Car News

Interesting how these topics drift off the subject until they are discussing something markedly different from the initial topic.  As long as game conventions have been in hotels, there has been alcohol on site.  However, at least around here cons do not "encourage" drinking, nor, in fact, do the hotels which get this money, at least beyond having it available - and in one venue in the lobby under the grand staircase to the mezzanine where the main con activities are held.  Most cons have now outgrown that particular venue and gone to larger sites.  Many cons have a "no booze in the game rooms" clause in their rules, and the rest do by custom.

Now I realize that cons vary by region.  I also realize that CAR-PGa is an international body and that in some of these cultures alcohol is consumed with meals by all those who have been weaned. This has nothing to do with the original point.  

If you go back far enough, you will find that it arose from a report that there was some unstated convention considering featuring unlimited free beer to all over 21 and not noticeably drunk - the sort of thing beer companies claim is the case at spring break towns.  I assume that this convention also has the usual attractions of games, celebrities, dealers' room, and such.  It wasn't mentioned, nor was the name of the con so I could find out for myself.

There were two Supreme Court cases which might involve the missing quote, both were concerned with obscenity.  First was Roth v US  354 US 479, most noted for Justice Potter Stewart's quote that "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."  The court went on to try, restricting it to "prurient interest" and "no socially redeming purpose", as defined by "contemporary community standards."  However, that immediately became whatever the local oligarchy said it was.  This was cleared up by Jacobellis v. Ohio  378 US 184 which defined "community" as the entire United States, and would have probably gone beyond that if not for the limits of their jurisdiction.  The quote involving not restricting adults to that suitable to children came from a concurring opinion in Jacobellis by Justices Brennan and Goldberg.  "State and local authorities might well consider whether their objectives in this area would be better served by laws aimed specifically at preventing distribution of objectionable material to children, rather than at totally prohibiting its dissemination."   It is about bscenity, but might be stretched to include underage drinking.  Still off-topic.

I have this court material at hand because of a run-in I had with the local library before I was able to get my own Internet connection.  I was researching cultures for "anthropological role-playing" (basing characters on actual cultures to bring in all the other cultural baggage from weaponry to how infants were carried).  I think it was Minoan, where the men were topless and the women had necklines below the breasts, which caused it, but I was threatened with banishment for "viewing pornography".  I wrote eight pages of protest and won.  It is available on .pdf to anyone interested.

If one is talking about promoting frat boy game conventions, go ahead.  You will be undermining two decades of work by CAR-PGa in trying to get away from that stereotype and encouraging participation by those outside the stereotype, such as women,  children, ethnic minorities, etc. but you will get your free beer.  If you eat before time, you can even get drunk before being cut off since it slows the absorption of alcohol.  Enjoy.  CAR-PGa will keep picking up the pieces as usual.

Paul Cardwell