I wouldn't completely agree on the censorship claims. I mean, yes, they do do a lot of shielding for the kids. But as a parent myself, I rather not have a cartoon for my daughter to watch--with say, Spounge Bob with his dick hanging out or him being a pimp. It's about making sure kids don't turn into vulgar little jack-asses. Need further proof of that? Drive into any area like in NYC where there are black people with kids, and their kids are dressed like 50 cent, and headbobbing to their father's iPod of Candyshop.
Okay, you're being extreme on the type of cartoon that would be aired. However, guess what? There's a very, VERY simple philosophy to making sure your daughter doesn't watch that kind of show (and this will be repeated throughout the course of this post) Simply don't SHOW it to her. As the parent of your daughter, you are responsible for monitoring what they watch, as well as teaching them the difference between right and wrong. Same as the parents of the kids who are dressed like 50 Cent. Blaming cartoons, music, or other forms of media is just an excuse for bad parenting. My parents played New Jack Hustler, Baby Got Back and LOTS of songs with profanity in them. My parents showed me R Rated movies when I was 5, with plenty of cursing, awesome deaths, and kick ass quotes. I turned out just fine.
Censorship -needs- to be around for children so they don't walk around yelling "Where'z mah bitches!" (Kinda wish I was kidding about that.) I can see what people mean with the Batman show, but come on people. They actually LOOSENED the censorship knob since our days. G.I Joe? They shot at eachother on both ends, but no one was actually -shot-. There was an episode where the US government retracked their weapons because they were WASTING money on the ammo.
PARENTS -need- to be around for children so they don't walk around yelling "Where'z mah bitches!" It's called teaching them right from wrong, and teaching them what's socially acceptable. I mean, who cares if they do it when they're in their high school years. I mean, you curse and joke around with your friends, but if you're actually stupid enough to do something jail worthy, a LOT of times it's the fault of parenting. My friend is a child psychologist at a school in NYC that's the kids last stop before juvie/prison. Guess what the MAIN problem in their life is? It's certainly not uncensored media. It's their lack of parents.
And no they haven't loosened up Censorship. G.I.Joe was an awful cartoon in the grand scheme of 80's cartoons. However, they wanted Dungeons & Dragons banned from TV at one point because it was referred to as the most violent cartoon on at the time, and it was the best WRITTEN cartoon on.
The 1990's Spiderman cartoon? Did you guys ever notice how Spidey not -once- slugged anyone? Now look at Spectacular Spiderman. They made it so that he fights more in style with his comicbook counterpart by using the surroundings and poucing on people and beating them to a senseless pulp with hands and feet. He's beating the -crap- out of villians, not handing them teddy bears.
Again, poor cartoon choice. The 90's Spider-Man cartoon was poorly animated, for the most part. However, he did indeed hit people in the cartoons, web-swing then kicked them. Also, it doesn't matter. IT'S A CARTOON! If your kid is going out and beating the life out of another kid just like your Friendly, Neighborhood Spider-Man, then you've done something wrong as a parent! My friends and I watched ALL those shows, and we don't go out getting into fights.
And before I moved recently, I attented a parenting class with my wife and one of the biggest subjects was actually how tv has gotten more violent these days. Also, I call bullshit on the Looney Toon's claim due to those cartoons not being made in our time, but in the generation BEFORE us. As in, our mother's and fathers. My aunt we constantly show me the cartoons that she grew up on and say that WE got the watered down stuff due to Bugs Bunny's mishaps taking place when -she- was a kid.
Even if this class claims that TV has gotten more violent, which in terms of cartoons I absolutely disagree with, it doesn't excuse bad parenting. Monitor your kids, spend time with them, teach them right from wrong, you know, PARENT them, and TV shouldn't be a problem. And again, if it is, simply don't let them watch it! And yes, Looney Tunes was VERY racist back in the day. Disney wasn't exactly the poster-child for equality either? I mean, have you EVER seen Song of the South? LoL, guess what the Disney World ride Splash Mountain is based on! Are you not going to take your daughter on that awesomely fun ride, due to it's CLEAR racial undertones from that movie?
