Texas Governor As E3 Keynote Speaker Causes Strife 272
Zonk pointed out a post on Joystiq highlighting a recent tantrum thrown by the ESA. Apparently the ESA didn't appreciate the framing GamePolitics chose to use for a story about E3's Keynote speaker and Texas Governor, Rick Perry. GamePolitics continues to call Perry into question as a choice for keynote speaker, saying: "While there are surely many Christians among E3 attendess, there are just as surely many who aren't. Aside from the fact that Perry was a bizarre keynote choice from the get-go, his divisive comments indicate that the ESA should rescind the offer. We have to ask again: why is E3 2008 being politicized? The answer, we suspect, has much to do with embattled ESA boss Michael Gallagher."
So (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:So, what did they learn? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/07/25/texas-doomed/ [badastronomy.com]
Mr Perry has made some blatantly ill-advised choices. Supporting Rudy for Pres was one of them. His views on many topics that relate to gaming either directly or indirectly make him quite a questionable choice. Perhaps Jack Thompson was busy and Perry was the second choice? -- not really a fair comment, but it sounded funny to me.. sigh
While searching through Google'd info about Mr Perry, see if you can find his name near 'video game' anywhere except on the explanation of the DMCA on his official website. I had trouble finding anything. Try searching with the -E3 option.
Choosing a politician to speak in an election year is practically BEGGING them to politicize the presentation. Being republican, and a Bush crony, it's hard to imagine that anything good will come of this. That said, it is not a foregone conclusion that it will totally suck either, it just seems a bad choice. There is not much to say about Mr Perry and video games except he likes game creators to have their businesses in Texas instead of elsewhere... really? How does that make him relevant to E3? I have to admit I can't find any reason that he should be on the short list, never mind the final choice. YMMV
Re:GamePolitics motivated by bigotry? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:So, what did they learn? (Score:3, Interesting)
"That topic" was a very public religious service he very publicly attended, and the content of the sermon.
"way back in 2006"
A whopping two years ago! Why, he might have converted to Hinduism since then!
"as if those have a particular bearing on anything he might say at E3 2008."
His religious beliefs are that a non-negligible portion of his audience are doomed to eternal damnation, and that he must do all in his power to save them by bringing them to (his particular interpretation of) Christ. We're talking about his religious convictions, not his favorite color or favorite song.
And even if he does manage to get through the speech without touching upon his audience's impending doom, these convictions of his still reflect strongly upon the man's character and, by inviting him to speak, upon the characters of those who invited him. But I suppose customers are overrated and unimportant in comparison.
Re:So (Score:3, Interesting)