Subject: Its Up to Parents, Nobody Else

I have to agree with Vance from Chicago.  I am constantly amazed about how
much graphic violence appears in PG-13 movies, but if there is even a peek at
the female form, the religio-nuts go insane.  My wife and I have a 10 year
old and when we catch a movie either on the big screen or on DirecTV, it is
usually after we have seen it ourselves or talked to other parents to see if
it is appropriate. That is our job as parents.

For me, a brief shot of female breasts on a couple's wedding night is not nearly as
disturbing as waking up with Seabiscuit's severed head, as I would assume the AMC
cut of the Godfather was meant to bring it to PG-13 standards.  But the bigger point
is this:  it should be up to parents to monitor what their children watch/view/listen to.

I know what web sites my kid is visiting, what tv shows he watches, what CDs he buys,
what video games he plays, what radio he listens to, and what movies he sees plus we make
our standards clear to other parents.  For example, the Godfather, with or without breasts or
the horse's head or Moe Green getting shot in the eye is not appropriate for a 10 year old,
nor are NYPD Blue episodes dealing with butchered children, or Howard Stern's radio show,
or most gangsta rap.  I watch/listen to all of this (well, maybe not the bad rap music),
but I am 45 years old.   Its my job to control my kid's access to media content.
I can do my job just fine without any kooky nut-jobs telling me what to do.

John

From: Barry

Subject: Re: Godfather censorship on AMC

Hi,

I just wanted to clear up confusion about AMC's censoring the topless
wedding night scene...what they showed during the day was the TV
version...originally censored years ago when they first ran on network
tv...Believe me, they edited out violence, too...like the crooked police
captain's spasms after getting shot in the forehead, some of Sonny's
hundreds of bullet hits, the multiple hits during the baptism sequence...

Starting at 11:30 pm PDT they showed both movies in their original unedited widescreen format...

They had a warning that they were rated "TV-MA" and unsuitable for children...and guess what?
They were unedited...Sure was nice to get them both on one videotape!

Thanx, love your site, visit it daily!
 

Now why didn't they mention that?
If they did, is wasn't enough.

Thanks,

From:  mcgriffy@mcgriffy.com

Subject: Children sex violence

bartcop,

I have one kid, about to turn three, and the difference between sex and violence is very clear to me.
Actually, let me rephrase that.  The difference between nudity and violence is very clear.
I absolutely don't want my kid seeing violence.  We don't try to shield her too much from the world,
but it's just too much effort to explain every five minutes during most TV shows that what they are
doing to each other is not OK.  I guess, though it does not come up (so to speak), that I would not
want to explain explicit sex acts either.

One thing we have been trying to explain to our daughter is 'the language that most Americans use.'
We use it too at home.  But there are many places that it is not appropriate, like at grandma's house, or in public.
I think this is the distinction you are missing.  You have every right to use such language.

But most people refrain while in civil, public discussion.  Is a web site public or private?
Fascinating question.  Your choice really.  But I don't think you get to both use foul language
and then wonder why you don't have any impact beyond a few friends who come to your treehouse.
It's a difference my two year old is starting to grasp.
I wonder when you will.

DMcG
 

David, by any chance, did you catch Dennis Miller last night?
He uses "mother-fucker" and "cock-sucker," like I use "horseshit" or "whore."
Not that he's the arbiter of taste, but wasn't Chris Rock even worse?
Koresh, Chris Rock expolained what a "tossed salad" was, and when Bill Maher did
his stand-up, he kept referring to "eating pussy" and other phrases I don't use.
George Carlin's last stand-up mentioned,  "an anchovy's cunt."

I just can't talk like that.
Oh, I've been known to use the occasional mother-effer, but that's usually when I'm
describing people like those cowardly, motherless fucks who hanged Col. Higgins.
You know, Reagan and Bush's friends/partners in crime.
Then I get pissed and use words I shouldn't.

You may see me as the wild man on the edge, but I'm much more conservative
than others who have the freedom to speak freely.