So, no. You guys can't act like the shows we grew up on were that much violent and kids today are getting sugar sweetness, because what they are getting is the end of our era of cartoons. And I love you guys, I really do--well, maybe not Tickle--but don't you guys think you're taking it a bit too...obessively? I mean, it seems that the past glories of games and shows are held back so much here that it's created this uber-conservative whirlpool that what is old is better. NES > Xbox 360. Sonic The Hedgechog cartoon > Avatar the last Airbender.
Don't you guys think you're living in the past too much? And because of that, falsifed thoughts of our cartoons being more violent or well placed are created out of nostalgia?
Maybe some people in here can't, but I can, because I'm older and have lived through the years. Listen, the majority of the 80's cartoons were 30 minute toy commercials. The few that weren't, like the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon I mentioned, were definitely deemed more violent back in the day. Hell even some of the others weren't. What kids today are getting is either Dubbed Anime, or cheap Flash-made [parasitic bomb]. I have nothing against dubbed anime, since the US can't produce good cartoons anymore, but even so, they're being censored for parents like you who are afraid that because they're child sees a little violence from their cartoons, hear some nasty curse words, play some violent video games, or watch an R Rated movie, that it's somehow going to corrupt their child.
Take Gundam Wing, for example. In Episode 34 "And It's Name Is Epyon", in the Censored Toonami Version, when Heero talks to Treize, the line "I don't believe in God." is cut from the episode, but shown during the Midnight Run version. Why was that censored? There's nothing vulgar, profane, sexual, or anything like that in that phrase. It's just Heero voicing his opinion about his beliefs. Is it right to censor that just so kids can't hear that the "hero" of the cartoon doesn't believe in God? Did they fear that parents were going to complain about something so meaningless, cause they think it would teach their child that They shouldn't believe in God? Where do you draw the line between what they can censor from us and our children, and what they can't?
And that's the issue with Censorship. It has nothing to do with older being better. It has to do with scared parents telling the rest of us what we, and OTHER parents, can and cannot do/watch/play/etc, because they can't/don't think they can actually PARENT their child. So they need to find a scapegoat, or something to blame. It's been going on throughout the history of this country, back when Ray Charles came out, back when Rock & Roll first started, then movies, TV, music again, cartoons, and now video games. By the logic of your way of thinking, if the Mega Man series was deemed "too violent" for children to play by the censorship bureau, and we as parents would be arrested for buying it for them, THAT would be perfectly acceptable because "Well, it's okay since my child will be shielded from this violence and those parents shouldn't be buying it for their child anyway!" THAT's the issue with censorship. It tells EVERYONE what we CAN and CANNOT watch, play, do, etc and tells us what is too violent for our children to be watching.
Ramzal, obviously I am not your daughter's father, therefor I cannot tell her what she can and cannot watch, nor say what is too violent or vulgar for them to watch or listen too. So what the [tornado fang] right do these people have to tell me or my future child what is too violent for them to watch or listen too or play? Just like I'm not your daughter's parent, these people aren't my future child's parent.
Also, as far as the 4kids thing goes with the music, I spoke to my friend Pete on that. He is a director of Music Licensing for Avenue Music Group to the point that anytime you see a movie or a show with "Why can't we be friends", ANY Jimmy Hendricks music and some NWO--he caused the deal and sealed it to be in that movie/show. Basically his feed back is that it's a way to not pay licensing fee's and royalties to company's and artists. And that given that it's overseas, wanting to use that music would mean they'd have to pay a large bill to artists and companies and overseas would only cost -more- doing that, it would be a hefty bill.
And the fact that not many american's are into Japanese pop-rock, they appeal of the music would be low and supply and demand would be pretty much not there.
Now, you can say that "Oh. It's all about money! They just don't want to spend money!" Well, apperently, music licensing costs a lot. As in a quarter to half a million dollars for a popular song. And songs in anime's tend to be popular in japan, which means they'd have to pay so much money that pleasing anyone of you guys is just not an issue or one that's important.
Not to sound insulting but... all of us can barely pay rent on the places we have -now- and you guys want to complain about an issue that--if 4 kids rectified--it would cost them millions just so you can hear the japanese intro to Yugioh?
Come on, guys...
That's not censorship. That's business.