Parents group is angry over title of Shatner's new sitcom

[trekgeezer]

Much ado about nothing.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100520/ap_en_tv/us_tv_cbs_series_title

[HappyGilmore]

This is the PTC right? The Parent Television Council?

I don't know much about them, but I remember they ballyhooed over WWF SmackDown being on network tv, saying that the sex and violence featured on a WRESTLING show was unbecoming of a network.  Mind you, it's a WRESTLING show.  They're griping and protesting allowed something like, 30 advertisers to withdraw from the network that aired Smackdown, and the PTC alleged that "The WWE and UPN Network showcases a violent show that teaches children how to violently assault each other", as well as showing clips of WWE programming on their videos that recruited new members.  Long story short, they were sued by WWE for Defamation, and a judge ruled in WWE's favor.  Instead of going to court, PTC paid WWE around $3 Million and issued a public apology.

[Trevor]

Much ado about nothing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100520/ap_en_tv/us_tv_cbs_series_title

Agreed 100% ~ when I first read that title, I LMAO and it made me think how my own father used four-letter words that would make a sailor blush. 

[Newt]

I guess I go against the grain here.    It's about erosion of social standards: I have had it with foul-mouthed eight year olds who think swearing is completely acceptable communication in all situations.  This won't help.

[Jack]

So Shatner says politically incorrect stuff, and his kid posts it on twitter?  Wow, I thought that writers' strike ended quite a while ago.

[3mnkids]

Let me get this out of the way first.. CBS sucks.      

The Parents Television Council, which monitors decency issues

 

decency issues?... That is subjective, isn't it? I wonder why groups like this have such a problem with profanity? The profanity isn't even in the title but is bleeped out yet shows like Big Brother which, IMO, show the absolute worst of society are allowed to just go on and on. Back stabbing, lying, win at all cost... yeah, that is sooo much better than profanity. ugh.. Its not just big brother but many, many shows that applaud being low down scum. To me that is far worse than profanity.   

For the record, I wont be watching this show. TV sucks and I watch maybe 2 hours a week. 

 

[Mr. DS]

Why is it the most idiotic in society have the most to say?  In this case the PTC...

Listen, I was swearing fluently by the 1st grade and still am.  No TV show ever taught me that.  It was something I absorbed from the people around me, mainly my family and classmates. 

[The Gravekeeper]

The question that's not being asked in that article is which demographic the show's going to be targeted at. If it's being made for a family audience then I can see the issue. If it's being geared toward teens and adults, well, what's the issue? Besides, Family Guy's and South Park are guaranteed to be more obscene than this show and they're allowed to air before 10 pm.

And as the Darksider says, kids don't often learn foul language from the media. They have the adults in their lives to thank for that (I personally have my father to thank for inadvertently teaching me obscenities in two languages).

Newt, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you. Parents have much more influence on their children than the media does (or they should, anyway. The media should NEVER be permitted to raise a child). Even then, kids go through a phase where they test their boundaries. Most of those 8 year-olds you're hearing who swear up a storm will grow out of it once they get past the age where it's considered "forbidden" for them.

[Newt]

Newt, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you. Parents have much more influence on their children than the media does (or they should, anyway. The media should NEVER be permitted to raise a child). Even then, kids go through a phase where they test their boundaries. Most of those 8 year-olds you're hearing who swear up a storm will grow out of it once they get past the age where it's considered "forbidden" for them.

My parents did not swear.  Out of the five children they raised, as adults three of us swear like pros.  It did not come from them!

It's all part of the environment: another source of example.  Kids emulate what they think is 'cool': at 8:30 pm they will see this show, and we all know Shatner and Twitter is 'cool'.  And it is the title: they can and will see that without actually watching the show itself.  Parents who allow and approve watching shows that tend to use 'bad' language might also be more inclined to use it casually, perhaps.  And yes, the media is too often providing role models for the social development of children: it is far too common for parents to abdicate a good part of their active child-rearing responsiblities and allow the TV (or other devices) to occupy their kids.

