Posted on 05/01/2006 3:07:48 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
In McLean, Virginia, a young mother named Silvia began channel-surfing, looking for something that would amuse her 4-year-old daughter. Up on the screen popped something called “Girl Next Door.” It was a photo shoot for a Playboy centerfold, and it showed women in sexual poses, completely nude, except for portions that were blurred.
“It was very clear what was going on,” Silvia relates. She grabbed the remote—but it was too late. Her little girl was already asking questions.
The program was not a cable or satellite offering. In fact, Silvia did not even subscribe to those services because she knew it was hard to control their content. However, even over-the-air broadcasts have hit a new all-time low.
It’s just as bad on the radio. Another mother, this one in Seattle, was in her kitchen with her 5-year-old son, searching for her favorite music station. But instead of classical music, guess what: She heard a DJ using a vulgar term to describe the female anatomy. As Robin put it, “My son learned a new word that he wasn’t ready to learn, and I wasn’t ready to explain.”
These moms are not alone in their disgust. Overwhelmingly, Americans loathe having their children exposed to profanity and sexual vulgarity every time they turn on the TV or radio. The networks don’t seem to care. In fact, they recently filed suit against the FCC over its decision to fine networks that ignored community standards of decency. In their view, nobody has a right to tell them what to do. Even during “family hour,” they insist on airing programs containing the “F” word. If parents don’t like it, too bad.
This in-your-face attitude is indicative of how far our society has traveled along the path of radical individualism—especially when it comes to anything related to sex. Anything else can be restrained—smoking in public, driving without a seatbelt—all on the grounds that it’s good for society. But restrain sexual expression? No way—especially if it makes money.
And this is not without consequences. Just yesterday, I was advised by the head of a juvenile court services unit in a large suburban county that sex cases among juveniles are beginning to dominate their court dockets.
All of this is in contrast to the Judeo-Christian view that dominated our culture for most of its history. The view says innocent children should be protected from things that might harm them—especially ugly distortions of human sexuality. If adults wanted to consume filth, they had to go to grubby little theaters and bookstores to do it—places that kept children safely out.
What can we do today to clean up the airwaves? We can ask our lawmakers to support the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act. This bill would increase fines and hold networks accountable if they break the rules.
The House overwhelmingly passed this bill a year ago. But it’s gone nowhere in the Senate. Yesterday, members of pro-family groups bombarded their senators with calls. They reminded them about the networks’ lawsuit against the FCC. And they asked them to get behind the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act—ASAP.
If you didn’t call yesterday, I hope you’ll call today, and get your friends to call, too. We’re working hard on Capitol Hill for this cause.
In reality, the networks are not declaring war on the FCC; they’re declaring war on our kids. Are we going to put up with it—or are we going to fight back?
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BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
Society used to be the safety net. No more.
Yes, we can change the channel ... or get rid of the TV. But that doesn't make it safe for our little girls to walk around the block.
There are consequences to a cultural indulgence in sexual libertinism ... and every day on the news we see the chickens coming home to roost.
There is always the 'power' button or sending the kids to their room to do homework.
It is not the 'if you don't just like it change the channel' it is preventing the intrusion of government becoming the nannies of society.
If sex(sic) didn't sell, it wouldn't be on the air. You want to change what is on TV, change the demand.
This is an E! program, which is cable.
Good point, and in most markets, E! isn't even basic cable, it is tier or a digital package. No one should be surprised what is on E!. Instead of more laws, use to learn the V chip and other parental controls.
Sure ... I'm a real tyrant ... ask my nine children.
Do you believe the American people should have no collective say in what is presented on the public airwaves ... other than having the option to change the channels?
Really??? You mean all I gotta do is change the channel and all that smut, soft porn, and suggestive crap somehow magically goes away?
/sarc off.
You should apologize to Ben franklin for using that quaote, a quote that was obviously meant to discuss unreasonable search and seizure and such, to justify getting to look at boobies.
Crap! Can't spell today. Let's try that again:
You should apologize to Ben Franklin for using that quote, a quote that was obviously meant to discuss unreasonable search and seizure and such, to justify getting to look at boobies.
Here is the problem, first, the complaint specifically discussed was a show on E! which is on the private cable airwaves(sic), not on the public airwaves. Secondly, the market drives what shows are on, which means that a larger collective have been voting with their pocketbooks for 'smut'. If you want to change what is on the airwaves, you change people's attitudes, you don't force it into legislation because you don't that type of speech.
If it didn't generate revenue for the stations or something else generated better revenue, then yes.
