’s that people hand over.  The collected items will then be snapped, discarded and possibly incinerated.  The article goes on and explains that:

For many others, however, the impending destruction recalls the past incineration of all kinds of creative works, from Beatles records to — of course — comic books, that some adults thought had a negative influence on youth. In reality, there is no proven link between gun violence and video games, but that has not stopped lawmakers and media commentators from trying to blame them for virtually every mass shooting by a young male since the Columbine massacre in 1999. Of course, this requires ignoring the fact that millions of people around the world, of all sexes and ages, play and enjoy a wide spectrum of video games that some would consider violent without embarking on real-world killing sprees.

Follow the link below for the complete article.

http://cbldf.org/2013/01/video-games-to-be-destroyed-in-connecticut-town/