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April 25, 2005

Hollywood Helping Democrats Lose?

An analyis by the Progressive Policy Institute is telling Democrats that they're losing support from families, and Hollywood is one major cause. This Washington Times Story tells how PPI has informed Democrats that they should paye attention to "morally corrosive forces in the culture," and warns that the party will not fare better with this pivotal voting bloc until they do. Give it a read.

I'm inclined to agree. When prominent members of liberal Hollywood get up on stage at a political event to support Democrats and start making comparisons to sexual organs, cursing outrageously, and generally displaying a complete lack of moral code, parents notice. They notice actions that they don't want their kids to see, and they notice who is sponsoring the activity.

Looking at what many of these same people are doing when they're NOT involved in politics causes parents to notice when they DO get involved. Remember the day when you wouldn't hear references to fecal matter on TV? That changed to hearing a *bleep* when the word was used. Then, L.A. Law was allowed to use God's name in vain. Next thing you know, you're hearing sh*bleep* which has given way to today's sh*blip*t. Once upon a time, the word was banned from TV. Now, only one letter of the word is banned. My kid isn't fooled when he hears the not-quite-bleeped version, and he doesn't like it. Luckily for us, we're raising a good kid, who understands the difference between right and wrong.

The Republicans aren't exactly jumping up and down to do anything about it. Democrats, except for a select few, are vehemently opposed to doing anything about it. Hollywood, thinking itself an important and lucrative support structure for the Democrats, makes it clear that nothing SHOULD be done about it.

Will the Democrats bite the hand that feeds them? I doubt it.

I can point to one law that clearly paved the way for what we see on broadcast TV today. That law is the 1996 Telecommunications Act of 1996. Part of that law required the inclusion of the V-Chip into new TVs. Previously, TV broadcasters had been limited in the offensiveness that they could show, partially because of a decision of the Supreme Court. Since TV had no mechanism to show what was coming to you before it was there, offensiveness had to be kept to a low level. The V-Chip, though, changed this. Suddenly, you had a way to know how bad a TV show was. This took away any legal reason to keep the offensiveness low. Sold as a helper to parents, the V-Chip was the downfall of polite TV.

I wasn't a lone voice in the wilderness back in 1996, when I was writing letters to my Senators and Congressman in opposition to the V-Chip provision, for this very reason. As it turns out, though, I was right.

Hollywood isn't stopping its antics anytime soon. In 2008, they'll be back on stage at Democratic fundraisers, insulting more than half the population of America in the most profane way possible. Good parents will notice.

Posted by Lockjaw at April 25, 2005 7:16 AM

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