Chavez decries evils of PlayStation
While Malaysia warns population away from Internet
The evils of decadent Western technology have been highlighted by a brace of enlightened regimes, just days after China warned only compliant firms need bother trying to operate on its cyber turf.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has railed against the Sony PlayStation in his latest missive to the people
"Those games they call 'PlayStation' are poison. Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game, 'you've got to find Chavez to kill him,'" the one-time paratrooper declared.
He said violent games were designed to seed the market for later weapons sales by capitalist countries. Not to mention cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.
Having slammed the main leisure activities of the decadent West, he outlined his vision for entertainment.
He called for Venezuelan manufacturers to make "little indigenous dolls" as an alternative to "Barbie, that have nothing to do with our culture."
Chavez followed up this diatribe against Western Capitalism by declaring he would nationalise a French-owned supermarket chain in the country.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's information and communications minister has told the country's citizens they should be wary of the internet, because it had been developed by Westerners. Rais Yatim said Muslims, and other religious groups, should be careful about getting carried away by Facebook or Twitter.
"We are not saying they cannot use Facebook or Twitter, but when using such facilities, they must upkeep the values taught by Islam, Buddhism or Christianity to maintain our culture," AFP reports him telling the New Sunday Times newspaper.
But, if people do forget their values, the state will happily remind them. Malaysia, a constitutional monarchy which is essentially dominated by a coalition of partners, is currently developing a country level net filter to block unwanted web sites.
Other countries to have warned their citizens about the evils of Western IT recently include China and Iran.®