Pulitzer Prize winner George Will thinks gamers shouldn't be allowed to vote

by Ben Gilbert { Apr 19th 2009 at 8:30PM }

Washington Post columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George F. Will really, really doesn't like denim. In an Op-Ed piece he wrote for the Washington Post this week, he condemns the fabric and in the process, harshly insults gamers, saying, "Seventy-five percent of American 'gamers' -- people who play video games -- are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote."

On the other hand, Mr. Will does, however, love making disparate correlations -- for instance, between "society's most slovenly" and video game players. In fairness, his tirade doesn't solely focus on games, as he also calls out the Indiana Jones series and television shows such as Seinfeld (a show which, ironically, he was lampooned on as "not too bright.") He says the two are "juvenelized,"and for "undifferentiated audiences," and justifies his assertion on the fabric ubiquity from child to parent. We're thinking of siding with Seinfeld on our opinion of this guy, how about you folks?

[Via GamePolitics]

Tags: denim, george-will, indiana-jones, journalism, opinion, pulitzer-prize, seinfeld, washingtonpost

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)

WiredKnight @ Apr 19th 2009 8:35PM

High horse, anyone?

please @ Apr 19th 2009 9:05PM

Any game story has never been better than horrible blockbusters like Crystal skill

WiredKnight @ Apr 19th 2009 9:16PM

Uh.....what?

Iroquois @ Apr 19th 2009 9:24PM

Are you looking at the same web page as us?

Sub Zero @ Apr 19th 2009 9:30PM

I'll bet that this guy has a Wii.

albinogoldfish @ Apr 19th 2009 9:38PM

what, you dont get it?

DaMan09 @ Apr 19th 2009 9:39PM

http://digg.com/gaming_news/George_Will_Thinks_Gamers_Shouldn_t_Be_Allowed_To_Vote_2

Digg IT!

iluvmyzune @ Apr 19th 2009 9:46PM

george will: yes buuwaahhaaha...my evil plan of dominating the world is starting. soon more and more people won't vote!!. I love you nintendo wiii buuwaaahhaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

everyone else: o_0

Grey Acumen @ Apr 19th 2009 9:57PM

I almost found this guy's opinion to be offensive.

Then I thought about XBox LIVE.

now it all makes so much sense.

Skaz @ Apr 19th 2009 10:08PM

I seldom find too many morons of voting ago on xbl

offday @ Apr 19th 2009 10:24PM

Well yeah. Look at the man. He's important.

He has an award, you know.

Blank-Mage @ Apr 19th 2009 10:29PM

Also, covered wars.

Dao Jones @ Apr 20th 2009 3:20AM

Needs...four...stars.

Emceay @ Apr 20th 2009 10:00AM

lol, he's so old and out of touch. He'd probably advocate monocles come back into style.
I couldn't imagine a life more uncomfortably lived than by wearing business attire endlessly. But, that's the world he comes from; he'd do well to learn it's never coming back.

exile142000 @ Apr 27th 2009 2:24AM

So, One wonders if a man so educated Realizes that money is made of this dammed denim material and if he hates it so much he can relive all of it to me.

RudyHuxtable @ Apr 19th 2009 8:38PM

Mr. Turkeyneck must've recently gotten pwnd in Counterstrike.

Foetoid @ Apr 19th 2009 8:40PM

Probably got killed too many times by the Noob Cannon (aka, Awp).

Manly Mcbeefigan (Mr. ESC) @ Apr 19th 2009 8:47PM

Nah he probably was tea bagged and verbally asaulted in Halo 3

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Apr 19th 2009 9:03PM

Which really doesn't help his impression of game players.

Iroquois @ Apr 19th 2009 9:26PM

What do you mean "Turkeyneck"? It doesn't look like he even HAS a neck...

RudyHuxtable @ Apr 19th 2009 9:29PM

Ahhh, my dear Iroquois, point taken but if you look very carefully:

Down towards the bottom where his head is sitting on his sternum? There's folds of skin that are starting to form. Ergo, he's a newly matured "Mr. Turkeyneck."

