The Super Bowl - Not A Safe Bet For Family Viewing
By Lisa Sarrach & Kevin Fobbs
Weve all now heard or have seen the
infamous half-time show at the Super Bowl, culminating in the raunchy, strip
tease performance of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake.
Hollywood-Hero agrees with the F.C.C.
chairman Michael Powell who said:
"I
am outraged by what I saw during the halftime show of the Super Bowl," Mr.
Powell said. "Like millions of
Americans, my family and I gathered around the television for a celebration. Instead, that celebration was tainted by a
classless, crass, and deplorable stunt.
Our nation's children and citizens deserve better. I have instructed the commission to open an
immediate investigation into last night's broadcast," he said in a statement. "Our investigation will be thorough and
swift."
Weve
written before about the continuing debasement of our culture as seen now on a
daily basis on our television and movie screens. We hope that finally there will be a price to
pay for pushing the envelope beyond all reason of decency.
From swearing, gross displays of affection
between both women and men, and crotch grabbing on award shows - To the counter
programming on basic cable channels like a celebration of Gay weddings, and
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy marathons, sexual and violent videos on MTV, and
sexual content on our family sitcoms - There is no longer a safe place on
television for our children.
It
should go without saying, but bears repeating in this current climate - There
is a place for this type of programming:
pay cable channels. Adult fare
that is controversial, overly sexual (both Gay and Straight), and violent, has
no place on public airwaves or on basic cable.
Todays
households get their television reception primarily from
either cable or satellite. Cable and
satellite services are our antennas. The
day of rabbit ears is long gone. There
is a plethora of programming available, and sold in packages that offer real
choices. However, what used to be a safe
bet for parents, just not subscribing to pay channels like HBO or Showtime,
where the adult fare used to live, is no longer a safe option.
With
hundreds of channels to choose from on basic cable or satellite, dangers lurk everywhere that make it almost
impossible to find safe choices in programming for parents.
And
guess what, the powers that be, the huge media outlets, apparently, dont give
a hoot about it. Tough cheese, they say,
as long as they make money. Well make
the point one more time, that until consumers uses their power to let them know
what they will or will not tolerate, the continuing debasement of our
entertainment choices and the marketing of sex and violence to our children
will continue. This isnt the last time
they will go over the line, but it should be the last time we tolerate it.
Lets
look at the upcoming Grammys this weekend.
Once upon a time, years ago, the Grammys or Tony Award Shows were not
the place for political activism, lewd and lascivious behavior or the place to
be if you wanted to be outrageous. It
used to be the evening where you could see a number from a Broadway show youd
never get to see otherwise, a chance to celebrate the theater and all its
wonders. The Grammys gave us live
performances from some of the greatest recording artists this country has even
seen, and again, an opportunity to see them perform a favorite number,
live. We could safely expose (no pun
intended) our children to the joys of our rich culture in word and song.
No
longer are the Grammys and Tony Awards fit for children consumption. What a shame that now it appears that the
Super Bowl has been added to the list of non-family fare.
Consumers
are being bombarded with rate increases for their cable and satellite
services. Families who are concerned
that they now have to block more channels that they can watch with their
children, can and maybe should consider going back to those rabbit ears. They can abandon the high tech garbage thats
being offered; invest in a video library of acceptable family fare, such as
classic movies, favorite animated flicks like Finding Nemo and concerts that are now widely available in both VHS
and DVD. Its a better and safer
investment for todays children, with the control solely in the hands of the
parents, where it belongs.
How
do you think the media conglomerates that control what is being produced and
aired would react to a wholesale revolt of their programming? Its an idea whose time may have come, and it
will be no ones fault
but theirs.
One sad footnote to the goings on over the
weekend - When exactly did we as a country, lose any and all requirement for
truth telling?
Whether
its the blatantly transparent attempt by Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson
to assert that their stunt was an accident or any one of the democrat
candidates for president, or any media outlet with an agenda, we have lost the
ability to ferret out the truth. And we
dont seem to care. President Clinton
lied about sex, it matters not.
Politicians lie about their records, or their opponents records, and it
matters not. Celebrities lie to get out
of a jam, and it matters not.
In
todays world of the Internet, 24 hours a day news coverage and pushing the
envelope for acceptable behavior on our public airwaves off a cliff - our
children and the truth are the casualties.
It appears that the truth is second only to our children as throwaway
commodities, no longer seen as important and vital to our nation, not necessary
to protect, not important enough to fight for. They have sadly disappeared in a puff of
overproduced stage smoke.
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