I know I said

I was going to get silly this week, but there are more important things

at hand.

Recently there

has been a lot of talk about violence in the media and the damage it does

to our nation's children. Last week, a bill passed a Senate subcommittee

that would "limit television shows with graphic bloodshed and gratuitous

violence to be banned from daylight viewing until 10 p.m."

I think that

is a great idea, but can you name any television shows with graphic bloodshed

or gratuitous violence that do air before 10 p.m.? I can only name a few:

"Cops," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The X-Files,"

wrestling... oh, and one more... the news. Now, for animated violence

and bloodshed, I guess we'll be saying goodbye to "Popeye,"

"Tom and Jerry," "Bugs and Daffy" and "The Three

Stooges." Heck, everything on Cartoon Network will have to pack it

in until 10 p.m.

I wonder, though,

did those programs have an adverse effect on us? I saw Jerry beat Tom

over the head with everything from an anvil to a grand piano, but never

once thought of doing that to anybody. In fact, I've seen a lot of violence

on television and in video games, but I've never even been in one fight.

I'm not the only one who has watched wrestling or played violent video

games, and many of you out there aren't innocent either.

So why all

the hoopla now? There were more horror movies out in the late 1970s and

early 1980s than there were in the last five years, but now these movies

are doing "horrible, irreversible damage."

Here are some

numbers: There was a "Friday the 13th" movie released every

year from 1980-1989, with the exception of two years: 1983 and 1987. Was

the country less violent in those two years? No way. There was A "Nightmare

on Elm Street" movie every year from 1984-1989, with the exception

of 1986. Did those films do serious harm? Most of your teenagers weren't

even born when the first "Freddy" movie came out.

"The Exorcist"

came out in 1973 and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" followed the

next year; then came "The Omen" trilogy, "Halloween,"

"Prom Night" and "The Shining." Was there a lot of

controversy about the damage it did to the country's youth when they came

out? Do you, the people who were the youth of America then, think those

movies damaged you?

I think the

country is overreacting and filled up with Oprah brand psycho-babble.

We hear about Columbine and then we see images from "The Matrix"

and the two are so similar that it just had to be violent movies and video

games that led to that shooting. Well, these boys were wearing trenchcoats

and packing heat long before they might have seen the movie, and there

were violent video games since the first Nintendo came out. Do you remember

that it came with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt and most systems

came with the gun?

Lots of people

blame wrestling today and I'll grant you that the storylines are more

adult-themed than in the past, but lots of people grew up watching Hulk

Hogan, Andre the Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper and so on, and the only difference

between then and now is that back then the majority of the whuppings were

taken by the foreign characters: The Iron Sheik, Nikkolai Volkov, etc.

The storylines

are more risque, but that is because they are trying to target the adult

viewers. Why do you think "Monday Night Football's" ratings

slipped? It was because "Raw is War" (WWF) and "WCW Monday

Night Nitro" surged in popularity. And the kids weren't watching

football anyway.

I guess what

I'm trying to say is stop trying to pin it all on the media, because it

is hypocritical and the only thing it will lead to is censorship.

Here's an example.

Look at the programming lineup of the Disney Channel for one week and

count up how many programs deal with the occult. Trust me, it's a lot.

Every time I flip by the channel there is a movie about werewolves, witches,

mummies, ghosts or vampires. Disney never gets targeted, though, and they

shouldn't, because their programs do not harm children. Everybody likes

to be scared once in awhile. In fact, it's the only way that a couch potato's

heart will ever get any exercise, barring those frequent trips to the

kitchen or bathroom.

Don't let the

government tell you what can or can't come on television. They bring it

up only because their constituents bring it up, and while their hearts

are in the right place, they are just wrong.

Congress has

already passed a law making the V-Chip mandatory in television sets 13

inches or larger, and that should be enough. The reason it isn't is that

people can barely program their VCRs without their children's help. If

a kid wants to watch something on television, he or she will find a way.

Making your

child feel like an outcast from his peers does more damage than an hour

of Buffy ever will.

If you want

to target something wrong with the media, it is the strong sexually themed

content on MTV. TRL ("Total Request Live") is watched by a majority

of viewers who are under 17, many under 15, and they are inundated with

sexually themed songs, dancing, clothing and commercials. You shouldn't

worry so much about your child killing another child, as much as you should

worry about them having a child.

O.K., I'm done

now. Next week, I promise I'll try to be silly.

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