Recently, the Federal Trade Commission released a report saying that the film, music, television, and video game industries have been marketing adult-oriented material towards children. Let me add to this by saying, “Duh!”. This has been going on for years. When I was 11, a movie came out called “Friday the 13th”. It was rated R, and I was much too young at the time. Did that stop me from wanting to go see it? Um…..NO!!!!! What did stop me was a responsible mother who realized I was too young to witness such violence. Not to mention the fact, looking back, I really didn’t miss much outside of seeing Kevin Bacon get slaughtered, but I digress. I found an article (dead link) on MSNBC.com that had Al Gore’s reaction to the FTC findings…
Gore said Monday if the entertainment industry did not halt such practices, he would support unspecified measures to hold it accountable. “A lot of it has to be done privately,” Gore said in an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey television talk show. “It’s not about censorship; it’s about citizenship, including corporate citizenship.” Referring to his wife’s involvement in the 1980s in a campaign to urge the recording industry to voluntarily label obscene and violent lyrics, Gore said, “Tipper started 20 years ago educating me about why parents need more help, and she was successful in convincing the recording industry to give warnings to parents when material is inappropriate,” Gore said. “Now Joe Lieberman and I are following up on that to try to persuade all the companies in that industry to abide by what they said they would do.”
Ok, let’s break this down, shall we…
1. He’s on Oprah. We know how great a fair and even-handed political forum the Oprah Show is.
2. This is coming from the man who has accepted more campaign funds from the Hollywood industry than any presidential candidate ever.
3. He dug up the ghosts of the PMRC. The ill-fated pet project of Tipper Gore. She cried for ratings, she got a sticker.
4. So either this man is dead serious about censorship or he’s a hypocrite. Either way, that makes him dangerous.
Bottom line: All corporations are soulless money-making machines out for a fast buck. Of course, they are marketing towards your children. Children want most what they can’t have. It’s yours and my job as parents and step-parents to protect our children, not the government. And if you feel it is the government’s job to help raise your children, than you shouldn’t have had kids in the first place.
