uh, isn't that bombing cambodia in order to kill vietnamese?

[acroyear]

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outraged by how salacious programs on radio and network television have become in recent months, lawmakers vowed on Wednesday to look at indecent shows on cable and satellite channels.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain urged cable and satellite companies to offer parents the ability to pick and choose what channels they get so they can protect their children from violence, sex and profanity, an idea that resonated with other lawmakers and regulators.

Ok, so because on air television is so bad, we're going to further regulate cable.

Not counting the fact that 1) parents DO have the ability to restrict which channels can be watched, 2) parents DO already decide whether or not to have pay channels, and 3) parents can password protect pay-per-view as well. Finally, cable companies are mostly local (and satallite systems have local-aware capabilities) so they can already black-out content deemed inappropriate for the community obscenity standards (indecency is another issue, and is PROTECTED SPEECH YOU JACKASSES so KNOCK IT OFF). They use the same technology to enforce sports-related blackouts.

Its already all in there...and in addition, most digital set-top boxes are already V-Chip aware, so even if your TV doesn't have the V-Chip, the cable box can handle it for you.

Cable customers already know and have control over what they are and aren't getting, and the ultimate solution (ditch the cable) is always an option. On air broadcasts are the things out of people's control and solely in the hands of the networks and affiliates.

Besides, isn't McCain supposed to be solving our Intelligence crisis yet? Or is he part of the problem to begin with?

Comments

[kiltboy]

Having been to a foreign country or two, and having seen what's on their tube, what I've seen so far is pale by comparison. Alyssa Milano topless on The Outer Limits (very nice, by the way), stripper competitions in Barcelona, etc. I've seen full nudity on comercials. Here, we got to see a semi-covered up boob on the Halftime show. Big freakin' deal. We'll show the Govenator blowing up all manner of things and folks, but the human body is off limits? Well, I guess this shouldn't surprise me that much, seeing as how we were partially founded by Puritans, and have elected Puritans (who keep having affairs?) to watch over us, and keep us safe from things which might harm us. We're only the people who voted for them; what could we possibly know about what's good for us?

Kids go to what their not supposed to. Period. If it's taboo, it must be better than what I'm allowed to watch. Mom and Dad watch it, so how bad could it be? I didn't have life barred from me as a kid. It was explained when it happened, so I knew the context, why it was right or wrong, and we got on with life. Big deal.

Oh, wait a minute. I think I've just asnwered my own point: if we spend time being PARENTS, kids usually don't turn out to be morally screwed up, but that does require us to actually spend time being PARENTS. And there's the rub, isn't it? No many folks today spend time being parents anymore. Park the kid in front of the TV and he won't be in my hair for a while.

What? Little Jimmy saw a boob on tv? That's not what I want him watching. So rather than be a PARENT, and explain things to him, I'll just get someone else to do the job for me. Then if the kids turn out to be monsters, it isn't my fault. It the stuff they put on tv. Its the video games, it's the music he listens to, it's the magazines he reads. I shouldn't have to be a PARENT, that stuff just shouldn't be there for him to see. Sure, adults who know better will still want to see it, but we have to idiot proof the whole damned world because I'm too busy to be bothered to be a PARENT.

Maybe I'm disillusioned, but it seems to me that the cure to 98% of societal ills begins at home. 'Course, I could be misinformed.