Now, I don't have a lot of respect for Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, however this just puts him at an all-time low.

taken from: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/whos-that-man/story-e6frgdk6-1225831111612

Hate object

SOUTH Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, who just a fortnight ago caused a stir over his law (and backflip) to censor political comment on the internet, now claims he feels safer with bikies than video gamers. (Having just read Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels, we're as intrigued as we're alarmed.) Atkinson holds the national veto over any change to video game classifications and is stridently opposed to the introduction of an R18+ rating. He is also the man who led the Rann government's agenda to introduce tough anti-bikie laws. Now he has opened his heart and his mouth to ABC2's Good Game program, declaring: "I feel that my family and I are more at risk from gamers than we are from outlaw motorcycle gangs, who also hate me."

Now really... this seems like he is sitting there screaming "THE GAMERS ARE COMING TO GET ME!!!!"

Aside from making a fool of himself, I think he is making the title of Attorney-General seem to be worthy of a paranoid schizophrenic... The thing I find most interesting about this article is that he is more scared of video gamers causing harm to him and is family than bikers who are more likely to go and blow them up or shoot them. I believe that he contradicts his entire argument here.

He seems to think that gamers and parents of gamers need their hands held in the games that they purchase. He seems to think that gamers haven't two brain cells to rub together for warmth. He seems to think they are too dumb to make sensible choices - something that many would refer to as a biker's mentality - however the only thing that he has to be scared of is the intelligence of gamers. There are two possibilities here. Either gamers ARE stupid like he implies, or they are smart enough to be a threat to him and his family. So lets explore the possible comparison between bikers and gamers based on previous action taken by both parties:

situation 1

Goal: Force MA to allow for 18+ classification for games

Biker actions: Chop off his fingers one by one until he agrees

Gamer actions: start a petition

Situation 2

Goal: Get MA out of office

Biker actions: Shoot up his office or blackmail him

Gamer actions: start a petition

Situation 3

Goal: Kill Michael Atkinson (MA) and his family

Biker actions: ride-by shooting

Gamer actions: start a petition

Now, this is all based on previous actions. The previous actions ARE stupid. Gamers have not done much recently except start a petition. Bikers have however murdered, raped, dealt drugs, dealt arms, blown shit up and had massive brawls... but sure... gamers are more of a concern because they have paper... it might leave a little cut...

On the flipside, your stereotypical gamer is actually quite intelligent. the typical gamer is usually a nerd and if they are not a nerd, they are generally too busy socialising to having gaming as a huge part of their lives. For those that are nerds, if they really wanted to, they could develop weapons to do the job of disposing of MA, but really, why would they want to? The ones that ARE intelligent enough to plot his demise would prefer to spend their time PLAYING GAMES.

So, in support of MA's argument, he has nothing to worry about. Even if MA has contradicted himself, he STILL has nothing to worry about.

Really... how the hell do I become an Attorney-General?