There is something very disturbing going on in America right now. This new era of censorship that is being imposed by the Federal Communications Commission is one of the toughest, and most unnecessary, actions ever taken by a government office.
It all began with Janet's boob, but that subject has been milked to death anyway, so I'm not going to touch that. In the past month, the FCC and groups with the word "family" , i.e. reactionary, have been speaking out about two major issues: The Monday Night Football intro with a shot of a naked back (ooooh) and an airing of "Saving Private Ryan."
The first of these is the Monday Night Football spot, that, after the controversy was raised and aired by my count 2,334 times on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. Yet ABC is the only one getting complaints.
And what happened? A cross promotion between ABC's latest program featuring Terrell Owens and a women from the program. She walks into the locker room, wearing a towel and drops it while embracing TO.
It certainly isn't the most disturbing thing I've seen on television (The Pacers brawl, "Yes, Dear" on CBS and the evening news are much higher on my list.) What I want to know is why is this bad, but scantily clad women selling everything from beer to Hardee's in sexually provocative poses OK? Why is it that only when Owens appears does the public get upset? Is it a race thing, or something more?
The second, and far less logical of the two, is the outrage over the showing of the war movie "Saving Private Ryan." For the two of you who have not seen it, it is a movie about a group of World War II soldiers whose job is to get to a fellow soldier and bring him home.
It is graphic and vulgar only because the reality it is based on was violent and, oh dear, soldiers say naughty words.
The decision to air it unedited on Veteran's Day was an outstanding one, made with people who obviously understand the true meaning of patriotism and standing up for our country. They selected a movie that humanizes war, bring it to a personal level, while not sensationalizing or making light of it.
ABC also advertised the program heavily, and had several warnings about the programs content. The only way a child was going to see this was if a parent has no control over the television in a household, or if that parent specifically stopped on the movie just to complain.
The fact is, this is the sad state of American culture. We are in a war currently, and yet nearly every newscast I saw on Tuesday opened with the TO story.
Quite frankly, I don't care what Gretcha Zahn thinks of the TO clip. This isn't even a story SportsCenter would usually carry.
What is the result of this madness? Blandness. Anyone who watched Monday Night Football the past two weeks can see this. There was nothing to get upset about, but the creativity that once opened up the dose of football was replaced by... Tom Brady. Not exactly the most entertaining guy in sports.
No, sex isn't needed to make the intros exciting, but with persecution like this, it makes it harder and harder to come close to the line, especially when it keeps changing.
If TV is the biggest problem facing America today, than we need to do some serious reevaluating.
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