A letter to your friends over at the BBFC

[Noku]

Greetings


I am an avid mediaphile, and have been one for as long as I can remember.

Last night, your decision to ban Manhunt 2 in the UK upset me. To such an extent even, that I felt as if the timetables had turned, and we were all living in 1930’s Germany, under totalitarian yoke.
Allow me to clarify.

I fully understand that you are wishing to provide parents of underaged children guidelines to raise their offspring in controllable environments, and wholeheartedly support the ratings-system you set as standard. Furthermore, I agree with the ratings’ concept and effects, ie, that underaged children should not be allowed to purchase games without the approval of corresponding legal guardian(s), and that, subsequently, M-rated games should not be sold to children.
However, seeing as we all strive to live in a democracy, or at the very least pretend to, we are all to abide by the principles democracy represents. Thusly, we all have the right of free speech and freedom of thought, leading to the conclusion that censorship in a democracy is a paradox.
Generalizing the above propositions to the affairs current, and given the fact that adults are their own legal guardian, banning a piece of entertainment from release for mature audiences is very much like forbidding a toddler to play with dolls, miniature cars, and other toys: totally and utterly useless, and atop of that, unethical.

I can only conclude by saying that I grew up in an age where censorship-incidence was lower, while the games were of an even gruesome nature. I never much minded the ratings present on the box, and played every game from horrid to humorous. What I did have however, was a social environment telling me truth from fantasy, and the intellect to grasp that what one sees on the television screen, is not always a factual representation of factual behaviour.


I thank you for the time you took in reading my letter of concern, and hope it has brought about a change in your reasoning.


Sincerely

Egon Rappé
Aged 20
Belgium

PS: I am aware that there is a press release under the news section. I read it multiple times, and based the above text upon it. I would request you prove you have read my personal release at least once by not sending me a generic reply, but by actually providing me with comments and remarks concerning my text.
My thanks in advance.


Before I send it, I'd like some notes on my use of the english language by some native speakers, if possible.

Thanks in advance :)

[Fierce_LiNk]

That's a damn good letter.

Also, you've got one cool name. :)

[ThePigMarcher]

Seems pretty well-written if you ask me.

To save you some time though , this is the likely response you will receive.

Dear (blanked out)

Thank you for your email and your interesting comments.

You will find it useful to read our press release regarding our decision on
MANHUNT 2. This is available on our main website - http://www.bbfc.co.uk -
under the section entitled 'news', and then 'press'. The release is dated
19 June 2007.

Yours sincerely,


J L Green
Chief Assistant (Policy)

[Hellfire]

Awesome name man!
Oh and great letter :P

[Noku]

Seems pretty well-written if you ask me.

To save you some time though , this is the likely response you will receive.

Dear (blanked out)

Thank you for your email and your interesting comments.

You will find it useful to read our press release regarding our decision on
MANHUNT 2. This is available on our main website - http://www.bbfc.co.uk -
under the section entitled 'news', and then 'press'. The release is dated
19 June 2007.

Yours sincerely,


J L Green
Chief Assistant (Policy)


Solved? My solution too aggressive-sounding?

[Fierce_LiNk]

Solved? My solution too aggressive-sounding?

I think you could send the greatest written letter Earth has ever seen, and yet the BBFC would only send you back an automated response. At least, that's what I think. If you give it a try, you're not going to lose anything, apart from time, which we have plenty of. I just wish the BBFC and other organisations would take the time to write back more personalised letters and responses.

[ThePigMarcher]

Agree with Flinky.

Seeing as you have spent all that time constructing the email , send it anyway. Those fools (being polite here) at the BBFC deserve as many emails as possible for their decision , even if it is a largely fruitless task.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Noku, ROFL at your PS section to the letter. :D

If they send an automated one back, I think you should send a really angry one at them. :D (angrier)

[Noku]

Sent :)

Und now we play the waiting game...

Will let you lot know when they reply, and how :p

Thanks for the help lads!

[Fields]

What does the BBFC have to do with Belgium?

[mcj metroid]

I guess it's that the bbfc started the whole thing.

[Kurtle Squad]

It REALLY hit me today why the banning of Manhunt is so retarded: The game doesn't even look realistic and we know it isn't real.

I chainsaw people all the time on Gears...yet I don't feel anything weird about it...I watch a gorey film, and feel off. And with a lot of those films, they dive u in as much as any game.
Saw 3 made people sick and caused others to feint...and yet the BBFC wont even let a lil game through the net, it's pathetic.

[DCK]

Though your letter is well-written, it's not really making a strong point to send in a letter as a foreigner.

[Jamba]

I still haven't got a reply from them about my letter. Maybe cos I asctually asked them information and it requires them to send me real answers so will take longer.

