[yoe]

I see the NEA's agenda as not just a dumbing down of America, but also a moral decay of America.

I agree about the NEA but what about M TV? Banning titillates and once titillated, curiosity takes over. By banning something you can be sure you have advertised a No-No and that gets attention for the very thing you are trying to hide or silence.

[Dudoight]

You said what I was thinking.

[pamlet]

M TV is depraved as well. As a mom of 2 teenagers (well one is now nearly 20) it has been an incredible challenge to ensure that they stay on track with proper morals. It's not just TV and books - sex and violence are all around them. I remember way back when I was a kid (eons ago) my high school came about because a pastor of a church was concerned about the reading material his daughter was having to read in the public school. (Catcher in the Rye being one of them). Now, as an adult I'm incredibly thankful that there were parents (including my own) that loved their children enough to teach them balanced lives.

Kids today are presented with huge moral/ethical choices at an early age - and frankly I do believe it has to do with the moral decay of our society. Children (yes even teenagers) should not have to face those choices without having been taught step by step how to make proper choices. We moan and complain about how our nation is declining morally, yet we are not willing to admit that part of it is because we allow our children to grow up too fast. Just because a kid is 18 - or 16 - or 14 doesn't mean he needs to "experience" adult life (whether it be real or "vicarious" experience) They have plenty of time for that once they are more mature, and able to determine proper choices.

By the way - I read Catcher in the Rye in my LATE teens, in college and found it rather uninteresting - I really saw no value in it.

[Holly_P]

you have advertised a No-No and that gets attention for the very thing you are trying to hide or silence.

O'Reily and F.N.C. learned that lesson with publicizing that idiot Franken's book didn't they?