9.20.2005

Confused in Cleveland

I've been trying to figure this one out for a while, but only recently has it become more clear to me what's going on.

There are people who believe that the government should regulate the TV we watch, the radio we listen to and the games we play. They advance this agenda under the banner of "protecting the children" and they are more than willing to spend government money on programs, commissions, hearings and agencies to protect us all from indecency and obscenity.

But, it occurs to me that many of these people also believe that welfare handouts and universal healthcare are the anathema of the American People and a complete waste of taxpayer money.

So, you need to ask yourself, which is more important to you: making sure a child has a healthy meal and access to a doctor, or making sure that child never sees a bare breast on television.

Yes, yes, it'd be great to have both. But if you have to prioritize, which comes first. Which problem do you throw your energy at first?

I think if I had to choose, I'd prefer my child to eat and go to the doctor. And yet, so many of these people, in all their righteous civilization-saving glory, would rather concentrate on protecting the nation's children from the view of someone's flesh.

Or, maybe that's it. Only some children are going without food and doctors. But all children can tune into Howard Stern or the Super Bowl half-time show. So when they say, "the children", they mean, "my children". Spend your money to protect my children from the sight of a naked breast, just in case they get past all my parental booby traps, I need your assurance that you've got my back.

Look, everyone needs to have their cause. But if you are really so pro-protecting-children, let's protect the kids that really need help, the ones without food or clean water or doctors. Those whose dads have skipped out on them, who have abusive parents, who go to schools that serve more as playpens than educational facilities. These are the children who need your help the most.

Then, once we've got that figured out, we can really concentrate on the indecency.

posted by risser at 09:33

Nobody has anything to say.