Some of the material on this page is
included in Cultural and political bias in the movies
and on television.
Spring
break: hazardous to your health? Spring break should be known as the
anti-Lent. Sex, alcohol, outrageous misbehavior — every indulgence is
mandatory, and magnified live on MTV.
Whatever
Happened to the Family Film? Of the top 20 moneymaking films of all
time, not a single one is rated R, and of the top 50, only five are
rated R — with the remainder being G or PG. Don"t these figures
make you wonder what"s wrong with Hollywood just from a business point of view? Why,
in the face of these statistics, does Hollywood keep putting out so many non-family oriented
movies?
TV Watchdog: FCC Ruling "One Great
Mish-Mash of Imprecision". A pro-family spokesman says the FCC's decision yesterday to dismiss
more than 30 complaints against indecent programming points to the need for a new kind of leadership at the
federal agency. The Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday [1/24/2005] that it had
turned aside 36 complaints that various television stations had aired indecent material during a variety of
programs.
An obituary for
qualities: The year-end obituaries have paid due homage to the national icons, the rich and
famous, the talented and not so. But there really ought to be obituaries not just for people but for
the qualities they represented. For traditions, customs, styles that have faded.
Study says "Language police" are
harming children. Activist groups acting as "language police" are exerting increasing control
over American schools, resulting in bored, cynical and "dumbed down" children, according to a three-year study
of education policy.
These New (York) Times —
Inherent Contradiction Of Modern Dogma. As Chuck Colson notes, "It may be fashionable to dismiss
moral truth claims, but the absence of truth leads to chaos, and we find we can't live with it. The Times
can't live with a reporter carrying its own philosophy to its logical conclusion."
We're all
victims. Critics have noticed that nobody is responsible for anything anymore,
since almost everyone is a victim. Here are the top 10 victim stories of 2005.
Coddling Criminals:
Drown Your Babies, Walk Away Free. This has happened at least twice in Texas in this
decade — practically the liberal's definition of an epidemic. But it's a liberal approach to
crime and punishment that defined Lisa Diaz as "crazy" and allowed her to walk out of a mental hospital
"cured" after drowning her two little girls just three years ago.
A World without Adversity: There was
once a time when parents pointed out bums on the streets and told their children that this was what could
happen to you if you didn't bother to learn the things you needed to know, and do the things you needed to
do, to make it in life. Today, children are taught to be "non-judgmental" and the media keep saying
that these drug-ridden derelicts are "people just like us" who happened to fall on hard times -- even
though study after study shows what a pious lie that is.
A World Without "F's": Whiny parents
wonder why public schools have abandoned standards, forsaken accountability and adopted appeasement as
their primary educational mission.
The End Of America's Prestige:
A friend of mine once told a college class that nobody ever woke up in 476 A.D. (the date historians define
as the fall of the Roman Empire) and said, "Gosh, I'm in the Dark Ages." His point is plain enough.
Transitions happen gradually, and the people who live through them never realize what is happening. So it
is with Americans. We are living in the ruins of a once-great republic. Now an empire utterly
devoid of moral authority, the United States has nothing left but its military power and its capacity to
consume on credit.
Weakened Culture, Weakened
Schools: As both sides of the Atlantic reel from the latest bout of school shootings, this time
in Erfurt, Germany, fundamental questions about our society and its institutions are tragically brought to
the forefront.
One Man's Dung is
Another Man's Art: When it comes to art, I'm a Norman Rockwell kind of guy. Maybe that's
partially why I'm so shocked by what has been labeled as "art" by our federal government.
A Kindler, Gentler... Less-Fit Military:
Walk, don't run. That's an order for the service men and women of U.S. Southern Command headquarters in
Miami. Their weekly fitness runs were terminated recently when a female officer claimed they were
"demeaning." According to media reports, the officer objected that the Friday jogs "subjected slow
runners to ridicule from faster runners." And you thought war was hell. Let the social scientists
worry about verbal interaction among "ability groups." But let the administration and Congress put
national security ahead of political correctness.
A Mom Reflects on Dodge
Ball Bans: Adults should once again allow kids to play cops and robbers, cowboys and indians,
Batman, or dodge ball on school playgrounds without fear of expulsion. There is nothing more fun than
watching children play. This is how they learn to develop social skills and their imaginations.
Bread and Circuses: In his book Bread and
Circuses, Patrick Brantlinger analyzes the idea of "bread and circuses" as a narcotic for the masses throughout
history. Brantlinger defines as "negative classicism" the idea that Rome was decadent and that our
society is sliding downhill to a Roman-style decadence. "The shade of Rome," says Brantlinger, "looms
up to suggest the fate of societies that fail to elevate their masses to something better than welfare checks
and mass entertainments."
Cultural Sewage: It's
the Law of Dilution: If you add a cup of water to a barrel of sewage, you get a barrel of sewage; but
if you add a cup of sewage to a barrel of water, you still get a barrel of sewage.
The Virtue of Individualism: The committee
gave me an ultimatum: change the speech topic completely and write about what the committee wanted me to
write about, or "resign" from the speaking position. I remained firm to my decision not to change the
idea of my speech.
When the Chips Are Off: If Americans
overwhelmingly favor the V-chip, why don't they use it? In his 1996 State of the Union address,
President Clinton urged Congress "to pass the requirement for a "V" chip in TV sets, so that parents
can screen out programs they believe are inappropriate for their children." He said the technology
would enable parents "to assume more personal responsibility for their children"s upbringing." This
was an odd way to characterize the V-chip, which actually represented an abdication of parental
responsibility. Instead of monitoring what their kids watch and deciding for themselves what was
appropriate, parents would rely on ratings assigned by the networks. There would be no need for active
supervision or discussion: Once the V-chip was programmed, everything would be automatic.
More discussion of the V-Chip can be seen
here.
The
Pope says Heaven is open to everyone. Certain restrictions apply. For
example, you must be Catholic.
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