Anyone from the UK who is sending an email to the BBFC, please Cc it to your local MP. The only way that their decision can be overruled is by local government so getting the issue noticed there is very important.

[Fields]

Anyone from the UK who is sending an email to the BBFC, please Cc it to your local MP. The only way that their decision can be overruled is by local government so getting the issue noticed there is very important.
LOL, are you serious?

[4q2]

Though your letter is well-written, it's not really making a strong point to send in a letter as a foreigner.

I dunno....I provides a view from the outside world imho.

Anyways, if anyone else emails them, rather than using the generic enquiries address, it may be worth trying david.cooke@bbfc.co.uk....
If the bbfc use the same system as most companies for creating email accounts, that one may hit the spot.

[Jamba]

Yep. I feel strongly about the government giving society back its ability to make its own decisions. For instance, if a child watches or plays something out of their appropriate age then is should be the parents that get hammered, not the game. Retail will have done all they can to stop adults buying the game for their children and won't sell it to children themselves.

It is also linked to the those stupid insurance companies who try and "win" you money for your accident where you were too stupid to not break your own legs. People need to take more personal responsibility.

[Fields]

Remember this is New Labour we're talking about, architects of the nanny state.

[Jamba]

Yep and I'm conservative/liberal... :shrug:

[Cookyman]

Yep and I'm conservative/liberal... :shrug:

Don't get me started! Liberal I can live with but Conservative???? I tell you if David Cameron tried to hug a hoodie round here he'd have a baseball bat wrapped round his head.

Cant be arsed with his hippy, sycophantic, public schoolboy views - or is that just me? lol

[Jamba]

conservative as in i prefer people to be treated as individuals rather than as memebers of a state. I think that people who make the effort to earn deserve to keep it, for several long winded reasons. But you're right, Cameron does seem to be a bit of a wet fish.

[thirtynine.]

conservative as in i prefer people to be treated as individuals rather than as memebers of a state. I think that people who make the effort to earn deserve to keep it, for several long winded reasons. But you're right, Cameron does seem to be a bit of a wet fish.
So we should have flat rate tax right?

[Jamba]

Eeeek! I dunno. You need to talk to other people more authorised in my department about that... :runs away:

[Wesley]

Man, that letter was annoying.

[KingJoe]

So we should have flat rate tax right?

I believe he said conservative, not Conservative...

[Emasher]

it couldn't take too long to send them a million copies of your letter

[Helmsly]

Dear BBFC.

Good Job

Yours yours sincerely
Jack thompson


ghdshshshfghh

[thirtynine.]

I believe he said conservative, not Conservative...
That was in responce to
I think that people who make the effort to earn deserve to keep it,

[Patch]

I don't think your claim that 'censorship in a democracy is a paradox' is going to sway anyone at the BBFC.

It sounds like you're telling the BBFC that you don't think they should exist.

And no offense, but this bit is utter rubbish:

banning a piece of entertainment from release for mature audiences is very much like forbidding a toddler to play with dolls, miniature cars, and other toys: totally and utterly useless, and atop of that, unethical.

[Noku]

I don't think your claim that 'censorship in a democracy is a paradox' is going to sway anyone at the BBFC.

It sounds like you're telling the BBFC that you don't think they should exist.

And no offense, but this bit is utter rubbish:

Do explain :)

Still haven't gotten a reply, by the way.

My whereabouts are unimportant. This letter is about shouting - with the voice of the little man.

[harribo]

I don't think your claim that 'censorship in a democracy is a paradox' is going to sway anyone at the BBFC.

It sounds like you're telling the BBFC that you don't think they should exist.

And no offense, but this bit is utter rubbish:

No its not.

That letter is IMO brilliant BTW.

[Cookyman]

Do explain :)

Still haven't gotten a reply, by the way.

My whereabouts are unimportant. This letter is about shouting - with the voice of the little man.


I've just posted a letter which did receive a reply from the BBFC on the manhunt 2 thread - check it out :bowdown:

[Patch]

Do explain :)

Well, you're comparing chalk and cheese. Manhunt 2 is an entertainment media that consists of illegal and brutal acts. Toddler's toys are physical objects used for learning and development.

A much more accurate analogy would be something like:

Banning a piece of entertainment from release for mature audiences is very much like banning the showing of cartoons such as Horrid Henry or Dennis the Menace to toddlers (if such a thing were enforcable).

[Zechs Merquise]

I'm sorry, but the letter in question didn't really appeal to me either. I would ask questions like why films such as Natural Born Killers which glorify the murder of innocent people and set the up callous murderers as 'heroes' who escape justice are ok, yet games which may be very violent yet see you ultimately killing others who are out to kill you, are banned.

It's bizarre, because to me the idea of one defending their self against other killers is not as bad as the glorification of innocents being murdered.