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Did I miss the boat or something? TV has always been a medium in which people have been pushing the envelope. I mean, even in the "Golden Age of Television" Milton Berle was wearing a dress, Lucy was pregnant and Jackie Gleason was implying domestic violence. These were concepts that even at the time were a bit much for some people. By today's standards, though, they seem extremely tame.
The problem I am having here is that the government has already voted in the V-chip, making it easier for parents to disable programs without having to block channels. Those sets will roll into stores about the same time HDTV starts hitting the streets. Now we are spending money for congressmen to argue whether the guests on Jerry Springer are getting too violent? Have we solved every other problem in our country to the point that this is a prevalent issue? Whee!!! Good thing we don't have homelessness, foreign policy and the national debt to concern ourselves with anymore.
Perhaps we should have a checklist of things to take care of first. Prioritize, people... Sure we have to protect the kids, but with 250 channels on Direct TV and a proliferation of uncensored material in the internet, it is almost impossible. Even commercials and billboards border on pornographic these days, so the only way to protect your kids is to lock all the windows and doors and destroy every form of media in the house.
This morning I heard that a school district here in Texas finally decided to allow "The Diary of Anne Frank" back into the library. It was previously regarded as pornographic. It described living in fear of being caught and tortured, a life in exile, and more importantly, that something so frightening could occur without warning or a chance for escape. Historically it was a landmark book, but it was banned for it's honesty. It was a diary for crying out loud... If someone went through fifty diaries at random at least half (most likely a lot more) would have at least some reference to the writer's innermost thoughts. Three words: Senator Bob Packwood. Our tax dollars at work.
We can't control everything, but with the V-chip, and items like CyberPatrol and SafeSurf we can at least try to keep the kids safe. The media is the ultimate marketplace in that the content is driven by supply and demand. As long as people keep watching these shows, then someone will keep making them. They will just wind up on Cable or Satellite as opposed to network TV.
As Jerry Springer would say in this simulated "closing thought": In today's world there are no set answers, no final solutions which cover every aspect of life fully. We can't cure the ills of society by targeting one outlet, but we can send a message to those in charge letting them know how we feel on the subject. Perhaps all it takes is a note to Congress: Instead of trying to police the public, try working on issues that can be solved... The rest is up to us. Good night and God Bless. Until next time...
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