And no doubt the ultimate solution is for the American people to quit watching the stuff.
But I refuse to give the entertainment industry elites a pass on this. They are not just reflecting the culture ... they are driving it ... intentionally and irresponsibly.
The results have been tragic ... and even those of us who know where the "off" button is have to daily live with some of those results.
On one hand, I see your point. Parents should be the first line of defense and much of the problem comes not from the stuff being on in the first place, but from parents not knowing or caring what their kids watch.
On the other hand, I think that your argument would be just as valid if we were discussing a paper plant dumping tons of dioxin in an aquifer, and you posted photos of Brita filters. "Protect your kids with these, it's not our problem."
We all have to live in the culture this stuff creates.
This same debate pops up every few years (most notably around election time), and nothing will really change. Some of you who believe the FCC should be the nanny of American children (instead of regulating airwaves, which is its purpose) seem to forget that in the 1960s people made the same comments about Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the horrible demoralizing effects they had on our nation's youth.
I nearly screamed at the television when the new head of the FCC said, "Sure you could turn the TV off or change the channel, but why should we have to?"
Only a fringe minority of people (I'm looking at you Family Resource Center) actually make the complaints and a vast majority of Americans have no problem switching the channel if what they see on TV is too much for them to stomach.
As a film major, I find this type of censorship of all forms of media (whether it be film, television, print, music) abhorrent. For example, a beautiful film about a dark day in America came out this weekend, and someone based their decision on whether to go see it or not based on the number of profanities in the film. I'm sorry, but 40 people facing their doom are not going to say, "Gosh darn" when staring their own mortality in the face.
In the end, this is just another impotent attempt at censoring what we are free to view.
For those of you who claim this is a new argument, I direct you to this episode of Crossfire from 1986 featuring Frank Zappa (an avowed conservative) enduring a withering attack on his character by now Constitution Party honcho John Lofton. Lofton's arguments are the same empty pleas for sanity that people like Bozell spout today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM9I3r11QPY
It's a wonderful episode. Zappa methodically destroys every one of Lofton's arguments with no help at all, as Lofton frantically searches through a yellow notepad to find new venemous things to say about Frank. By the end, he is rendered completely helpless. In a last ditch effort, he smugly cries, "How much do you make spreading this filth, Mr. Zappa?" Frank looks towards the back of the studio and utters, "....millions." as if he never realized it before.
Personally, I believe television and the general media are much less salacious now than they were in the 1970s. Had it not been for The Godfather, the number one box office grossing film in 1972 would have been DEEP THROAT.
I also strongly object to the FCC considering bringing pay cable under their same jurisdiction. I pay for my premium channels, and therefore should be to view as much swearing, nudity and violence as I want. Mainstream Republicans and Democrats alike would simply not stand for this type of intrusion into our rights. How do you think my father (a Republican since 1962) would react if HBO was forced to pull The Sopranos because one stuffy housewive in North Carolina found the content objectionable?
Please. Let's have some maturity and common sense, because I feel for some of you it is sorely lacking.
Exactly right. In fact, it doesn't even make it safe for them to interact with other kids their age in wholesome settings . . . because the other kids cannot be expected to be particularly wholesome themselves. We have no TV reception in our home (though we do have a set for the VCR). Nonetheless, my 7-year-old picks up the latest in TV culture from peers at her suburban Catholic school.
Seems to me that if someone would like to avoid hearing gutter language and the Lord's name taken in vain ... that is their right.
AE, how many children do you have?
None, I am engaged. However, my parents raised me with careful supervision, and from their guidance I know that children are mature enough to recognize clear moral principles when explained in a manner they can understand. I believe art is not intended to be safe, to be easily digested. People used to cry murder at the works of Marcel Duchamp at the Armory Art Exhibit in New York, but now he is considered the greatest influence in art.
Eliminating a perceived cause of anti-social or inappropriate behavior will simply allow it surface somewhere else. I watched "R"-rated movies as a child, but my parents watched them with me, explaining a character's motivation, what drives them, whether they were good or evil (as relevant to the plot) and didn't simply leave me by the television in hopes it would babysit me.
Oh yeah, those "R"-rated films were authored by perverts like Antonioni, Godard, Kubrick, Scorsese, Bogdanovich, Franju, Welles, Cameron, Spielberg and Truffaut.
Just because you feel that television or film or music is corrupting your youth does not make it so. It is a tired and unproven argument. In my record collection, I have an original LP of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" (a gift from my father). When three young men were accused of murder in West Memphis, TN in lieu of physical evidence, the defense presented the same album as evidence of clear anti-social behavior.
