If You See The Power Rangers on the TV, Kill Them![*]

Nick Gillespie | February 16, 2007

From the AP via Wash Times:

A new draft report from the Federal Communications Commission says the government may be able to limit violence on TV in a way that does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

The long-overdue report suggests Congress could craft a law that would let the agency regulate violent programming much like it regulates sexual content and profanity -- by barring it from being aired during hours when children may be watching, for example....

Citing studies, the draft report says there is evidence that violent programming can lead to "short-term aggressive behavior in children," according to an agency source, who asked not to be identified because the commission has not approved the report.

The report also suggests that cable and satellite TV could be subjected to an "a la carte" regime that would let viewers choose their channels.

More here.

Fascinating that the dread menance of TV violence and a la carte pricing would be so tightly connected. Less fascinating that the mangy data of "short-term aggressive behavior in children" (e.g., punching Bobo dolls after a particularly disappointing episode of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody) is still be trotted out a holy relic.

Tim Cavanaugh made the case for prix fixe cable packages.

[*] Barely connected headline allusion here.

Comments

|2.16.07 @ 8:00AM|#

Alpha, goverment intervention has gotten out of control! Recruit a team of teenagers with attitude! .

Ethan|2.16.07 @ 8:03AM|#

I call on the heart of the cards to vanquish these fascists!

|2.16.07 @ 8:07AM|#

It is time to d-d-d-d-duuuuuel! With those who want to regulate television.

|2.16.07 @ 8:12AM|#

Three typical teenage kids went to a haunted mansion, just by chance they freed a ghost who would had made them Beetle Borgs, but the FCC deemed it to be too violent
BIG. BAD. BEETLE BORGS!

|2.16.07 @ 8:37AM|#

I would like someone at Cato or the LP to take a lengthy clip of one of the fruity danceabout "fights" from a typical Power Rangers-esque show and add a voiceover saying "the FCC considers this to be violent and deserving of regulation. But not this-" then cut to a montage of the most violent metal-twisting NASCAR crashes, hunters from Outdoor Life pulling out the entrails of a gutted moose, and that infomercial where the Colon-Cleanser guy holds up the black oily mass that will come out of you daily if you use his product.

It's okay. By 2010 all TV programming will be about Anna Nicole anyway.

|2.16.07 @ 9:18AM|#

You didn't have to explain the allusion, Nick. We got it (at least I did).

|2.16.07 @ 9:25AM|#

Wouldn't it be easier on everyone if all children were just sent to educational internment camps until they were 25?

The Wine Commonsewer|2.16.07 @ 9:55AM|#

Mrs TWC once said:

"I would rather be on a high-jacked airplane with someone inoculated by Power Rangers than someone who believes the message of every school institution: that weapons are bad and that the authorities and the government will solve all problems and protect you."

The Wine Commonsewer|2.16.07 @ 9:56AM|#

However, as a parent who has been repeatedly subjected to the Power Rangers brand of violence I would make an exception for the regulators in this case.

The Wine Commonsewer|2.16.07 @ 9:57AM|#

It's sad, but I feel like I have to say I was only kidding.

|2.16.07 @ 10:04AM|#

Yet another step in the wussyfication of our nation. If this continues, in another 50 years the US will be inundated by young men and women who don't know how to stand up for themselves. Maybe that's what the government is aiming for...spineless, gutless adults that take what is given to them without a fight. However, do we really want a military that would rather invite the enemy to play footsies than engage in a fight? I'll be close to dead by then...but I feel for my kids and grandkids...

|2.16.07 @ 10:08AM|#

I thought the headline allusion was to the scene in Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" when they showed photos of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo and the narrator intoned, "If you see them, don't hesitate! Shoot to kill!"

|2.16.07 @ 10:17AM|#

Are these people feeling guilty for growing up watching Looney Tunes cartoons?

|2.16.07 @ 10:23AM|#

""Yet another step in the wussyfication of our nation."""

Right!

I remember the days when we were told to stand tough.

Sticks and stones will break my bones but words (tag your it) will never hurt me.

When the going get tough the tough get going.

What can not kill you will make you stronger.

Stand up for yourself.

Whatever happend to the good ole days.

|2.16.07 @ 10:34AM|#

God Damn I hate the FCC! There may be several hundred FCC employees that do usefull technical
work relating to the allocation of frequency band and the like, but it seems the vast majority should be sent to the imaginary lakes of Hell along with most of those working for the DEA, the ATF, and the IRS.

|2.16.07 @ 11:25AM|#

My child has "short term violence" after watching power rangers, because we play together, and he pretends to defend Earth against the bad guys.

That means he also EXERCISES.

He also SMILES and LAUGHS. He is HAPPY! Don't we have a right to pursue happiness in our own home?

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|2.16.07 @ 11:32AM|#

Whatever happend to the good ole days.

The people that we threw sticks at and called names went into government.

|2.16.07 @ 11:32AM|#

The answer, Doug, is NO.

The Wine Commonsewer|2.16.07 @ 11:40AM|#

Doug, my boy was Power Ranger age when grandma called to tell us to turn on the TV on 09-11. He watched in horror for a while then asked me if that stuff on TV was real. I allowed that it was. He disappeared downstairs and when he reappeared he was dressed in his Power Ranger costume. Swore that he and Gavin were going to save those people.

That's a better lesson learned than anything the damn FCC has to offer.

|2.16.07 @ 12:15PM|#

Republicans, Transform and roll out!

|2.16.07 @ 2:36PM|#

The only thing to do is for all libertarians to join themselves together to form one giant hundred-foot-tall libertarian, and then start kicking some ass at the FCC.

Libertarians ... join! Heee-YAAAH!!!

edna|2.16.07 @ 7:09PM|#

my 6 yr old thinks power rangers are lame. he's being raised the right way, on the three stooges and droopy. he's learning that violence, drinking, and chasing redheads are what life is all about.

|2.17.07 @ 2:15PM|#

I would like to send a letter to Bruce Kalish
the producer of Power Rangers.
Would you have his adress?