Oh, I get it now! His inane ramblings are his mating calls.

Captain_Hairy @ Apr 19th 2009 9:30PM

Nah, there's definitely some serious jowlage going on under there.

Autopsy15 @ Apr 19th 2009 9:32PM

Well I think that anyone that wears visors should not be allowed to win Pulitzer Prizes.

Bubbameister33 @ Apr 19th 2009 9:35PM

More like "sleeve of wizard" neck.

Flit @ Apr 19th 2009 10:53PM

"Nah he probably was tea bagged and verbally asaulted in Halo 3"

he was very confused, and started rambling on about paying too much in taxes during this little Tea bagging party. It was all very unpleasant for all involved.

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 8:38PM

All the while attending a neanderthallic game like Baseball. Sweating like a pig. A very disgusting, holier than thou, deserves to be shot and drug through the streets for as an example of those who would destroy democracy.

I don't say this out of "Er he attacked what I like" but out of "He's attacking MY freedom."

Any person who says another man doesn't deserve the right to vote, deserves the right to die.

"Don't tread on me!"

chispito @ Apr 19th 2009 9:01PM

Anyone who thinks people should be killed for promoting bad ideas deserves to die!

Seriously, take your proxy-self-voting-up-self to Logic 101.

Jack Spicer @ Apr 19th 2009 9:26PM

Its funny we learn history for one reason, to learn from our past mistakes. Yet we continue to make them. Women couldnt vote, or work. African americans we kept as slaves. We eventually learned that all men were in fact created equal... or did we?

So we have freed the slaves, let women work, but now we take away the rights for gays and he wants to alienate gamers. Do we just need to find someone to discriminate against? Are we just full of shit when we say we're the land of the free?

ifalldownstairs @ Apr 19th 2009 9:51PM

@ Saintgutfree

Do you seriously not realize how much of a hypocrite you are? Insulting a complex game of skill like baseball makes your complaints of others being "holier than thou" completely invalid.

Also, Jack Spicer, calm down. Part of the whole "land of the free" idea is that George Will can say things like this, even if it only serves to show that he is a total moron.

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 9:51PM

Now now, I didn't vote myself up. Someone else, who agreed with me, did.

And to quote Patrick Henry:

"Give me liberty, or give me death!"

To which the founding fathers replied "TO ARMS! TO ARMS!"

He wasn't talking about his death, son. He was talking about those who would take your freedoms away from you.

And "Logic 101". That's funny. You must have also attended "Humor 101" or "Idiocracy 101".

I, however, DID attend "American History 101". Which is where I was taught of men like Patrick Henry and Benjamin Franklin. Men who KILLED in the name of being able to vote freely.

The people who say others shouldn't be able to vote (And this goes to those old conservative types who say kids shouldn't be able to vote as well as to those young liberal types who say retirees shouldn't be allowed to vote) are only upset because their chosen candidate didn't win an election.

We tried this form of government for several hundred years. It was called an Oligarchy. We (free-thinkers) beheaded the King of France to bring an end to it.

JXCgunrunna @ Apr 19th 2009 10:18PM

my only problem is that here in America we are free to say and think was we will, until those thoughts and words are turned into actions to hurt others. Let this fool go on about what ever he wants to talk about and until a bill goes through congress or an army stops me from going to the polls, he has done no wrong.

Given what i have just said about freedom of speech, i will exercise not only that right but also my freedom of press and say he is a god damn fool. some of the most complex critical thinkers of my generation (im 19) are gamers. we grew up playing zelda and metroid. our problem solving skills are some of the best out there due to constantly solving new problems and adapting the different rules when we switch games.

a book can make u think deeply about something because of the topics and thoughts it evokes through its story. Someone should tell him that games can have deep stories that can do the same thing.

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 10:45PM

A complex game of skill is chess.
A complex game of skill is an RTS.
A complex game of skill is NOT hitting a ball with a hunk of wood, then running around a diamond. Hitting something, throwing something, or catching something is not a skill, not a talent, and certainly not complex.