Obviously, since these three youth listened to an album about youthful independence and the brief period of time we call mortality, they clearly must be bent on homocidal madness. They are still in jail because of a flawed belief system. I dare you to puruse the archives of magazines from the 1950s and 60s, and read articles about rock and roll and R&B's "troubling influence" on the youth at the time. All you have to do is replace the words "Beatles" or "Led Zeppelin" or "Cream" or "Muddy Waters" with today's modern artist, writers, actors, television shows and you will have the an exact model of today's critiques on culture.
"someone based their decision on whether to go see it or not based on the number of profanities in the film"
Yes, it is their right. What is not their right is to demand that these films be removed from theaters for the enjoyment of others simply because they do not agree with the content contained in the film/television show/album/book/etc.
When a small group of critics are allowed to say what is safe, appropriate, clean and suitable for consumption by the masses you will see the death of culture.
I don't think I've ever heard the F word on broadcast network tv, at least not since Guns N Roses won a grammy. But of course, I have this awesome device called a remote, and it turns off the television.
yep....with the most important "parental controll" being the Power button.
Sooner or later, we're gonna hear of children suing their parents for not allowing them to watch the latest Slutney whore-a-thon (the ACLU already thinks that kids have the right to watch anything with no restrictions), or we'll hear of kids suing any company which puts parental control features that coung "infringe on their 1st Amendment rights".
I think one of these two situations will happen :
1. The FCC decency regulations are declared unconstitutional, which results in the FCC being reduced simply to a federal organization which hands out TV/radio licenses.
2. Far-lefties are appointed to the FCC. In this case, the far-lefties running the FCC would change the definition of broadcast indecency to "politically-incorrect speech" ("politically incorrect" according to the far left, of course). This results in Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz, Bill O'Reilly, and Alex Jones being kicked off the radio. Then the FCC would expand its jurisdiction to cable (which means Fox News either goes far-left or goes off the air, and Hannity, O'Reilly, and Dobbs would be kicked off the air) and satellite radio (affecting Fox News Radio) and finally the internet (which means goodbye FreeRepublic.com, and since PeTA is a far-left organization, all anti-PeTA websites such as Consumerfreedom.com would be shut down as well).
I frankly felt it was a bit inappropriate for you to be lecturing us on "maturity and common sense" when you've never had to struggle with whether or not it is safe to let your little girl (or boy) walk around the block.
Further, I do not apologize for believing that the dramatic increase in sex crimes and other debauchery is at least partially linked to the cultural debasement and exploitation of the sacred gift of sex being daily promoted by what you are calling "art."
Fact is, you were mocking someone for taking into account the profanity in the movie in deciding whether or not to see it ... or let their children see it.
I'm saying that is a perfectly legitimate consideration ... and most parents would agree.
The American people do have a say in what's aired. If no one watches, they cancel the show. That's how our voices are heard. Your complaint is that the free market isn't to your liking so you want government to step in and grind freedom under its heel.
Sure, that's what I want.
I was just saying to my wife the other day ... wouldn't it be great if the government would step in and grind freedom under its heel?
I wish we could discuss this a little more rationally.
As soon as you admit that the American people control what the networks air, by tuning out the shows they don't like, we can discuss this rationally. Last season was repleat with shows that the public just didn't buy. Before we can have a grown up conversation about this issue, we first have to admit that you want to do an end run around the market, because you're not happy with the choices the people have made via the market.
"Further, I do not apologize for believing that the dramatic increase in sex crimes and other debauchery is at least partially linked to the cultural debasement and exploitation of the sacred gift of sex being daily promoted by what you are calling "art."
Please link me to studies which back up your statement as fact, otherwise you have made a statement of general moral disgust phrased as a strawman.
Social conservatives too often bring up shows like "Leave It To Beaver" or "The Andy Griffith Show" as a model of a "simpler, more proper" time in American society. These shows were fabrications, just like their assumption. My mother was not born in Mayberry. Her parents divorced in 1955, and she was beaten and sexually assaulted by an alcoholic stepfather. How is that any different from today? Kids had just as much sex in the the back of a '57 Chevrolet as they do in a Scion xB in 2006. We as a society have just become more open about what makes us human beings. People like Lieberman and Clinton demonize video games for being dangerous influences on youth. Have the not noticed that it also increases development of hand-eye coordination at a younger age? Tell me, what episode of "Leave It To Beaver" drove Charles Whitman to climb the University of Texas tower in 1966 and kill 15 innocent people?
