Another Closing of the American Mind?

I doubt if anyone who knows me would consider me a prude, but I have long yearned for some kind of censorship of the television garbage we see that gets recycled into reruns that are impossible to protect children from watching. I am talking, of course, about extreme violence, the glorification of casual sex and the common use of vulgarities. (One side result of TV and the failures of our education system are the obscenities and vulgarities our young people now commonly and constantly use to express themselves.)

I may just have noticed it, but this coarseness has now projected itself into our TV commercials. Not only do I have to protect myself from mindless blather (I watch 2 or 3 programs at a time so I can switch during commercials), but I am now being constantly bombarded by ads about erectile dysfunction and the sometimes unpleasant aspects of women’s natural bodily functions.

Now Lisa Fabrizio has noticed something else as well: ads that push a liberal, political agenda.

Instant Messaging

Lisa Fabrizio, 1/16/08, American Spectator, (Excerpt)

“AMERICANS ARE constantly ambushed by TV commercials and even sports broadcasts that seek not only to corrupt the morals of our children and ourselves, but are often drenched in liberal doctrine. But what if equal time was given to the other side?

Can you imagine the outcry if, instead of unintentionally hilarious attempts at "greening" us all, such as NBC tried a few months ago, another network aired productions in support of drilling for our own oil in Alaska and the gulf coast, or encouraging the unthinkable; development of nuclear energy strategies like those in Europe?

How about instead of anti-smoking crusades such as that waged literally ad nauseam by our friends in the state of New York against those who freely choose to use a legal product, we got some glimpses of the equally behavior-driven ravages on the human body wrought by the AIDS virus? Or instead of over-dramatizing cruelty to animals we had some graphic video of partial-birth abortion? But of course these images will never see the light of day in the mainstream TV world, a world that seeks to conform the nation to its own agenda.

Probably most emblematic of this is the campaign of Planned Parenthood (caution, view these You Tube videos at your own risk) to promote physically "safe" but morally ruinous lifestyles on our children. Perverting what is good and truly natural -- that conjugal love, open to procreation is not a danger one needs "protection" against -- these ads, which air on youth-oriented channels like MTV and VH-1 and encourage homosexual acts, teach that "protection" should be one's only concern during a happy life of rampant promiscuity.

And lest our kids have any outdated religious notions that would preclude them from enjoying this glorious existence, one of their ads features two guardian angels of "safe sex" who advise a young gal in the process of initiating a sexual romp to seek after "protection." After securing the proper response from her lover, the girl mews a happy "Amen," while one of the angles tells the other that she is "pretty hot." Explains a Planned Parenthood chaplain, "I love the fact that this ad challenges popular conceptions of religion and sexuality."

So the next time the family snuggles down on the couch together to root on the home team, or your kids invite some friends over to watch the latest videos; beware. It's not just the program content that may be hazardous to their health, but the commercials also." Lisa Fabrizio