MADD just sent out the following e-mail to their supporters.  They want to give Grand Theft Auto (GTA) an adults only rating because it features the crime of drunk driving (apparently all the murder, car jacking and other crimes in it are just fine with MADD).  “Drunk driving is not a game and not a joke” they say.  Apparently only responsible adults should drink and drive.  It isn’t appropriate for “youth”.

Oh wait, wasn’t MADD supposed to be opposed to drunk driving for *everyone*?  So why then would the game’s rating matter?  Why does MADD think it is somehow more acceptable for adults to drink and drive than youth?

Why also do they think limiting free speech is somehow an acceptable tactic in their anti-youth and anti-alcohol crusade?

MADD is encouraging their members to write the retailers below to pull GTA4 from shelves.  You’d be surprized what a few pissed off complainers can accomplish.  Don’t let MADD have the only say on this subject!

Write those same retailers and tell them that GTA is just a game and they shouldn’t stop selling it because a few mad mothers are upset over it.  Write them and tell them to stand up for free speech.

MADD’s e-mail:

Each year nearly 13,500 people die in drunk driving crashes and
another half a million are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes.
This is why MADD is extremely disappointed by the decision of the
manufacturers of the game Grand Theft Auto IV to include a game module
where players have to drive drunk.

Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke. Drunk driving is a
choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable. MADD
is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to reclassify
Grand Theft Auto IV as an Adults Only game, a step up from the current
rating of Mature and for the manufacturer to consider a stop in
distribution  if not out of responsibility to society then out of
respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving.

If you are concerned about the content of Grand Theft Auto IV, please
contact the retailers below and voice your opinion.

Amazon.com
206-266-1000
Online contact form
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html

Best Buy
612-291-1000
Online contact form
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12104&type=page

Circuit City
804-527-4000
Online contact form
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=209855&c=1

EB Games and GameStop
817-424-2000
help@gamestop.com

Wal-Mart
479-273-4000
Online contact form
http://www.walmart.com/cservice/cu_commentsonline.gsp?cu_heading=8

MADD Thinks Only Responsible Adults Should Drink & Drive 

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Last night Instapundit picked up my appearance on Fox News a week or two ago:

SEVEN STATES THINKING OF LOWERING THE DRINKING AGE: They should. And the Federal government should get out of the business of trying to regulate state drinking ages, a subject of no legitimate federal concern whatsoever. it’s also telling that MADD wouldn’t even appear on camera to argue the other side.

Apparently TownHall.com picked it up too (which is where Glenn found it).  It is great that he noticed MADD’s conspicuous absense from the piece.  Apparently this is their new strategy, ignoring us in hopes that we’ll just go away.

It is a marked departure from their strategy this last fall when they considered this new push to lower the drinking age such a threat they created a coalition specifically to fight us (us being NYRA and Choose Responsibility).  They held a press conference and announced their intention to fight to keep the drinking age where it is.  It was an amazing tactical blunder.

With all the money, resources, clout and manpower they have, they felt threatened enough by us to go on the offensive.  Of course it backfired horribly for them and ended up putting the issue of lowering the voting age into the press even more, giving us lots of free press.  The media were surprised too, they couldn’t believe MADD would feel so threatened by this push to lower the drinking age that they’d start up this whole coalition to oppose us.

So now they’ve rethought their strategy and have been refusing to appear on any programs to discuss lowering the drinking age.  After giving us tremendous credibility by opposing us directly they hope that they’ll deflate us by ignoring us. Sorry folks, the genie is out of the bottle now, this movement is not going away.

Gandhi had a great quote about this phenomena:

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.

MADD is doing things out of order.  First they ridiculed us, then they fought us, and now they are ignoring us.  One way or another, we are gonna win.

The evidence countinues to mount that the drinking age has been a failure and the denial of equal rights to young adults is too glaring an inconsistency for many Americans.  The movement continues to grow, more and more people are becoming convinced that this is the right direction to move into.

MADD is more scared than they’ve been in a very long time.

Even though MADD itself refuses to debate us (because they know they’ll loose) their founder continues to open her big mouth in opposition to us (and in opposition to our troops as well).  Hopefully Glenn will take notice of this comment by Candy Lightner on the Mike & Juliet Show.

Stefan had an excellent response to her comment.  Also, Marty Beckerman wrote up a good reaction to it on Radar.Maybe MADD does have the right strategy.  If their people (or former people) are going to get on national television and stupidly insult all of America’s armed forces (past and present) then it is probably best that they don’t show up to debate us.  The more people realize how low their opinion is of Americans, our troops, and our youth, the more people will realize MADD is out of touch and completely wrong on this issue.

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On Monday morning, NYRA’s executive director, Alex Koroknay-Palicz, appeared on Fox News’s Mike and Juliet Show. Joining him in a panel discussion of the drinking age was Candice Lightner, founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Since most of the panel was unreceptive to the idea of a lower drinking age, Alex broached discussion of the fact that members of the military who are under 21 cannot drink. Ms. Lightner responded by saying: