Bill O'Reilly's Morality

The Chapin Nation ^ | 23 Oct 03 | ChapinNation

[sbw123]

Bill O'Reilly's Morality

Last night I was listening to Bill O'Reilly's radio show. He was lamenting the state of popular culture, which I must agree, always surprises me with the depth of its increasing lows. Mr. O'Reilly was explicitly upset that the number one movie at the box office is currently a remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Additionally, he was upset that the number one album on the Billboard charts is by the rapper Ludicris.

Both Massacre and Ludicris, O'Reilly complained, glorify violence, promiscuous sex, and drugs. This is fine he said for adults. O'Reilly even went so far as to say he doesn't care if adults do drugs and look at porn all day long in the privacy of their own home. His problem is when those activities bleed into the public realm and begin to be marketed toward children. Adults, O'Reilly pointed out, are not going to Massacre nor buying Ludicris's CD.

O'Reilly of course attacked "Hollywood" as being irresponsible and generally disrespectful to wholesome values and ultimately corrupting "the children." The problem is that "Hollywood" subscribes to the old free market creed: if there is a demand, that demand will be met. Movies and music like Massacre and Ludicris, no matter how culturally low brow they may be, makes millions of dollars because there is apparently a demand for low brow entertainment. The people are being given what they want. I guarantee there won't be a Gigili copycat anytime soon. It's well known that nobody wants it.

So how do we "protect the children" from corrupting popular cultural influences as O'Reilly wants? Well, in regard to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it is an R rated movie. As far as I know, children under 17, the very people O'Reilly wants to protect, are legally prohibited from attending. And yet, as O'Reilly points out, that is the very audience attending. My suggestion to O'Reilly is instead of directing his ire towards Hollywood for making such claptrap, he should direct his attention towards the theatres breaking the law by selling tickets to minors.

Unlike going to the movies, which can be done outside of a parent's watchful eye, compact discs are kept at home where a parent should know what is going on. If a parent does not want his or her child listening to the corrupting influences of Ludicris, the parent should become aware of his or her child's CD collection. And to sound like Bill O'Reilly, I don't buy that a kid can hide his CD's from his parents. The parent has the parental obligation to go through the child's bookbag, drawers, and bedroom to monitor what the child is up to. If a child can't hide a Ludicris CD, chances are the CD won't be kept in the open either and the child will not be able to listen to tales of pimping and other woes.

Frankly, I'm surprised that O'Reilly directed his angry towards Hollywood. After all, this is a guy who's big break came on the tabloid TV show Current Affair which helped glorify the very Hollywood culture that he is now lambasting. In fact, O'Reilly seems to be falling into the leftist trap of "blame someone else for our problems." Hollywood and movie theatres may both be simply trying to make money. But the difference is that the law restricts movie theatres from making money by selling a product to minors. Additionally, O'Reilly seems to be making excuses for parents who don't want to parent. If the values of following the law and parenting were followed, maybe then O'Reilly wouldn't have to be so angry.

[LiteKeeper]

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[Choose Ye This Day]

And to sound like Bill O'Reilly...

No, to sound like O'Reilly, one would need to constantly, insipidly keep interjecting the word, "Alright?" in between every sentence. Drives me nuts.

[First Amendment]

Hollywood and movie theatres may both be simply trying to make money.

They want to make money, AND they have an agenda to destroy the moral atmosphere. For instance, a good friend's brother is a computer whiz artist who works in the movie industry. He worked for Disney for (I think) 2 years and couldn't stand it because the whole animated division was run by and staturated with homosexuals. Hollywood definitely has an agenda, and that is to make America (and as much of the world as they can) into a moral cesspool in which they feel comfortable, and at the same time, convert a lot more young'uns into malleable prey.

And you are absolutely right, parents need to, and have the right to, protect their children from sick trash. But if they send their kids to public school, they are pretty much tossing them to the wolves for 7 or 8 hours a day.