Hopping MADD at Grand Theft Auto

Gaming has suddenly vaulted into the world's third most popular solitary pursuit, second only to the more cost-effective, not to mention better bang for for your entertainment buck, masturbation, and of course, sleep---the latter engaged in to a lesser extent by gamers, the former much more so for reasons obvious to anyone but gamers.

As we noted previously, in our post 'Drink & Drive your way through Grand Theft Auto' the latest entry in the infamous Grand Theft Auto series has many critics wondering how many more banana peels line that already slippery slope toward social upheaval, not to mention a full-on revival of Vaudeville comedy.

The world's foremost ribbon dissemination organization, Mothers Against Drunk Driving ha recently petitioned the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to "reclassify Grand Theft Auto IV as an 'Adults Only' title" in reaction to the inclusion of drunk driving in the role-playing game, which allows you to basically run the gamut of antisocial behaviors that would garner both a pat on the back from Eliot Spitzer and a chest bump from your local Cripp.

Apparently, the virtual imbibing of alcohol in the game, (which augments the very real smoking of weed that usually goes along with this sort of activity), blurs the screen and complicates the driving controls---which seem to us a very realistic admonishment, but to MADD is a trivialization of the very serious issue that is driving while impaired.

Be that as it may, the Dukes of Hazard dirt ramp-like leap in logic that a fantasy pursuit dictates how people behave in reality, is one in which we're not ready to make--as our viewing of thousands of horror films and our, as of this writing, failure to commit any comparable acts of butchery, will attest.

While this kind of leisure pursuit offer little in the way of redeeming social value, neither for that matter, does the music of Nickelback (whose singer, apropos of nothing, was recently sentenced for DUI).

A thumbs up to all our gamer friends, down to MADD and speaking of digits....watch out for that carpal tunnel.