I have had a paid position teaching a sport for almost 30 years: some of the young people I have watched grow up for ten years or more.  Most of them do improve after a 'phase'; but then, they also had me (and presumably some others) reminding them not to swear in my/our presence.  It has been my observation that the most pervasive and profuse swearing seems to also be associated with tendencies towards other 'rude' and disrespectful behaviours.  (Years ago, the rudest kids I taught were big Simpsons fans.  Then it was South Park.  Then Family Guy. Hmmm.  Could be a chicken-and-egg situation?)  Part of my point may be that if certain language is in all parts of the environment of an impressionable individual, then that individual is left with the idea that that language is completely acceptable: they pick it up just as a child picks up all social and linguistic information and their experimentation is validated/confirmed or discouraged by the collective responses they get from their social context.  Once acquired, a secondary effect can be that use of such language becomes a habit.  How many people who swear in every other utterance find it easy to stop/eliminate?  Not many, from what I have seen.

I'm enough of a child of the 60's to have picked up the attitude that "if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem".  There's something my childhood environment impressed me with: and it did not come from my parents!

[Jim H]

In any case, all the network has to do is move the show to 10 O'clock slot to completely avoid any FCC issues, if they're really worried about it.  Personally, I think a show like this is much more suited to late night anyway. 

[trekgeezer]

This is a show scheduled in Prime Time on a broadcast network. What Dad says in the show is mostly about  not being politically correct.  There will not be any real cursing or the FCC would be butting in.

[Flick James]

I don't know. I've always liked what Matt Stone said about the criticism of South Park. He basically said that parents object to the show because they have this idyllic vision of their children, when, in fact, most of the time, kids are just little raging bastards. 

[ulthar]

I don't know. I've always liked what Matt Stone said about the criticism of South Park. He basically said that parents object to the show because they have this idyllic vision of their children, when, in fact, most of the time, kids are just little raging bastards. 

Yes, because Matt Stone *IS* someone we should be listening to on how to raise our children - the font of philosophical wisdom that he is.

[Flick James]

I don't know. I've always liked what Matt Stone said about the criticism of South Park. He basically said that parents object to the show because they have this idyllic vision of their children, when, in fact, most of the time, kids are just little raging bastards. 

Yes, because Matt Stone *IS* someone we should be listening to on how to raise our children - the font of philosophical wisdom that he is.

I never suggested he was, nor was he saying anything about how to raise children.

[AndyC]

I have my dad to thank for my use of colourful terms that fell out of fashion with just about everybody currently under the age of 60, and a repertoire of ethnic nicknames that nobody uses these days, including me. Oddly enough, he never struck me as any kind of a bigot - more that in the time and place he was raised, these were practically the official names. And to be fair, he generally only used the ethnic slurs to get a rise out of my mom during Good Times or The Jeffersons. Mom, on the other hand, is one of those people with prejudices she's not even aware of, under a surface of "Some of my best friends are....." which I will admit is sincere.

It's a great illustration of what George Carlin has said about offensive words. Should we be concerned about the words people are using, or the thoughts behind them? I've known plenty of people who have used offensive language without an ounce of malice, and people who were utterly polite and nasty as all hell under it. I just find there's a lot of hypocrisy when it comes to offensive language. Too many people equate being nice with being good.

I can think of a great story from a few years back. We were visiting my parents. Ro was still too young to understand spoken words, much less repeat them. In a conversation with my dad, I tossed in one F-word for deliberate emphasis. My mom gets indignant, and tells me with no small amount of pride that she was 16 before she heard her father swear. I pretty much just raised an eyebrow at her, and gave a little wave of my hand toward MY father, as if to say "Why didn't you say this 30-odd years ago, when this guy was constantly talking like a sailor?"

As for this Shatner show, it doesn't even sound like the content is an issue. It's all about the title. I must again quote George Carlin, who placed certain people in the categories of "stupid, full of s**t and f**king nuts" with some occupying all three. This Winter guy seems to think there is an actual expletive in the title that has been bleeped out. For that alone, I'd put him in all three.

Carlin is a great example. I don't necessarily agree with his views, but he used to go out of his way to offend people's sensibilities, and he was also a man of strong principles, honest and sincere. And I have to say that the odd time Carlin offended me, mostly in his later years, it was what he was saying - the meaning - and not how he said it. I had a lot of respect for the guy.