Trampled Underfoot

For goodness sake, when is this country going to grow up? Once again, the ugly streak of puritanism raises its head. The FCC in all its wisdom has decided to fine ABC $1.43 million for showing the naked side and backside of a woman getting into the shower in a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue. Ooh, ooh, the people in the Mountain time zone who don't believe in Daylight Savings Time saw the episode at 9:00 instead of 10:00 pm. Since parents don't seem to control their kids bedtimes and viewing habits, the government must do it for them.

Indeed, FCC commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate suggested in a prepared statement released with the proposed fine that the commission would have assessed a higher fine, if possible. "Our action today should serve as a reminder to all broadcasters that Congress and American families continue to be concerned about protecting children from harmful material and that the FCC will enforce the laws of the land vigilantly," Ms. Tate said.

I am so tired of this crap. There is nothing wrong with the human body, dressed or undressed but we keep trying to make it dirty and disgraceful. And why is it that it's always referred to as Janet Jackson baring her breast when it was Justin Timberlake singing about having her naked by the end of the song and it was his hand that did the removing? That has always bugged me. His career didn't suffer but hers did.

Of course the technicians are never dorks. We all know to power down and restart before we call. Whenever I have to call tech support I always get someone who doesn't understand and has me repeat all of the things I've already done before they tell me that they can't help me and they finally kick me upstairs. Now that I have my iMac and don't use Comcast, that particular irritation never occurs anymore.

I'm an isolationist, I admit it. I believe that America should take care of America first and worry about the rest of the world after we have solved the problems at home. I do not believe in withholding medical care, food or jobs from those who are already here and contributing to our society, in whatever menial capacity that may be. That some states would enact such draconian laws in an effort to stem the flow of illegal immigration is stupid and shortsighted. And for a supposedly Christian nation, it's not very Christ like. Why do we hate people who are different from us? Do you think that if aliens (the space kind) came to this world that they would see a difference between us? No, they would think we were all equally barbaric.

It's nice to know that some people are still willing to help others out. Most people (especially those in Oklahoma) would have kept the camera and not made the effort that these people did to return it to its rightful owner. Finder's keepers, losers weepers is how most people act nowadays.

And I end where I started, with more puritanical hypocrisy.

So the game world has been ablaze with indignation since the Fox News program “The Live Desk With Martha MacCallum” said on Monday that Mass Effect, one of the most critically praised games of 2007, contains frontal nudity and explicit depictions of sexual activity. The assertions of virtual lasciviousness first appeared earlier this month among conservative bloggers incensed by brief YouTube clips excerpted from the 30- to 40-hour game.

Mass Effect, a science fiction game, includes a complicated romantic subplot that is no more risqué in its plot or graphic in its depiction than evening network television.

And 24 isn't one of the most violent television shows ever aired. Like the old MPAA joke goes: kiss a nipple and it's X rated, cut it off and it becomes an R. We are one messed up and repressed society.

3Bs