The statistics behind it may be complex, yes, but the sport itself is very simple: Hit ball, run in circle. OR Throw ball. Throw ball again. Throw ball again. Throw ball again. Throw ball again. Or catch ball. And again.

Athleticism, is a show of body not of mind. Sports are not about how smart you are. They're about how fast you are. How strong you are. How much money you can spend to train your cattle to run in a circle.

And for the home of the free thing - you start encroaching on others freedom when you say they shouldn't have the right to vote. He's entitled to his opinion as long as his opinion does not conflict with the opinion of others. You're allowed to scream "FIRE!" in a theater, but doing so endangers others. You're allowed to insult my political standings, but if you say I shouldn't be allowed to vote, then I feel you shouldn't be allowed to breathe.

Opinion is great, but when your opinion is to take away everyone's opinion, you shouldn't be allowed one yourself.

RabbidMickeyMouse @ Apr 19th 2009 10:49PM

Aren't we missing something important in:

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

...when we go about demanding people should be killed for an exercise in THEIR freedoms of speech, however disagreeable they are?

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 10:51PM

Also; I feel his choice of "game" is dumb. One showing no intelligence to partake in or enjoy.

Do I think he should lose his right to vote because of it? Hell no.

He thinks my choice of "game" is dumb and of low brow. Only someone of low intelligence would enjoy a video game, right?

Does he think I should lose my right to vote because of it? Yes.

Any man who would take away, or would take away, the freedom of others does not deserve the freedom he enjoys. Once again "Give me liberty or give me death.","To arms! To arms!", and "Don't tread on me."

chispito @ Apr 19th 2009 10:52PM

@St Gutfree:

1) I don't believe Franklin ever personally took up arms or killed anyone. Ideologically influential, but your statement that he "KILLED in the name of being able to vote freely" is spurious (emphasis yours).
2) Henry's quote, in context:

"What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

See the part about "Is life so dear..." he's talking about is own death. The whole essay is that liberty is worth dying for, not that every Englishman deserves to die. What makes your call for Will's summary execution especially ignorant is that the essay you quote is from the perspective of someone who has actually been disenfranchised by the ruling authority and enumerates the many options which had been exhausted. You're talking about killing an elderly journalist because he made a lame joke at your expense. Stay classy, Internet Commenter.

3) "Idiocracy" is a movie, not a word (much less a course taught somewhere). I can only assume you mean "idiocy."

4) Wait, are you an American worried about your American voting rights or are you a bloodthirsty enlightened Frenchman who killed off the aristocracy? I think you'll find yourself somewhat lonely in the belief that the French Revolution was moral and well conducted.

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 11:10PM

You lose your whole argument when you attack my grammar.

Idiocracy is a movie? I wasn't aware. I looked it up. It was a B-movie. I didn't watch it.

Idiocy. Sorry I typed it incorrectly.

As for Patrick Henry, the people listening to his speech took what he said to be a rally to violence against oppression. Not was someone two hundred years later interpreted it as, but the people sitting in the very hall as he spoke it.

And no, Ben Franklin didn't kill anybody. That's true, but yet again that was bad grammar on my behalf. But he did encourage it. And that's just as much.

I also did not say the French Revolution was carried out well. When people like Robespierre took their power too far it got out of hand. But the killing of the king was needed to show those in power that the majority are to be listened to.

I'll defend what you have to say. As long as you aren't saying other can't say what they want to. I agree with Voltaire's view, but the line must be drawn somewhere and that somewhere is when your view infringes on others freedom.

chispito @ Apr 19th 2009 11:11PM

@stgutfree

"Athleticism, is a show of body not of mind. Sports are not about how smart you are. They're about how fast you are. How strong you are. How much money you can spend to train your cattle to run in a circle."

Just because you were the last picked and first out in dodgeball does not mean that sports don't involve intelligence or cunning. For what it's worth you have my sympathy for your many long and doubtless wedgie-fraught years in gym class.

