[indianrightwinger]

I see no reason for the pictures to be shown on TV, period! Especially during newscasts and other TV programming watched by children. Honestly, there is nothing informative about showing these pictures. They don't add value to the news story that he is dead now.

[Lurker]

They don't add value to the news story that he is dead now.

Sure they do.

"Don't grow up to be a psychotic mass murdering dictator kiddies or you'll end up swinging from a rope just like the bad man on TV."

L

[Pan_Yans Wife]

There is an easy fix. Turn off the television, and the kiddies won't see it.

I find it really easy to avoid programming that I don't want my children to see. Not just because it may be graphic like the hanging of a dictator.

But because I know television programming is filled with poor language, low-brow humor, sexism, and blasphemous material.

It is MY responsibility to protect my childrens' innocence and I am diligent about it.

[Shadowstrike]

Be a parent, and edit what your children watch.

Were you equally offended when they showed pictures of American Soldiers hanging and burning on bridges?

How can letting children see the destruction of Evil not be educational?

Did you not think Saddam was Evil? Or is it that you had a problem with Evil being dispatched.

[mfnorman]

if you can't find what your looking for on tv you can always find it somewhere on the internet

[indcons]

I don't see why "children" would be watching the news. If they are old enough to watch the news and like it, they probably have the maturity to see and understand what's on TV.

[piasa]

If you don't want your kids to see it, instead of demanding censorship, just don't let them watch it. Isn't it better if YOU decide what to censor instead of leaving that up to some bureaucrats or corporate heads? If you can keep your kids from watching it during prime time hours you're still never going to be able to keep them from sneaking in to watch it later when you've gone to bed, or from seeing it somewhere else where you aren't there to slap their hands, or finding it somewhere the censors don't go.

Instead of treating your kids as if they are too retarded to learn anything, why not educate them by letting them watch it while you explain why putting one's self in a position to be hanged is really stupid- be you a dictator or just a kid.

Perhaps the kid should first be taught what death is - nothing does the trick better than letting him gut and skin whatever critter is destined for the next family meal, or at least let him see what the family cat does to a bird or mouse instead of sending him back into the house. Perhaps some children have a hard time comprehending death as an undesirable state because they are sheltered from it too much.

I learned to read by the age of four on the photo captions in an Encyclopedia of WW2- complete with grisly images of bloated bodies of horses and men, crematoriums, flamethrowers in use, decapitations and yes, even hangings. But if some folks had their way this imagery wouldn't be available to a person that age for fear a four year old might try to imitate Mussolini's demise or microwave the neighbor's baby. Heck, if some had their way this sort of imagery would be banned for any age group.

Look at 9/11- the powers that be seem to have been quite good at censoring that for all age groups, perhaps because in their view we are never going to be old enough to handle what the self-styled "elites" can handle. What have we gained from such censorship? Apathy! Too many people think that attack on this country was no big deal, being unable to visualize what it might be like to have to choose between plunging to one's death or being incinerated. Someone getting their head sawed off is no big deal but some woman having a wardrobe malfunction during the Superbowl is critically important. Our press doesn't cover terrorism in all its grisly forms even though it is a scourge all over the world... so what do people get concerned about? They're concerned about the bickering between a cranky lesbian and a wealthy jackass, obtaining new MP3 downloads, what kind of fat the government is going to allow restaurants to serve in the food, and whatever fabricated overpublicized story is spin-of-the-month for the MSM.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

As Lurker said. That's why the hangings in the Old West were carried out in the public square or on the courthouse lawn...and why they announced the hanging and everyone turned out to watch. Gruesome, yes. But a fairly potent lesson.

If they're going to show our enemies sniping and killing our soldiers and they're going to show our citizens and soldiers who were murdered, burned, and hung from a bridge for public display, then they ought to be showing this hanging in this country. But of course they won't, for that may serve to help America in her defense against terrorists.

And the last I heard, TVs have an Off switch if parents don't want their kids to see something.