Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Kid Drives To School After Driving in Video Game

Oopsie. This should make parents think about where they put their keys. A six year-old kid drives on a highway to get to school to make PE and breakfast. I guess breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

One question: were the parents charged with Child Endangerment for letting him have access to the car or for letting him play Grand Theft Auto? This is a game where you can ruthlessly gun down innocent people and get away with it, where you regain player health by having sessions with prostitutes, where you live as a member of an underworld crime syndicate loaded with racism, corruption, and rampant murder. Letting him play should be considered reckless child endangerment. I avoid judging situations where I don't know the whole story, and the media never tells the whole story. On the other hand, I can't think of a case where a young child who is learning to spell "house" and "car" should ever be allowed to play GTA.

The fact that he drove to school thinking it was just like the video games shows us yet again that kids do have trouble sometimes distinguishing between games and reality. Parents must help their kids realize that life doesn't have a reset button and if you die, you don't come back by hitting "Continue." His dad needs to think these things over while he waits for bail and sees the real, living examples of thugs living the GTA life.

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