Reason Writers Around Town

May 3, 2007

Nick Gillespie takes on the FCC's violence report in the Los Angeles Times.

Comments

|5.3.07 @ 3:40PM|#

The ultimate goal of the report, she argues, is not simply to empower parents who worry about what's on TV in their house but to change "the media landscape outside our homes" (emphasis hers) and to increase "the amount of family-friendly, uplifting and nonviolent programming being produced."

If I had to watch more of that crap, I'd probably be more inclined to go out and kick somebody's ass on a daily basis. Only, of course, to add a little balance to whole issue.

|5.3.07 @ 3:42PM|#

The FCC has a violence report in the Los Angeles Times?

|5.3.07 @ 3:56PM|#

"look for the agency to go after circus clowns any day now."

Now THAT is a policy I would support :)

Otherwise, I agree with jimmydageek. If I had to watch more of the garbage that is supposed to be wholesome and fulfilling for me, I'd be more likely to go out and join a boxing class or take up hunting.

|5.3.07 @ 4:09PM|#

That report makes me want to drop an anvil on the FCC

matt|5.3.07 @ 4:30PM|#

If Deborah Tate doesn't like seeing her children act out a TMNT fight scene, maybe she shouldn't let her children watch the show! (Parenting... what a novel idea!)

Since when are government-sponsored reports based on a presupposition that parents are inept, incompetent, and incapable of making their own parenting decisions regarding their own children?

Finally, it's shameful and offensive that Jonathan Adelstein found it appropriate to cite the VT incident as justification for writing a nanny-statist report.

|5.3.07 @ 4:49PM|#

The police are hauling in some clowns already.

Reading about violence, or watching films or TV shows that contain it may actually be cathartic. If these guys haven't read any Gerard Jones, haven't they at least glanced at Bruno Bettelheim?

Kevin

VM|5.3.07 @ 5:10PM|#

OMG!!!

Kevrob you ol Cheezland meister!

hier is a picture of said clown!!!

credit to JimmydaGeek for the info!

|5.3.07 @ 5:56PM|#

She says that it's disturbing to see kids act out fights from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but if you think about it kids have been playing cops and robbers for years and i'm sure kids used to play pirates and roman soldier, the list goes on. Needless to say violence is simply a part of human nature, and violent movies and games actually act more as an outlet for violence than a stimulus for it.

|5.3.07 @ 6:10PM|#

VM, There's also this one, slightly funnier, and almost as disturbing.

She says that it's disturbing to see kids act out fights from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I didn't RTFA, but I get the feeling this woman has a couple boys and really, really wishes she'd had girls.

VM|5.3.07 @ 7:38PM|#

*slowly backs away from BakedClown... um

**turns heel and runs!

|5.3.07 @ 10:11PM|#

Ms. Tate is like the mom's I know who prevented their sons from having toys guns or anything that looked like a gun in their house, only to find their sons using their other toys, bananas or anything as guns and playing the same types of shoot-em-up games we all played as kids.

h-dawg|5.3.07 @ 11:32PM|#

I think the government should do something about all that violence we see on TV. It's terrible. Every day men, women, children getting killed, by car bombs, roadside bombs...Why do we have to watch that?

SuperParanoidDude|5.4.07 @ 10:14AM|#

Perhaps our Warfare State has need to eliminate cathartic violence in order to ensure a future supply of cannon fodder?

LarryA|5.4.07 @ 10:14AM|#

The ultimate goal of the report, she argues, is not simply to empower parents who worry about what's on TV in their house

So if fifteen percent of parents worry we should "empower" them, via Congressional mandate, to limit what everyone else in the U.S. watches.

"Many of us, as parents, have witnessed our children acting out a fighting scene from an episode of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'

I used to strap on my plastic six-gun, grab my Mattel lever-action rifle, and go blow away friends. I have to say, though, that my death throes were the most realistic on the block.

When I got too old for that I'd take my B-B gun out into the desert and perforate cacti and Coke cans.

American governance has gone seriously off the rails

There are rails?

The report notes all this but assumes that the low usage rates of such tools--only about 12 percent of parents report regularly using the V-chip or cable channel blockers--mean that parents' wishes are being thwarted rather than fulfilled.

I have this figured out. When Congress says it's "for the children," they're not thinking of our children, they're looking at us.

I didn't RTFA, but I get the feeling this woman has a couple boys and really, really wishes she'd had girls.

Or had girls, and wishes they'd act like little mommies.

I think the government should do something about all that violence we see on TV. It's terrible. Every day men, women, children getting killed, by car bombs, roadside bombs...Why do we have to watch that?

Yeah. Car crashes, convenience store robberies, infants murdered, teachers doing it with students, SWAT team drug raids, gang violence. Then there are pro sports dustups and weather disasters. We have to block TV news!

Then we can "increase 'the amount of family-friendly, uplifting and nonviolent programming being produced.'" and show our children the way the world really is.

Chucklehead|5.4.07 @ 11:25AM|#

I didn't read the whole thing either, but this snippet LarryA posted has me perplexed:

The report notes all this but assumes that the low usage rates of such tools--only about 12 percent of parents report regularly using the V-chip or cable channel blockers--mean that parents' wishes are being thwarted rather than fulfilled.

So parents too stupid or lazy to use a technology that they asked for is now somehow an active thwarting of what they still want? WTF?!

Jackass|5.4.07 @ 1:22PM|#

Turtles are amphibians.

|5.4.07 @ 2:06PM|#

i'm sure kids used to play pirates and roman soldier

But Roman soldiers didn't have cannons - that's not at all a fair matchup.

matt|5.4.07 @ 3:05PM|#

Read this article more thoroughly. What struck me even more than the amount of times "protect the children" or "safeguard our children" appeared in the text was the fact that the article supports the suggestion that there is a *possible* _correlation_ between media violence and aggressive cognizance, but no evidence supporting causation, and greatly conflicting evidence supporting _correlation_ between media violence and violent behavior.

The specific words used are very important. The evidence presented does not support their ultimate recommendation for Congress to take action. Their recommendation seems to be based on their personal beliefs on the issue. They present what is essentially neutral evidence on the issue but take a side in the end anyway.

Ventifact|5.8.07 @ 3:44PM|#

Turtles are indeed reptiles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle

Although there's a line from an old Ninja Turtles cartoon episode to the contrary. One of the Turtles is crossing the street while "in disguise" (how come wearing a trenchcoat and hat was supposedly able to conceal green skin and no shoes?), when Shredder and goons pull up quickly and cut him off. The Turtle yells, "Hey, pedestrians have the right of way!" and Shredder answers "Pedestrians, yes; amphibians, no!"

Perhaps we need legislation to assure us that all TV programming is scientifically accurate. Hmm, I wonder why congressmembers never make noise about that issue?