I love America. The freedom to do and say whatever we feel is right and we are free to react in accordance to the way others act and to what they may say is what makes this nation so wonderful. Our nation promotes itself as the very definition of freedom, and our constitution is built around preserving said freedoms.
Too bad when we wake up from the dream, reality isn’t so blissful.
Ben Franklin summed it up nicely over two hundred years ago when he said, “People who are willing to give up freedom for the sake of short term security, deserve neither freedom nor security.” We promote freedom left and right as a nation of “Freedom Lovers” but we do nothing but restrict to no end the freedoms we so fondly promote.
A prime example of this is the way American’s are so dependent on associations like the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to place everything said and done on American radio and television under a microscope to ensure that an old lady in Middle-of-Nowhere, Wyoming will not be offended that she heard someone happen to mention the word “Hell” on the radio and possibly take it completely out of context. A huge uproar was made January 2004 when a women showed, during the NFL Super Bowl game, something that at least 51% of the world personally has, and that the rest of us will more than likely see in due time. A female breast shown on television for a few seconds created a huge uproar and the FCC went berserk.
How dare Janet Jackson show us what all of our mother’s have, and what many of them used to feed us for months? We wouldn’t want women to get the impression that their bodies are something that can be admired. All women should, and must, be kept covered at all times or we may become a nation of gun-totting perverts who can’t keep our pants on. Just because more than half the population of the world actually have breasts that they see in the nude on a regular basis doesn’t make it right for them to show a few seconds of nipple on television.
But the Immoral actions of the media don’t end there, far from it. There’s violence in the videogames the children of America (not to mention the world) play on a daily basis. Sure the games are clearly labeled, marketed, and sold to those seventeen and older, but these children are still acquiring them without their parents ever knowing. The parent’s simply open their wallets and checkbooks, pay the cashier, and never doubt that their children are making perfect choices for their age. Children are more than capable of understanding violence, sex, and drugs without any parental guidance. That’s what television is for (Mr. Rogers is dead, but his messages of sharing and honesty live on in reruns). Parents have much more important things to do than teach their children the vague concepts of right and wrong and how to act appropriately in society. So when it comes to what games are bought for them, they clearly know that violence is wrong and should be avoided at all costs, so no questions need to be asked, and no large black and white labels on the covers of every single game need to be looked at to ensure these children are not given Mature content in games that were never intended for them.
The mother at Wal-Mart had no clue that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City wasn’t meant for her ten year old son. There was no large label on the game’s cover that mentioned the material contained violent and sexual material and other mature content meant to be played and viewed by audiences seventeen and older. Maybe someone, like Doctor Arthur Pober of the Interactive Digital Software Association, should have created and enforced such labels, maybe call them the ESRB (short for Entertainment Software Rating Board) ten years ago in November 1994. If we had those, then parents in America could easily look up the ratings of all games before they purchase them, and see if the material is appropriate for their children.
If only.
And if only parents could find time for their children and do something so radical it could change society in America forever: talk. Such a novel concept seems fitting to the realm of science fiction. Why would any parent want to have a conversation with their children, especially about sex, violence, and drugs? With eight hours to work, eight hours to sleep, there’s only eight hours left in the day. Where can time possibly be made to talk to children about the dangers of drugs and violence, and the possible results of engaging in sexual activity? With only eight hours to spare, parents need to utilize any and all tools that could assist in the learning process. School has no right to teach sex, as it is only to promote repeated memorization of facts, so that is clearly not an option. Television is full of sex, violence, drugs, and bad humor, so such a thing must be kept under strict control so that little if any of this content ever reaches our children while we sit them in front of the television so we can do anything else with my eight hours of free time somewhere away from them and the FCC and other groups can make sure they see no violent or sexually explicit material not intended for younger viewers. They don’t need advised parental guidance.
They will just have to learn when they get older because it is far too much to ask of parents to actually raise their children themselves when Mr. Rogers and Big Bird are more than able to handle all of life’s questions.
I suppose that’s enough patronizing for now. No, wait. One more thing needs to be said.
Americans in general are lazy, self-indulgent, ignorant pricks.
Yes, I said it. And I meant it. And it is true. Is it a stereotype? Damn right it is. But stereotypes come from somewhere. And just because a stereotype isn’t true all the time does not mean that it can’t be true most of the time, in which case this is.
