Parents TV Council aim to sanitize our favourite shows right into Dullsville

[alp227]

by Joel Rubinoff, Waterloo Record (from Ontario province, Canada)

Despite my best intentions, I’m having trouble with my brilliant plan to defend the Parents TV Council — the “non-partisan education organization” that made headlines with its opposition to a suggestive Glee photo shoot — from accusations it’s made up of hysterical fogeys stuck in a sepia-toned version of the movie Pleasantville.

On one hand, I agree with its concerns about the sexualization of pop culture, the rise of TV profanity and the potential hazards to young children.

On the other hand, it uses wacko expressions like “cultural bohemians’ to describe critics, and claims we’re headed for nothing short of “moral anarchy’’ that will see “the walls of traditional decency come crashing down.’’

Oy, I gotta sit down. Moral anarchy? That ranks right up there with “hellfire and damnation” and going to “hell in a handbasket.”

To make matters worse, the council’s idea of what constitutes appropriate family entertainment runs to outrageously old-fashioned dramas like 7th Heaven and Touched By an Angel.

It makes no allowance for context, accessibility or age-appropriateness. It pans a lot of shows I like, dammit, and it’s overseen by an advisory board that includes Mr. White Bucks himself, Pat Boone.

Full article: http://news.therecord.com/arts/article/811177

Some contextual notes
- Pat Boone also writes a column that's published in WorldNetDaily among other right-wing outlets; even though WND is one of the most dishonest "news" websites around, Boone's got no problem calling out "gutter TV" or making contentless liberal-bashing columns.
- Yesterday, the Parents Television Council released a study finding that profanity on TV (including bleeped words) has gone up 69% from 2005 to this year especially in the first hour of primetime. That study has already found some criticism.
- A New York Times profile of the PTC from last month revealed that the American Institute of Philanthropy gave PTC a poor rating in financial efficiency and that Patrick W. Salazar, former vice president of development at PTC, accused the PTC of inflating its membership and being inefficient with donor mail.
- Recently PTC has been in the news for criticizing the TV show Glee and a GQ magazine shoot featuring sexually suggestive photos of show cast members. This year, PTC complaints against a January episode of American Dad led the FCC to fine the Fox network $25,000 for failing to respond to an inquiry of the complaints. (See the Wikipedia article for more details.)

[Angry Dragon]

1. Are they against free speech??

[Drale]

2. Yes

they don't care as long as they can continue non parenting by making sure there is nothing offensive on the babysitter. Republican hypocrisy at its best, claim to love the Constitution but then tell everyone what they can and cant do.