 |
 |
 |
Just when I thought the fallout from the Janet Jackson boob thing had died down, I get smacked with evidence of the opposite.
I was flipping channels the other day while procrastinating on cleaning the apartment when I stumbled onto C-SPAN. I try not to watch too much C-SPAN; it tends to raise my blood pressure. I don't really need that kind of crap. However, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the topic. It was footage of a hearing held in Congress a few days earlier on indecency in the media.
I was hoping that they would have touched on the fact that the media has been doing a crappy job of fulfilling their community obligations that is a requirement of licensing, something which I find to be indecent. Or about the concentration of media ownership, which is making it difficult for those people who have a differing opinion to the majority, to get their side presented in the public debate. (Not unlike how Moveon.org was shut out by CBS when they refuse to take Moveon.org's money to air an anti-Bush ad during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, I didn't hear any of that. No the people testifying and speechifying were concentrating on "indecency."
Indecency is a difficult thing to legislate. One person's indecent show might be another person's entertainment. And as a citizen of a country that purports to believe in free speech, I don't believe that the government should have a hand in saying what a person can and cannot be allowed to see. I merely wish to see that all points of view gets to be seen as opposed to only those that parrot the administration. What I saw in that hearing was very, very disturbing.
What I saw was the ever-bloated Michael Powell (the lackey son of Colin Powell) talking about the need to legislate broadcast and cable programming standards. Cable? Excuse me? I can understand why some folks out there might get their drawers in a bunch about something that happened on regular over the air television. But cable? Why the hell should I have to deal with "child friendly" cable? I pay good money for my cable and I want the words that you can't use on broadcast television to be allowed. I am an adult and I do not want my cable service to be disneyfied.
I've had it. I am getting sick and tired of the people who decry anything that sounds like fun in the name of children. Not everything out there is supposed to be for children. Anyone with half a brain knows that. That's why the children have parents who are supposed to monitoring what they watch, listen to, and read. Why should the rest of us suffer because some parents neglect their duty? I don't care if Hillary Clinton has opined that it takes a village, I want my entertainment without it being watered down or "cleaned up." Why the hell should I have to deal with rated PG fare if I want more adult entertainment? I pay for my cable the same way the parents of those children do! You can block channels you don't want. Why should I be kept from channels because someone's parent neglected to do their job? This is absolutely ridiculous!
If all this weren't enough, then there's the uproar about video games. I admit I own a Playstation 2 console. And I own both Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Am I supposed to feel guilty about it? So there's profanity, and killing, and hookers and mayhem in the game. So what? The game is rated MA as in mature for adults. I am an adult so I enjoy my video game. (The fact that I usually cheat because my skills aren't so hot is a different story.) The point is that as an adult I'm entitled to my rated MA game. Am I supposed to play games with Barbie on the cover or something? Besides, the games are 50 bucks apiece. I have a job so I buy my own games. How are all these children getting their games? Could it be their parents buy them? If you buy 7 year old Johnny a game that's rated MA then you have no one to blame for Johnny's exposure to filth than the person in the mirror. Barring the sale of said games is punishing me and others like me for your screw-up. Then you call your local politician who can't help than to get on a pandering soapbox. Politicians love nothing more than to pontificate on the lack of moral values displayed by certain entertainment industries and the people who support them.
I can't stand it when these politicians start preaching about morality while displaying no evidence of adhering to said moral code in their private lives. The hypocrisy is appalling. Besides, it seems to distract from the real pressing issues. As the hearings I saw on C-SPAN went on people were dying in Iraq because Bush send them there based on lies. Do we have an investigation into this? No we're wasting time talking about "decency" because there was a flash of breast on TV for three quarters of a second. I used to see breasts on TV all the time. If I remember correctly the show was National Geographic. I don't recall huge outcries about indecency. I guess the breasts of women in Africa or the Amazon are acceptable television fare while the breasts of American women are not.
This whole Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" blow-up exposed a lot more about our politicians than it ever did of Ms. Jackson.
|
|
|