John Mark Reynolds wonders Should I play Grand Theft Auto?
What is the justification for playing Grand Theft Auto?
The easy answer: “It is fun.”
Fun is a good reason to do a thing, but not good enough.
My own religion teaches that joy is a great good. I plan on spending eternity in bliss.
Fun is a good sign that there is something worthwhile about a thing. Of course, many things mix worthwhile parts with enough worthless harms to ruin them. Some good does not justify even more bad.
Does Grand Theft Auto have enough “fun” in it to justify any harm it might do me? Is there some fun there, some deep joy of soul, that I cannot get other places without potentially harming self?
I loath the attitude of some that being fun is a good reason to worry about a thing, but I equally worry that in our consumerist culture, we might justify too much in the name of fun.
The Puritanical are not, after all, particularly powerful or popular in most of our entertainment culture. Surely we should consider whether it is possible to go too far in the other direction and become libertines?