And for those thinking I am a simple follower of Michael Moore, I readily admit to sharing a fair share of views with the man, however, I do not accept or believe everything the man says, and I do believe the man to be a hypocrite to a small degree. However, his critics fail to point out that he is a rich, fat, white man himself that has a huge ego, he does do two major things that his critics fail to do. The man does promote heuristic ideas (which are fun for discussion at parties) and he actually does attempt to do things to improve the nation, whereas many of his critics simply do not do anything whatsoever.
But I do stand by my statement wholeheartedly. Americans have gotten so fat and lazy to the point that they need “healthy alternatives” (read: Atkins approved) at fast food burger chains. Fast Food is inherently unhealthy, as are soft drinks. Why do Americans feel so compelled to rationalize their purchase of a burger and coke by saying the meal is low in “Carbs”? Need a perfect example of this ridiculous tend that fat Americans flock to so as to feel better about their poor eating habits rather than actually eating healthy?
Two words: Carb-Free Doughnuts.
There I said it.
So why are there still so many problems remaining with all the film ratings, television ratings, video game ratings, v-chips, internet parental control software, and other ridiculous garbage meant to give parents the excuse to not communicate with their children about these important topics?
Did any single one of these pretentious members of the Parents Television Council stop to think that television is not the problem to all of society’s woes and the ruin of the nuclear family? Did any of their members ever stop and accept the fact that parents (primarily those of the very self-indulgent, cynical and hypocritical Baby Boomer variety) are to blame? Parents and children communicate so little now that neither know what is really going on with one another. Parents refuse to discuss sex with their children, or even let the children learn this in school, so when these children get to adolescence they have no idea of how to control themselves in a sexual situation (such as when a young man and lady are on a date alone, or even the relative understanding of masturbation?). So many problems occur because of poor communication skills (one big extreme would be that the events of 9/11 occurred because of poor communication skills, both between the United States government and the Middle Eastern nations, as well as within our own government’s intelligence bureaus).
Instead of sitting the children in front of the television for eight hours, or complaining about the material found in television or any other form of media and entertainment, parents should accept responsibility for raising their children and start talking with them beyond yelling at them to clean their rooms or to turn down the damn rock music. If they did that, America would not need to rely on the motto “Can’t Somebody Else Do It?” to get through life, and groups like the FCC wouldn’t infringe on the rights of American’s because one woman bared a nipple on live television. And that aging baby boomer buying that video game for her young child at Wal-Mart won’t file a lawsuit against the store for selling her a game, which she purchased for her child, which contained mature content that was clearly stated on the box.
Too bad when we wake up from the dream, reality isn’t so blissful.
Ben Franklin summed it up nicely over two hundred years ago when he said, “People who are willing to give up freedom for the sake of short term security, deserve neither freedom nor security.” We promote freedom left and right as a nation of “Freedom Lovers” but we do nothing but restrict to no end the freedoms we so fondly promote.
A prime example of this is the way American’s are so dependent on associations like the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to place everything said and done on American radio and television under a microscope to ensure that an old lady in Middle-of-Nowhere, Wyoming will not be offended that she heard someone happen to mention the word “Hell” on the radio and possibly take it completely out of context. A huge uproar was made January 2004 when a women showed, during the NFL Super Bowl game, something that at least 51% of the world personally has, and that the rest of us will more than likely see in due time. A female breast shown on television for a few seconds created a huge uproar and the FCC went berserk.
How dare Janet Jackson show us what all of our mother’s have, and what many of them used to feed us for months? We wouldn’t want women to get the impression that their bodies are something that can be admired. All women should, and must, be kept covered at all times or we may become a nation of gun-totting perverts who can’t keep our pants on. Just because more than half the population of the world actually have breasts that they see in the nude on a regular basis doesn’t make it right for them to show a few seconds of nipple on television.
But the Immoral actions of the media don’t end there, far from it. There’s violence in the videogames the children of America (not to mention the world) play on a daily basis. Sure the games are clearly labeled, marketed, and sold to those seventeen and older, but these children are still acquiring them without their parents ever knowing. The parent’s simply open their wallets and checkbooks, pay the cashier, and never doubt that their children are making perfect choices for their age. Children are more than capable of understanding violence, sex, and drugs without any parental guidance. That’s what television is for (Mr. Rogers is dead, but his messages of sharing and honesty live on in reruns). Parents have much more important things to do than teach their children the vague concepts of right and wrong and how to act appropriately in society. So when it comes to what games are bought for them, they clearly know that violence is wrong and should be avoided at all costs, so no questions need to be asked, and no large black and white labels on the covers of every single game need to be looked at to ensure these children are not given Mature content in games that were never intended for them.
