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.
This would be well put if not for the fact that it's easier in theory than it is in execution. There is a correlation to what a child views to what kind of person they grow to be. The reason why so many kids get exposed to bad media is that parents can't always be around to -see- what their children are taking in. There's always at least a twenty minute window--altogether--when a parent is seperated from a child during the day. And we all know that because those were the times we used to turn to a show we weren't supposed to watch or go and do stupid things.
The reason why things are censored and made so sugary sweet is that if a parent has to leave the room with the child still watching tv, they can be assured that while they are gone, the child is still watching safe programming. People say that blaiming cartoons and music and media is an excuse for bad parenting, but with most cases it really isn't due to what the child can be exposed to outside of a period of parental supervision and an obvious causation when the child's additude begins to change for the worst. Although, I fully agree with you that the media is NOT a parental tool.
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.
And a lot who've watched what you did at the same age where effected by that in a negative way. The other side of the fence shouldn't be ignored here.
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.
That's the kicker and why censorship is in place. What a child initially views/hears, they see it as something that's right to say or do. If you put a kid in front of a tv and they see classic looney toons, they see it as--shooting someone in the face with a shotgun is funny. When the outcome is...well, only funny if Joe Quesada is on the business end of the shotgun. Censorship is there to help in deciding what is good or bad for your children to watch and what could be acceptable.
However, that is no excuse to leave them in front of the tele and let that decide for them, they do need parental interations.
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.
It's more of a mixture of the two. Namely if it's a city like NYC. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that most of those kids he see's are in the hispanic and african american majority. Those two races have a large problem with a lack of parental direction due to a lack of a father figure, losey moms, and music and movies they take too seriously in their heads. I've grown up in way too many ghettos to not see the obvious of music AND poor parenting go hand in hand as to when your kid is bleeding in the street because they wanted to be as tough as 50. (Which, he really is a pansy. >_>)
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.
In Avatar The Last Airbender there are debates--in the show weither it is right or wrong to kill the Fire Lord in the grand scheme of preserving peace. As in, they said the word "Kill" rather than "Destroy" and "Taking a life" rather than "Obliterate". They've loosened up quite some time since Dugeons & Dragon's, man. And Avatar is -aimed- towards kids to watch and I think that IS an exceptable level of censorship so kids are made aware of certain things in show rather than just being blinded and pampered.
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.
That wasn't my point at all and you kind of blew my statement out of proportion. My point was that comparing the violent content, they have loosened up. Stan Lee almost got into a lawsuit situation over what goes on in the Spider-man 1990's cartoon as far as censorship goes and it's a shame he didn't get his way. Shoulda been like the comics.
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.
Again, you're assuming that what I'm saying that "TV = bad." What I was saying was that media censorship has a part in what a child grows to be. Not a large part but still a part. WHATEVER your child is exposed to, that is what they are going to take in and use to form their personal tastes and personality.
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?
Wow, nice move insulting my intelligence as well as ability to raise a child and underestimating what the job of parenting actually is. It's harder than what you read about and harder than what your parents tell you. It's not so SIMPLE as "Don't let them watch it!" It really isn't, because you can't ALWAYS be there to mantain what your child is exposed to. I reiterate: CENSORSHIP IS IN PLACE IN CARTOONS SO IT CAN BE EASIER FOR A PARENT TO CHOOSE WHAT THEIR KIDS WATCH! IT IS NOT A PARENTAL TOOL TO RAISE YOUR KID OFF OF!
Anytime a parent say they are worried about what their kid takes in, people blow it out of proportion to make them look like overly anal people who wouldn't let their kids use a butter knife. There's not relation to splash mountain the ride and the viewing level of it. Again, please do not insult my intelligence by making suck a poor example to get a chuckle.
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.
And I can as well. I remember the cartoons from the 1980's and the 90's clearly. They were more violent compared to what was ON tv back in those days. Times have changed and content has changed.
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.
Wow. You just keep assuming and blowing statements out of proportion which is--odd for you. I never said that those things will be the bane of mankind or the thing that rots childrens minds. But rather something that needs to be controlled when it comes to CHILD PROGRAMMING. Personally, I intend to move my daughter up to more mature things as she ages or what I believe is acceptable. I won't be showing her Texas Chainsaw when she's five but I'd have little worry about that when she is 13 or 15.
As for language, hell her first word literally was "[tornado fang]!" because I dropped my P3-3X exhaust on my foot and yelled it. As for what games she'd play, it'd be the same as I got. You start with Mario 1 and work your way up. I am cool with the game violencing--hell, I intend to raise her as a fighter in kung-fu--as I am the degree of what she's playing. For example: I'd let her play street fighter or things like brawl if she were ten now, but Resident evil is off limits.
Not only because of the violent deaths, but things like that can lead to night paranoia in some people or temperary terrors. Age 15 or so, I would tell her go for it.
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?
That's an over-drastic example and stupid editing on the us's end due to me not caring for religion. But again. You are taking my stance on censorship to another level that I never said. And I never understand why they would show certain animes towards kids in the us due to the overall opinion and contrast of what is kid acceptable in japan and what is in the us. And lemme be clear so this cannot be picked apart and blown out of proportion--I am NOT saying kids should not watch anime. I am saying that for a country that is so anal retentive about this stuff, bringing it over and butchering it doesn't seem like a logical choice.
