Here is the thing, and I can't believe I need to say this: simply showing something on a screen isn't an implicit recommendation that you should go out and do that thing. I enjoy The Shield, for instance, but never once have I been tempted to bring my own brand of hard-nosed justice to the streets. Most people can watch something and see that in real life, it may be a bad idea. It may sound obvious, but no one told Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

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 can 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.

I'm not sure where to start. Yes, in Grand Theft Auto IV you can drink. Yes, you can then get into a car. However, the game will warn you that this is probably a good time to simply get in a cab. Not only that, but if you do decide to get into a car, you'll find it nearly impossible to drive; you're asking for an accident. If anything, I'd say the game does a pretty good job of proving that getting behind the wheel after a few drinks is a bad, bad idea.

So the game allows you to do something, shows you clearly the negative consequences, and it's a bad, bad thing that only adults should get to see. I have a problem with that, as I think teenagers are just the people who need to see what can happen when you drive drunk.

Clearly, MADD is not thinking of the children.