But when it comes to two particular occupations, the line between them has, for some reason, become blurred. Up until recently, it was the job of the entertainer to take the said population away from their everyday lives; to show new perspectives that captivate and entrance the audience. Meanwhile, the job of the parent has traditionally been to ensure a wholesome, meaningful education based upon his or her own personal morals and philosophies. Seems fairly logical, right? If only!
Many organizations and fundamentalists would have the American people believe that it is the job of the media to raise our youth, and often times, they will go as far as suggesting censorship onto the “offending” product. These are the types of people who might blame the modern popularity of baggy pants on Goofy and consequentially demand that Disney pull all related merchandise from store shelves.
But to be fair, this specified form of controlled society has been successful in many instances. For those interested in doing personal research, some key reference terms for you may be “Iraq” and “Afghanistan”. Guaranteed NO ONE steps out of line in the entertainment industry over there, and look how happy they all are!
The simple fact of the matter is that the founding fathers of the United States put “freedom of the press” into the Bill of Rights because they were annoyed that so many people were meddling with the truth. They wanted it right there, black and white, slapped in front of every eye, proclaimed to the world, and whatever was written would either be cold, hard facts, or blatantly declared an opinion. Here, the press doesn’t (or at least, isn’t supposed to) mess with facts in consideration of their audience. They leave that to the parental figures, and rightly so.
For most of the materials these reactionaries are complaining about, it’s acknowledged that they’re not real, to begin with. This isn’t the quadratic formula, here; vampires don’t exist, whether Buffy states so or not. Regardless of what the Rock says, “jabroni” is not, and never has been a word. And believe it or not, Mike Myers’ teeth are not actually like Austin Powers’. It’s fantasy – not real – stop splitting hairs, explain it to your children, and enjoy the stupidity of it all.
Think about it – should the media become our primary up bringers, we would have Mister Rogers hosting the Late Show. The only people in the audience would be insomniacs wishing to be cured. George Carlin’s next special would be titled “Alright, So Maybe God’s a Pretty Groovy Guy, After All”. Kids would end up punching one another at recess because “Timmy said he disapproved of my ethical viewpoints!”
This is one of the most amazing cases of “a few rotten apple slices ruining the pie” in history. A neglected little beast like Lionel Tate decides it would be fun to continually step on a tiny girl, so that means that the thousands of pro wrestling fans should have to watch “watered down” programming? An idiot in New Jersey decides it would be funny to light bits of his room on fire, and dies in the process, so Jackass has to suffer? These misdemeanors are MINOR and could easily have been avoided if parents would take a measly half hour and be with their kids! In the meantime, stop messing with programming that wasn’t intended for your brat, to begin with! It’s not South Park’s fault that you’re letting the little ones stay up till 10:30 on a school night!
Has this culture lost all common sense? As has been previously stated, it’s the guardian’s job to enlighten the youth with worldly information in the style and order they see fit; it’s hardly fair when we ignore the youth and get mad once they find another medium to fill the vacuum we’ve created. Face it – if it’s a major issue, children will learn about it, sooner or later, so why not ensure that it comes from where you want it?