I will agree with you, the world can be a dangerous place. Your feelings and actions should be directed elsewhere if you truly want to solve a problem. Preventing Americans from watching material which you do not find suitable is not any kind of solution.
Today it is not.
You presumably have your theories about why that is. And I have mine.
I have merely tried to state the problem from a parent's perspective ... and to explain that "just-turn-it-off-if-you-don't-like-it" doesn't make the problem go away.
By the way ... I apologize for the tone of my last post ... there was no need for the sarcasm.
I'm a parent, and a grandparent, and I don't share your perspective of the problem. See, here's the deal. We disagree, and only one of our views can and will prevail. By the looks of things, it's my view. In either event, one of us is going to have to just accept the fact that we can't get our way.
This is not the kind of "barstool opinion" popularized recently in debates like intelligent design.
There is right and there is wrong. There are facts and there are lies. You have made statements which I do not believe can be backed up by proven fact. I have. Until you can back up your claim that television has led to a dramatic rise in sex crimes you are wrong. Therefore, you are lying. This is not some type of debate on CNN where the anchor gives up and says, "Well, I guess the debate continues." WRONG.
Until you can back up your statements with hard, ascertainable truth supported by facts, you are lying.
Lying?
Yes, when you cannot back up such a statement with PROOF. You are the model of "truthiness".
I would suggest that highest purpose of art is not to "disturb," as you suggested, but to uplift man and glorify God.
The highest art appeals to our nobler, not our baser, instincts.
Sorry, I wasn't aware that you were able to read Mr. Franklin's mind.
I decided that a guy who died in the 18th Century might have given more thought to search and seizure than to the crucial need of slack-jawed yokels to view T&A on the public airwaves. Surely, that required me to read his mind.
Puh-leeze. Either defend your ideas or stay out of adult conversations.
Not exactly a Nanny State Ping -------- thought you would all be interesested in this.
Hmmm...I'll have to think on this one a bit. Not sure where I stand on regulating sexual content for adults. I usually love these Chuck Colson pings, but I'm not sure I agree with him on this one.
Of course, I draw the line when kids are exposed to this cr@p on purpose...but then, it was MY job to make sure I wasn't "The Coolest Mom" by indulging my boys in movies and music with gratuitous sex. I still remember the uproar when I popped "Coyote Ugly" out of the video player while they were (secretly) watching it, LOL!
If the 'Bra and Girdle Section' of the Sears Catalog was good enough for their Dad, it should've been good enough for them! ;)
You know, no one demands that we have TVs in our homes. They can be removed. I've done it. And when I have TIME to watch TV...I'm never impressed.
With TIVO and Netflix and computer & video games...do people really watch that much TV anymore? I've lost track.
Bravo.
A very well thought out and stated commentary and I am in total agreement with you.
I'm an adult who has parents, and just like my parents controlled what I watched on TV, I control what my child watches on TV.........I don't need the government to be be my nanny.
Monday night 10pm Travel Channel - Anthony Bourdain
I have no clue what is on at any other time on any other channel. My 7 year old, OTOH, could probably recite the weekly lineup for Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel with her eyes closed. But now that the weather has broken - the last thing on earth she wants is to be in the house. I have more important things to do in my life than bother with the TV.
I don't watch much in the way of tv-watched one episode of The Sopranos, and swore I'd NEVER view it again. Nothing but "F" every other word-not a virgin here, but my old rule of thumb was always, the more swearing in something, the weaker the script. More 'godfather' crap-why should I care about a bunch of vile scum that live to double-cross and kill each other? Garbage. Watch Animal Planet, Discovery, Lou Dobbs, other than that, pretty much movies -the older, the better, as a rule, and occasionally a talk program. Hard for me to believe I used to watch for hours a day back from the time I was a kid until about the early eighties.
I'm there with both of you. The garabage on tv today just doesn't warrant being tuned into. I like a lot of the old B horror flicks, and I do like a lot of sci-fi. But as for this ghetto-mode stuff, I will not turn it on. I cannot tolerate mtv, of E!, or those crap shows on vh1.
But, I would not want aunt nanny being my advocate, either, and if someone likes that stuff, more power to 'em. I don't think more restrictions will solve the problem. I can't stand a lot of this music today, either. But the P.M.R.C. really cranks me off. We don't need a P.M.R.C. for tv, too.
Now you know why there are only 4 shows I never miss: Brit Hume, Monk, Overhaulin' and Packers football.
It is quite possible that "Girls Next Door" is syndicated in some markets...but I doubt it. The mom in question probably didn't have her parental controls on when she went past E!.
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