I'd perfer to see what is there in the first place, but sometimes, what's said in the US verisons are better worded than the Japanese verisons and done with better emotion. Hell, even nintendo admits that the japanese have a harder time expressing emotions properly than americans do. I rememeber seeing that on an episode of G4's ICONS.
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.
You know, the people who are literally like that are about 5% of the population of parents. There's a difference between concern and being scared. When you're concerned you do things like check what the rating for a show is before you let a five year old see it. When you're SCARED you start editing out the purple teletubby because you think he's gay.
By the logic of your way of thinking, if the Mega Man series was deemed
Again, you're assuming.
"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.
Okay. That was random and I have no idea HOW you got that out of my post at all. But you're overreacting to my statements and putting words in my...uh...keyboard? Again, censorship is there to HELP choose what is acceptable for your child to be exposed to as far as video games go. While I think they are overprotentious douchebags, the ESRB is helpfull in the sense that parents who WOULD say some stupid [parasitic bomb] like that have no grounds to stand on due to the label being right THERE and letting them KNOW what they're buying. And if they buy GTA 3 for their kid and are surprised by the content (Something which a lady did for her kid when I was working at gamestop and she came back an hour later, yelling at me.) then they are stupid.
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.
Again, you're seeing it as some group who is sitting in a dark mountain, plotting to controll kids and peoples minds. It's not that serious. Censorship is a tool. One that can either be used because it can be usefull or ignored because some cases are stupid. Again, it HELPS parents make decisions on what their kid should or should not watch or listen to. As in, it makes them -aware- of what they are viewing and watching. As far as new cartoons come out these days, I am not in favor of MOST of them because they are always yelling and are drawn poorly.
However, what I was saying that I am cool with them making shows that are the diet coke of viewing pleasure before moving kids onto red-bull. When it comes to letting your kids watch certain things, it's a matter of progressing them to less and less censored material gradually, not sheilding them and thinking that's okay. There is a grey shade---a middle ground to the subject of censorship. That is the stance I'm taking and until people stop BS'ing themselves and stop saying that "I love it, everything should be censored!" or "I hate it, everything should run ramped", we--as society in general are going to be a flock of morons arguing over who is right, when the truth is that the grey patch in the middle is what is best.
Also, as far as the people who try to say what your future kids should watch, just don't tune into their programming and don't listen to them. Jack Thompson would have been such an easier situation if gamers would have just ignored him. All we did was give him more fuel by coaxing him by making sites with his head exploding and proving his point in that sections eyes that we are overviolent cavemen. As you can see, people like that destroy -themselves- in the long run by taking what they stand for too far. The evidence of that is his disbarrment. Gamers did nothing in that situation outside of making it worse by giving him more ammo and attention. And that was something we played into his hands with.
Don't make the same mistake with people who take censorship too far.
As far as the music info goes, that was me referring to previous statements in the last page about anime music being removed and clearifying that subject due to knowing someone personally who deals with it on a daily level. You know. Clearing confusion and making some aware of how it works so they can be more accepting towards the outcome.
And personally, as a parent--I'll say again, I am fine with censorship. However, I am not ignorant to the point that I think I can protect or raise my kid on edited tv. That's what morons with little responcibility factor do. I'm fine with my kid violencing people when she'd have to. Hell, I already made her first quarter staff a few weeks ago and her first bokken has already been constructed when she was nine months old. She will learn how to kick the crap out of people and won't be hairpulling and scratching in fights.
My overall point--in as simple as I put it in an example of music/movies/and gaming is what I believe is acceptable for my kid by age and content.
Age 5:
Music: Light rock, jazz, classical and trance. NO RAP!
Movies: Disney movies, pixar, stupid plotted kid drama's
Games: You EARN your way to a ps3 by conquering the NES first. Mario, LoZ, Ducktails, Metal gear.
Age 10:
Music: Commerical rock (Linkin park level.), love songs, and all mentioned before. NO RAP!
Movies: Action movies, drama, kung-fu flicks from Bruce Lee, Samu Hung, to Tony Jaa and beyond.
Games: Rated T games.
Age 15: Anything but rap.
Movies: Have fun seeing Saw XIII
Games: You've made your way to survival horrors.
Age 18:
Nothing I can do here. Your choice.
Age 100: NO RAP!
I'm sorry. Rap just...sucks.
And while I have made several race aimed comments, I speak only because I've lived in city areas where that is highly the case. That and I'm black and mean no ill will to any race--just the people who prove stupid sterotypes right. YEAH! YOU HEARD ME, 50!
Edit: And I'll say this, just so we're clear. Violent cartoons do not make for violent people. But over exposer towards them as far as a child goes it not healthy for their minds. However, children need to know the truth of matters towards violence and death. And honestly, that's the parents responcibility to -talk- to them about it. Not the tv so they can see Major Hughs die. Censorship is something that should be used as a tool. NOT a crutch.