Sen. Obama Warns TV to Clean Up or Congress Will Act

TVWeek ^ | 11/09/05 | Doug Halonen

[mlc9852]

Quite a stretch from I don't like the trash on TV to I hope Hillary becomes president. A little logic would help in this discussion.

[Indy Pendance]

Did they ever find out who shot JR?

[Brimack34]

Why don't you liberals focus on what you are doing to our kids in public schools. They learn more about how to have sex in school than on TV, where we can control what they see.

[wedwo]

You mean you missed that episode!! Everyone knows it was Bush.. i mean really?!

[Indy Pendance]

A lot of big government types on this thread. Very revealing.

[UncleDick]

You allow your kids to go on the Internet alone when you aren't there to watch them?

Well, I can't always be there, you know. What if they get on the internet at a friend's house? I can't monitor them 24/7. But our friendly Big Brother Government can!

[RightOnline]

"The real motive is the Dems trying to set themselves up as the family values party with Obama as the mouthpiece."

No more phone calls.................we have a winner.

[mlc9852]

I agree!

[steve-b]

But I DO want accountability in the entertainment industry. How do we do that?

By not buying. Duh.

[Republican Wildcat]

I guess Obama's solution will be more partial-birth abortions to keep there from being parents in the first place to have to deal with this.

[Indy Pendance]

If you'd read the thread, you'd have known my kids are 23, 22, and 19. I censored my kids, I didn't depend upon the government to do it. I know my kids better than they do. My oldest is a med student, and I allowed her to watch stuff that I wouldn't let the others watch. My middle is a soldier in Iraq protecting our freedoms. My youngest is still figuring it out. The solution it to get rid of the tv. If enough did, the marketeers would have to rethink their programming options.

[asp1]

Hmmmm......a childish remark. Why am I not surprised?

[Indy Pendance]

You really can't connect the concept. Stick around, you might learn stuff.

[mad puppy]

So, you want the government to decide what you should watch. How about the governemnt deciding what you should wear, or what you should read or what you can purchase? Let's not let the parents decide, they're too stupid.

---

Yeah. I knew I'd get some of this, I just wish the disagreement was a little more on target, a little less attack -mode. Oh well.

No, I obviously don't want the things you suggest. I just want the PUBLIC stations that use the PUBLIC airways to be less agenda driven with what they put out there for public consumption. If you want the porn/violence/gay agenda/liberal agenda/etc, that is fine, just don't put it on TV during what used to be called the 'family hour'. Watching Will & Grace, which is a very funny show, slowly dull the senses of American regarding a dangerous life style concerns me. Watching every member of "Friends" sleep with everyone else and push the idea that it is not only OK, but expected, concerns me for my 17 year old daughter and her friends. Sex in the City is a pay-channel show and all I'm suggesting is that the major, free and public networks not compete in that market.

Yes I can turn it off. Yes I can monitor what my kids watch. No I don't have cable or sat. But why am I having to protect my self and my kids from TV that my government supports by allowing them to use the public airways?

[xzins]

TV is such a wasteland....it's too easy to turn it off.

I'm not in favor of tinkering toward some hypothetical language that's going to define what we want to see and what we don't want to see.

It's easier to allow choice than it is to police every little scene and parse every little word.

[Indy Pendance]

Well duh, I'll bet Rove masterminded it. Thanks, it's been a burning question for 20 years.

[FreeReign]

No one is forcing you to own a television. It's that simple.

That's besides the point.

That's like saying people can perform sex acts on the village green at high noon and if you don't like seeing that or if you don't like your children seeing that then you shouldn't be on the village green at high noon.

[mlc9852]

How perceptive of you. I'm impressed.

[steve-b]

Why do we have an FCC?

For the same reason we have a BATF -- government has gotten too big for its britches.

[Northern Alliance]

Ahhh, well, this parent of 5 rather agrees with him. We might argue about the methods, but the principle is right.

You did know you were going to take heat for suggesting that the gov't has any role to play in this at all, right? Anyway, I am with you. The issue is not censorship, but the ability to selectively control what comes into your home. Using a on/off button is not selective and there should be better options.