Should Violent Video Games have First Amendment Protection?

Name: Professor’s name: Course: Date: Should Violent Video Games have First Amendment Protection? Introduction The recent repealing of the state of California’s law prohibiting the sale of violent video games to minors or children by the Supreme Court over its infringement on the First Amendment provisions raised various views and perceptions on the video games sector of the entertainment industry. According to the state of California, the sale of violent video games to children was a violation of the provision of freedom of speech enshrined in the United States constitution as it encouraged the spread of obscenities. Consequently, the state developed and implemented legal frameworks limiting the sale of such materials to children citing negative influences on their growth and development. The gaming industry, on the other hand, argued that the state laws were, in fact, violating the freedom of speech and expression as provided in the First Amendment and lacked the basis for proving how the negative influence manifests. Thus, society stands in a dilemma concerning the contentious issue of whether or not violent video games should have First Amendment protections. Provided herein are arguments for and against the protection of violent video games through the First Amendment towards developing an informed verdict over the sale of violent video games to children and whether or not the legal protections should stand. The current era of advanced information and communication technology brings forth both positive and negative impacts on societies around the world. The ease of communication among individuals across the world, for instance, makes it possible for the realization or rather actualization of human rights and freedoms. The freedom of speech and the right to exchange information, counsel, or any other form of interaction can be witnessed across the wide range of platforms through which such engagements occur. The entertainment industry also makes use of the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment as different companies strive to share their equally distinct verbal and visual content. Among such entities in entertainment industry include the gaming industry, which serves the interests of both the adult and childhood members of society. According to the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown versus the Entertainment Merchants Association, the California laws barring the sale of violent video games to children violated the First Amendment as it sought to prohibit the freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in the constitution. The Majority ruling read by Justice Antonin Scalia argued that video games fell in the same category as the literary works of plays, movies, books, and even comic books. The supporting argument for the ruling is that video games would have the same impact on children as that of other works of literature. The state’s sought for government reviewing of the First Amendment protection on violent video games arguing that the video games embraced the aspect of obscenities and thus should be excluded from the constitutional protections. However, the court argued that video games, violent or otherwise, served to communicate ideas as well as social messages by employing various liter...