It’s got an “OFF” button, doesn’t it?

Stories like this drive me insane. The Parents Television Council did a study that revealed that television glamorizes out of wedlock, kinky sex, sex toys, voyeurism, sadomasochistic sex, and porn. But that’s not the insanity-making part:

The effect on young viewers is dire, the Parents Television Council contends.

Behavior that once was seen as “fringe, immoral or socially destructive have been given the imprimatur of acceptability by the television industry” and children are absorbing or even imitating it, the report contends.

Parents don’t necessarily have the tools to identify programs they may want to block via the V-chip, according to the study: It says designations such as “S,” signaling sexual content, were applied inconsistently and inaccurately.

Hey, here’s an idea! See these red buttons? Find the one like it on your remote control and press it!

Problem solved. The idea that parents don’t have the tools to prevent their children from seeing offensive content is just enraging. Where are the adults in this country?  The idea that the V-chip is their children’s only defense is ridiculous.  How about spending the evening with their children watching TV together?  How about taking the televisions out of their children’s bedrooms?  How about investing the time to learn what shows are acceptable and planning their TV viewing accordingly?  I guess for some people personal responsibility is just too hard; so let’s try to get somebody else to take care of us!

The reality is that the networks, producers, actors, and everybody else involved are going to continue this trend until they stop making money at it. It’s that simple. The solution to stopping this sort of thing is to stop watching it, already.

But people won’t, of course. The reason they show this stuff is that people want to see it. Parents want to see it, and parents don’t want to make the effort to protect their children from it.

Stuff that “Skinemax” used to consider risque is now broadcast over the airwaves at 9pm.  It’s going to continue to get worse.  Canada shows softcore porn on broadcast TV after midnight.  Earlier this year the 1972 porn movie Deep Throat was shown on Dutch broadcast TV. The Dutch included it as part of a “larger discussion” about pornography. Look for a similar setup on PBS sometime over the next few years. That’s not an “if,” it’s a “when.”  Given what is acceptable content on shows like Nip/Tuck, do you really think American broadcast TV will be far behind?

From an older post of mine:

research shows that the more porn people watch, the lower their standards for protecting children.

Dr. Mary Ann Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania, tells of one study in which people were asked various questions before and after watching quantities of porn.

One question was whether we should restrict children’s access to XXX-rated material. Post-porn, the number of people answering “yes” was reduced by half.

Here’s what we were willing to accept in 2005:

Yet as recently as 1972, George Carlin was arrested for disturbing the peace with his “seven dirty words” and the idea of showing as much nudity and sex as we do now could not have been contemplated in those days.  Steven Bochco and his ilk wanted to push the envelope – well, they’ve pushed it.  And people want it pushed, or they’d have rebuked him by turning off their televisions years ago.

Parents, especially Christian parents, are certainly free to kick and scream about this trend.  Write letters, sign petitions, just knock yourselves out.  You’re not going to get anywhere, but if it makes you feel better, go on ahead.  But while you’re doing that, locate that red button and use it.  Because nobody, including the Parents Television Council and the AFA, is going to protect your children but you.