RabbidMickeyMouse @ Apr 19th 2009 11:13PM

"I agree with Voltaire's view, but the line must be drawn somewhere and that somewhere is when your view infringes on others freedom."

Drawing lines and creating exceptions misses the whole point of what's said. Especially where "defend to the death" is concerned.

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 11:20PM

True class there attacking me.

So you know, I was a varsity Halfback for my high school team three years in a row. I played baseball with the varsity team once a week every day for a year. My best friend's dad was co-runner of the local stadium, giving us the go-ahead to play on a full sized diamond.

I've played my fair share of sports, and I can honestly say NONE of them required ANY knowledge.

I'm not going to give you the joy of response after this. First you base your insults on my grammar, and now you're targeting my physical activity? How pathetic is that?

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 11:21PM

Sorry, let me correct myself before Mr. Grammar comes back around.

I meant once a week every week for a year.

The Dark Wayne @ Apr 19th 2009 11:35PM

I just gotta step in here and say that if you dont watch B movies you are denying yourself the awesomeness of Bruce Campbell and Evil Dead.

chispito @ Apr 19th 2009 11:41PM

Hi, this is Mr. Grammar.

I hate it when I look up and realize that I've suddenly become "that guy." Believe me when I say this: Sorry. I have shown a lack of grace and tact. However, I still think what you originally said is incredibly unreasonable, and that's the only real criticism I should have leveled.

Nobody deserves to be killed for their ideas. Period. As much as you must respect American political thinkers, I do not believe you quite grasp the Bill of Rights. George Will is wrong, but he is guaranteed the right to be wrong in order that cooler heads may prevail. Killing people you don't agree with is the mark of banana republic, or Sharia Law, not of the kind of country you want to live in.

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 11:45PM

Okay, you got me Dark Wayne. I've watched some B movies, especially when I was younger. Bruce Campbell is great. Beyond great. One could say he is, in fact, "Groovy"?

And I've gotta admit, Idiocracy sounds like a half decent movie. I loved Office Space and King of the Hill. Beavis and Butthead didn't do it for me though. I'm gonna check this one out. The fact that there's a pimp named "Upgrayyed" listed under cast sold me.

Saintgutfree @ Apr 19th 2009 11:52PM

And I can agree that perhaps death is a bit harsh for his ideology, and that I insulted all of baseball in insulting HIS choice of "game" and I apologize.

But I do feel that you cross a line, a serious line, when you start talking about striping people of their right to vote. Killing for ideology is extreme, yes. And I pushed that extreme, yes. But I honestly cannot say I am not disgusted by the mere idea of taking away someone's right to vote for something as petty as this. It's not that it's an attack on MY hobby, or MY show, or MY jeans. It's this Fox News style of insulting that really, really boils my blood.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used such extremes. Perhaps you shouldn't have taken me as literally. A little of both.

Thank you for apologizing.

Jack Spicer @ Apr 20th 2009 12:06AM

Its actually Upgrayedd which he spells thusly, with two D's, as he says, for a... well you'll find out.

All it takes is one man with an idea. Hitler wanted the jews gone, one man convinced an entire nation to fight for his beliefs.

I do agree, its a thought and its not hurting anyone. Someone thought gays shouldnt get married, thats ok. Then they decided to take away their right to get married, thats fucked up and unamerican, but it started with a thought. To think about taking away someones right and freedom because they are different and defending it, you shouldnt call yourself an american.

You communist bastards are all the same.

ifalldownstairs @ Apr 20th 2009 12:20AM

Yeah Jack Spicer, Hitler was a communist along with all homophobes.

Seriously, what the fuck are you babbling about?

Sanosuke @ Apr 19th 2009 8:38PM

Why does he dislike denim so much? It's comfortable, cheap, and versatile. It's as though he thinks he's too good for the common man's attire. Ah well, he can go wear his polo shirts and khaki shorts at his tennis matches where everyone else wears exactly the same.

If you ask me, polo shirts are the clothing type cursing America.

On the subject of games, it seems that he hasn't played many, if any.