I am sure most of you have seen that black box in the upper left corner of your TV screens that shows "G, PG" and other content ratings for almost all TV programming except news and sports, and of course all TVs made since the early 1990s have had the so-called "V-chip" installed in them by Federal law. These ratings, and the V-chip, are attempting (unsuccessfully) to keep young children from watching television programs which could contain violence, sexual acts, and indecent language, the last often referred to as "four-letter words".
I believe the V-chip, and the television content rating system itself, are not working for the simple reason, IMO, that children hear indecent language in the streets and even in their own homes, they see violence everywhere (including over the Internet), and so forth; they don't need TV to see or hear these things. The V-chip was meant to block TV programs, indeed, entire TV channels, from viewing by children, but many if not most parents do not know how to program the system, so most of the time it goes unused. Parents certainly do not, either, stand over their children 24 hours a day, at the ready to turn the channel as soon as a violent act or sexual situation appears on the family television, any more than they tell their kids to turn off the radio when an outspoken talk-show host is on or some DJ plays a song with suggestive or downright filthy lyrics, rife with 4-letter words.
However, getting back to the V-chip and other methods the television industry may be using to shield children from violence, sex and indecent language on television and radio, these systems, again, are not working, as there is more gun violence, etc. on American TV today than ever before. The ultimate responsibility for "shielding" children from sex, violence and indecent language, on TV, radio and elsewhere, lies with the childrens' parents, not with the broadcasting and print industries; in other words, it is the parents' responsibility to either turn the TV channel or turn off the set (radio or TV) if they find the children watching programming that, in the parents' sole discretion, is indecent in any way, and telling the children not to read magazines such as Playboy, even though the latter has attempted to change its image in the last year or so by no longer printing nude photos.
As I said at the beginning of this post, I believe the TV content rating system is not working, and should be done away with since, in fact, it has been "broken" for some time. Again, the ultimate "censor" of TV programming, and the best judge of what programming children should or should not watch, are the childrens' parents. I think it would be great if parents would get in the habit of knowing what their children watch, and to demand that they change the channel to the PBS affiliate or to a religious channel (or even turn off the set entirely and tell the kids to read a book) if they feel the kids are watching indecent programming. The parents, after all, own the family TV (and even any TVs their children may use in their rooms), not to mention the house they and the kids live in, so they have every right to regulate what types of programming (on television and over the radio) their children watch or listen to.
While this may not, probably
will not, stop kids from seeing or hearing inappropriate stuff, as they can and will hear and see it elsewhere, at least it will be a start. The war against indecent/violent programming on American radio and television will not end any time soon (or perhaps ever), but again, it is up to parents to regulate what their children watch and listen to, as the content rating system for TV, as I said, is not working, and in fact has been horribly out of order for decades. There was a time when the use of 4-letter words was unheard of over the radio and TV. A radio announcer for a children's radio program in the 1920s almost lost his job when, after a particularly trying day of hosting the program, he turned to his engineer and said, "That ought to keep them little bastards quiet for awhile." The announcer was not aware that his microphone was still live, and his remarks had been broadcast coast to coast over a national radio network. One account of this incident ended with the sentence "The children's hour was never the same (after that)."
This was the first time any national radio announcer had ever used the word "bastard" on the air. It wouldn't have surprised me if he was fired immediately. A similar flap occurred over the use of a four-letter word in the 1939 motion picture "Gone with the Wind", in which one of the characters said to another, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Another version of this occurred in Cleveland in the 1960s, when a top-40 song of the time titled "Give A Damn" was banned on radio station WIXY-1260 (now religious station WCCR-1260); the record was probably also banned across the country shortly thereafter, given the backlash that occurred after the song was broadcast over the Cleveland station.
However, today things have changed radically, and almost anything goes on radio and TV, again very unfortunately. Short of forbidding our children from using the Internet, watching TV and listening to the radio, not to mention locking them in their rooms until they reach the age of 21 (the legal age of maturity in the United States), I do not think this problem (shielding children from indecency and violence over American radio and television, which is an exercise in futility) will be solved any time soon, or ever.
Too darned bad.