It's not my language holding me back.
It's my lack of talent.

Funny, yesterday I was accused of selling out for more readers.
And she meant every damn word of it, too.
Since I can't please anyone, I'm just going to please myself.

That doesn't make me sound too much like Eminem, does it?

From:  pamgreen@cac.net

Subject: Eminem lyrics to The Real Slim Shady
 

Just so we can all judge for ourselves, these are the lyrics (from www.geocities.com/wicked_neil/eminem.html )
I'm not sure I get what the fuss is all about, but then we are talking about Colorado, right?

Pam Green

=======================

THE REAL SLIM SHADY

May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
We're gonna have a problem here

Y'all act like ya never seen a white person before
Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like Tommy just burst in the door
And started whooping her ass worse than before
They first were divorce, throwin' her over furniture (Ahh!)
It's the return of the..."Ah, wait, no way, you're kidding,
he just didn't say what I think he did, did he?"
And Dr. Dre said...
Nothing you idiots! Dr. Dre's dead, he's locked in my basement!(Ha-ha!)
Feminist women love Eminem
Slim Shady, I'm sick of him
Look at him, walking around grabbing his you-know-what
Flipping the you-know-who, yeah, but he's so cute though
Yeah, I probably got a couple of screws up in my head loose
But no worse than what's going on in your parents' bedrooms
Sometimes, I wanna get on TV and just let loose, but can't
But it's cool for Tom Green to hump a dead moose
My bum is on your lips, my bum is on your lips
And if I'm lucky, you might just give it a little kiss
And that's the message that we deliver to little kids
And expect them not to know what a woman's clitoris is
Of course they gonna know what intercourse is
By the time they hit fourth grade
They got the Discovery Channel don't they?
We ain't nothing but mammals
Well, some of us cannibals
Who cut other people open like cantaloupes
But if we can hump dead animals and antelopes
Then there's no reason that a man and another man can't elope
But if you feel like I feel, I got the antidote
Women wave your pantyhose, sing the chorus and it goes
 

Chorus:
I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady
All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating
So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up?
Please stand up, please stand up
Cuz I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady
All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating
So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up?
Please stand up, please stand up
 

Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell his records
Well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too!
You think I give a damn about a Grammy?
Half of you critics can't even stomach me let alone stand me
"But Slim, what if you win, wouldn't it be weird?"
Why? So you guys could just lie to get me here
So you can sit me here next to Britney Spears
Shit, Christina Aguilera better switch me chairs
So I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst
And hear them argue over who she gave head to first
You little bitch, put me on Blast on MTV
"Yeah, he's cute, but I think he's married to Kim, hee-hee"
I should download her audio on MP3
And show the whole world how you gave Eminem VD
I'm sick of you little girl and boy groups
All you do is annoy me so I have been sent here to destroy you
And there's a million of us just like me
Who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me
Who dress like me; walk, talk and act like me
And just might be the next best thing but not quite me!

Chorus

I'm like a head trip to listen to cuz I'm only giving you
Things you joke about with your friends inside your living room
The only difference is I got the balls to say it
In front of y'all and I don't gotta be frost or sugar coated at all
I just get on a mic and spit it and whether you like to admit it
I just shitted better than 90 percent of you rappers out there
Then you wonder how can kids eat up these albums like valiums
It's funny cuz at the rate I'm going when I'm 30
I'll be the only person in the nursing home flirting
Pinching nurses asses when I'm jacking off with Jergens
And I'm jerkin' but this whole bag of Viagra isn't working
And every single person is a Slim Shady lurking
He could be working at Burger King spitting on your onion rings
Or in the parking lot, circling, screaming I don't give a fuck!
With his windows down and his system up
So, will the real Shady please stand up?
And put one of those fingers on each hand up?
And be proud to be outta ya mind and outta control
And one more time, loud as you can, how does it go?

Chorus

Guess there's a Slim Shady in all of us
Fuck it, let's all stand up