The mother at Wal-Mart had no clue that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City wasn’t meant for her ten year old son. There was no large label on the game’s cover that mentioned the material contained violent and sexual material and other mature content meant to be played and viewed by audiences seventeen and older. Maybe someone, like Doctor Arthur Pober of the Interactive Digital Software Association, should have created and enforced such labels, maybe call them the ESRB (short for Entertainment Software Rating Board) ten years ago in November 1994. If we had those, then parents in America could easily look up the ratings of all games before they purchase them, and see if the material is appropriate for their children.
If only.
And if only parents could find time for their children and do something so radical it could change society in America forever: talk. Such a novel concept seems fitting to the realm of science fiction. Why would any parent want to have a conversation with their children, especially about sex, violence, and drugs? With eight hours to work, eight hours to sleep, there’s only eight hours left in the day. Where can time possibly be made to talk to children about the dangers of drugs and violence, and the possible results of engaging in sexual activity? With only eight hours to spare, parents need to utilize any and all tools that could assist in the learning process. School has no right to teach sex, as it is only to promote repeated memorization of facts, so that is clearly not an option. Television is full of sex, violence, drugs, and bad humor, so such a thing must be kept under strict control so that little if any of this content ever reaches our children while we sit them in front of the television so we can do anything else with my eight hours of free time somewhere away from them and the FCC and other groups can make sure they see no violent or sexually explicit material not intended for younger viewers. They don’t need advised parental guidance.
They will just have to learn when they get older because it is far too much to ask of parents to actually raise their children themselves when Mr. Rogers and Big Bird are more than able to handle all of life’s questions.
I suppose that’s enough patronizing for now. No, wait. One more thing needs to be said.
Americans in general are lazy, self-indulgent, ignorant pricks.
Yes, I said it. And I meant it. And it is true. Is it a stereotype? Damn right it is. But stereotypes come from somewhere. And just because a stereotype isn’t true all the time does not mean that it can’t be true most of the time, in which case this is.
And for those thinking I am a simple follower of Michael Moore, I readily admit to sharing a fair share of views with the man, however, I do not accept or believe everything the man says, and I do believe the man to be a hypocrite to a small degree. However, his critics fail to point out that he is a rich, fat, white man himself that has a huge ego, he does do two major things that his critics fail to do. The man does promote heuristic ideas (which are fun for discussion at parties) and he actually does attempt to do things to improve the nation, whereas many of his critics simply do not do anything whatsoever.
But I do stand by my statement wholeheartedly. Americans have gotten so fat and lazy to the point that they need “healthy alternatives” (read: Atkins approved) at fast food burger chains. Fast Food is inherently unhealthy, as are soft drinks. Why do Americans feel so compelled to rationalize their purchase of a burger and coke by saying the meal is low in “Carbs”? Need a perfect example of this ridiculous tend that fat Americans flock to so as to feel better about their poor eating habits rather than actually eating healthy?
Two words: Carb-Free Doughnuts.
There I said it.
So why are there still so many problems remaining with all the film ratings, television ratings, video game ratings, v-chips, internet parental control software, and other ridiculous garbage meant to give parents the excuse to not communicate with their children about these important topics?
Did any single one of these pretentious members of the Parents Television Council stop to think that television is not the problem to all of society’s woes and the ruin of the nuclear family? Did any of their members ever stop and accept the fact that parents (primarily those of the very self-indulgent, cynical and hypocritical Baby Boomer variety) are to blame? Parents and children communicate so little now that neither know what is really going on with one another. Parents refuse to discuss sex with their children, or even let the children learn this in school, so when these children get to adolescence they have no idea of how to control themselves in a sexual situation (such as when a young man and lady are on a date alone, or even the relative understanding of masturbation?). So many problems occur because of poor communication skills (one big extreme would be that the events of 9/11 occurred because of poor communication skills, both between the United States government and the Middle Eastern nations, as well as within our own government’s intelligence bureaus).
Instead of sitting the children in front of the television for eight hours, or complaining about the material found in television or any other form of media and entertainment, parents should accept responsibility for raising their children and start talking with them beyond yelling at them to clean their rooms or to turn down the damn rock music. If they did that, America would not need to rely on the motto “Can’t Somebody Else Do It?” to get through life, and groups like the FCC wouldn’t infringe on the rights of American’s because one woman bared a nipple on live television. And that aging baby boomer buying that video game for her young child at Wal-Mart won’t file a lawsuit against the store for selling her a game, which she purchased for her child, which contained mature content that was clearly stated on the box.