Now I get it.....
I used to view as completely insane and dismiss almost immediately any parents group in pursuit of television censorship. But I must admit that I'm coming around on the subject.
The culprit is only indirectly related to the content of adult television programming. It's easy enough to shield my kids from viewing programs that may not be appropriate for them and I'm willing to take full responsibility for doing so. The issue I'm having is with the commercials run in juxtaposition to otherwise appropriate pregnancies. Without Tivo, it would be nearly impossible to watch a sporting event with my 4 year old son, something I've been looking forward to for years. Everyone will have an opinion as to effects of watching NFL football and violence involved, but let's put that aside for a moment. It's a game, we talk about it, it's fun and educational, trust me. However, during the break, most of the content consists of the following: corpses, and not in the abstract, I mean full on, bloody, mutilated or eviscerated corpses. Advertising for House, CSI, Law and Order, Criminal Justice, and any other of a myriad of crime based serials all contain this graphic imagery, at all times of day. Those same advertisements also contain imagery that involves weaponry, mostly guns and various people shouting at or threatening other people with weapons. Then there are ads for movies of which there seems to have been a major resurgence in horror films these days. Saw III, Chainsaw Massacre the Beginning, etc., also shown at all times of day adjacent to content, like the NLCS, that is in fact appropriate for kids. All of this is going on during a time when there have been outcries over Janet Jackson's boob, the GoDaddy campaign, and Paris Hilton having sex with a cheese burger. Do I have the same sensitivity to sexually charged advertising? No way. Americans are much too uptight about the subject in general. It's only our completely whacked out views on the subject that screw kids up. In any case, much of the content, like the GoDaddy campaign, takes a mature sense of humor to understand. It doesn't necessarily pander gratuitously to baseline human behavior. Paris comes closer, but I honestly don't think my boys would suffer the same trauma in viewing a catsup covered socialite as compared to the same, sliced into bits or shot point blank.
So, I'm pissed, disturbed, and otherwise annoyed with the political expediency of the FCC. Every so often I'll shift into Marge Simpson mode and fire off a mail (a snail mail with a stamp and everything) to some vendor who has failed to meet expectations. But this is different for me. I don't have a moment in my life to spare, but I feel compelled to make a concerted effort to change this practice of exempting paid advertising from broadcast airtime rules. Let's see what Mr. Family Values has to say.
Until then....
I used to view as completely insane and dismiss almost immediately any parents group in pursuit of television censorship. But I must admit that I'm coming around on the subject.
The culprit is only indirectly related to the content of adult television programming. It's easy enough to shield my kids from viewing programs that may not be appropriate for them and I'm willing to take full responsibility for doing so. The issue I'm having is with the commercials run in juxtaposition to otherwise appropriate pregnancies. Without Tivo, it would be nearly impossible to watch a sporting event with my 4 year old son, something I've been looking forward to for years. Everyone will have an opinion as to effects of watching NFL football and violence involved, but let's put that aside for a moment. It's a game, we talk about it, it's fun and educational, trust me. However, during the break, most of the content consists of the following: corpses, and not in the abstract, I mean full on, bloody, mutilated or eviscerated corpses. Advertising for House, CSI, Law and Order, Criminal Justice, and any other of a myriad of crime based serials all contain this graphic imagery, at all times of day. Those same advertisements also contain imagery that involves weaponry, mostly guns and various people shouting at or threatening other people with weapons. Then there are ads for movies of which there seems to have been a major resurgence in horror films these days. Saw III, Chainsaw Massacre the Beginning, etc., also shown at all times of day adjacent to content, like the NLCS, that is in fact appropriate for kids. All of this is going on during a time when there have been outcries over Janet Jackson's boob, the GoDaddy campaign, and Paris Hilton having sex with a cheese burger. Do I have the same sensitivity to sexually charged advertising? No way. Americans are much too uptight about the subject in general. It's only our completely whacked out views on the subject that screw kids up. In any case, much of the content, like the GoDaddy campaign, takes a mature sense of humor to understand. It doesn't necessarily pander gratuitously to baseline human behavior. Paris comes closer, but I honestly don't think my boys would suffer the same trauma in viewing a catsup covered socialite as compared to the same, sliced into bits or shot point blank.
So, I'm pissed, disturbed, and otherwise annoyed with the political expediency of the FCC. Every so often I'll shift into Marge Simpson mode and fire off a mail (a snail mail with a stamp and everything) to some vendor who has failed to meet expectations. But this is different for me. I don't have a moment in my life to spare, but I feel compelled to make a concerted effort to change this practice of exempting paid advertising from broadcast airtime rules. Let's see what Mr. Family Values has to say.
Until then....
posted by Jaybeau at
9:29 AM
2 Comments:
Since a blog with no comments is prett depressing, I will comment on this one. I agree on sports on television as well as live sports. At home, my boys are subject all that you mention and it is worse at a live event. I stopped taking the boys to ballgames for the sole purpose of avoiding the mouthbreathers that inevitably swarm to those events. I don't even make cute excuses for the idiots that my kids would understand. I tell them that those people are knuckleheads and don't do anything you see them do.
Kind of off topic but where one milieu could benefit from some regulatory censorship, some could certainly learn the art of self-censorship.
There. Now people will think you have some friends if not minions.
Ah lucky for me, friends aren't in short supply. I don't blog consistently enough to participate in shameless self promotion. That said, I appreciate your thoughts and I would have to agree given my last trip to a 49'ers game.
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