Posted by
Arnie on Thursday, April 26, 2007 4:41:06 PM
OK folks, the bureaucrats in Washington are at it again, this time after violence programming on TV during prime time, and is now urging lawmakers to consider new rules and regulations to restrict what an impressionable child can have available to watch. The FCC suggests moving the violent programs to later in the evening, or some other regulation.
The program rating system has not worked. The V-chip has not worked. So, there must be a better way to restrict the amount of violence on TV. The FCC wants the authority to define violence, to determine what is and what is not violent and suitable for children to watch. Now, we can all agree that the amount of violence on TV is over the top and is just too much, and also, too unsuspecting in most programs, even those rated PG-13. Whoever came up with that age as the age of maturity. There are some 13 year olds acting like 10 year olds, but if there must be an age, there must be an age. This age group gets free condoms in school, so it must be the right time of life. Anyway, back to the FCC.
The article is here in black and white.Now, I did not read in this article, anything at all about the responsibility of the entertainment industry and perhaps how they could be held accountable for the amount of violence shown on TV. No, not one bit. The FCC could urge Hollywood to be more considerate and film more family friendly programs, without violence and free sex that could and would be broadcast during the prime evening hours. I also did not read anything about the responsibility of the major media broadcast stations and cable stations and their role in controlling the amount of violence broadcast on TV. These organizations seem to be exempt of criticism.
The FCC did state that not enough parents exercised control by using the V-chip to block out the violent programs. That is probably true. But the government wants to “do something”, anything to show that it is doing something to control the amount of violence on TV. And the people appear to want the government to ‘do something’. And then family oriented organizations want the government to ‘do something’. And then the ACLU and other civil rights organizations do not want anything done because of the freedoms of free expressions would be violated by restricting those free expressions we all dislike. And Hollywood agrees. Artists agree. Writers agree. Limiting their freedoms to expose women, show a cut off an arm or leg on CSI, show criminals shooting up innocents or ramming a racing car into another racing car, or a rap star singing about their women hos, or an artist dumping Jesus in urine is all considered free speech, but creating a cartoon about Mohammed is self-censored. But the experts at the FCC can do something. Congress can do something.
Folks, controlling human behavior has been a problem since Adam, or was it before that, before the time that an ape had a series of biological mutations to turn into Adam. There are laws against stealing, but it continues. There are laws against murder, but it continues. At one time, if one murdered, he was murdered for murdering. Then we took away the second murder, and murders continue, except now the murderer can rest his life away locked up. But murders continues anyway.
Parents, do you know what your children are watching? Parents, do you know what your children are listening to? Parents, do you yourself watch violence, but tell your 12 ½ year old she/he has to wait six more months and then can watch it. Parents, be a good parent and sell you TV, read good books, play games, go for walks, or if you’d still like your TV for the travel channel, then take control. But you like sports also. Well, football could be considered as violent by the FCC, as it’s certainly more violent than dodgeball on playgrounds and that was banned because it was too violent. Basketball fans can get violent. Baseball players slamming the bat on the ground could be considered a violent act, and the verbal violence against umpires is not nice. Ice hockey is certainly violent as refs watch players fight it out for 30 seconds. Golf is not violent, so that’s OK. So, all you have left is the travel channel and the cooking shows. The FCC will do something to make it feel better because it did something.
And that's As I See It Now.