I can understand how the general public might assume that the ZRC would be in favor of censorship of the violent and depraved Anti-Zombie media, but I can assure you that is not the case. We believe, here at the ZRC, in the marketplace of ideas, and that the best way to counter Anti-Zombie, even Living Supremacist prejudice is with cogent arguments and persuasion, not censorship.

After all, if unpopular opinions are silenced, where would that leave the pioneers of the Zombie Rights Movement? Sadly, our own ideas are often pretty unpopular.

We’ve talked about this previously, and about Australia’s extremely troubled and inconsistent history with censorship relating to Anti-Zombie AND Zombie-related media in the past. This tendency to squelch the free flow of ideas has, sadly, continued to rear its ugly head of late:

SEGA Australia has confirmed that House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut has been refused a classification in Australia.

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The PS3 game was supposed to launch on October 27th with Playstation Move support, but the Australian Classification Board gave the game a ‘Refused Classification’ rating.

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It is also interesting to note that the original Wii game was classified as MA15+ in December 2008, so the board seems to believe the two new levels make the game too dangerous for the Australian public. In other news, the board recently rated films such as I Scored a Soccer Mom! Vol 7 and 8th Street Latinas Vol 7, along with films that have far more NSFW titles.

We’ve noted in past updates that it doesn’t seem to matter, generally, whether a work appears to be Zombie Friendly or Anti-Zombie (like the current Sega title) for Australian officials; the presence of the Undead makes them reach for censorship regardless. This strongly suggests that their government is in the grip of a fervent and unfortunate Anti-Zombie prejudice. On the other hand, certain high-profile and no doubt deep-pocketed Anti-Zombie products sail through without a hitch.

The Zombie Rights Campaign objects strenuously. One tragic side-effect of this censorship is of course to drive the discussion underground, or online, where Anti-Zombie voices often go unanswered, except by advocacy groups such as ourselves.

So here we have yet another instance where the marketplace of ideas is impeded, and free discussion thwarted, in the name of protecting citizens from themselves. For shame, Australian government. You’re really not helping.

(BTW, if you want a great argument against ratings agencies like the ESRB and the MPAA in general, look no further than their foreign counterparts, which have actual legal authority, and consistently abuse it in cases like this. Thankfully here in America the First Amendment prevents the worst abuses of the pro-censorship crowd, although both the MPAA and the ESRB in the past have managed to punish those who espouse unpopular ideas or defy their authority.)

Tags: Australia, Social Justice, Videogames

This entry was posted by John Sears on Monday, August 29th, 2011 at 10:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.