"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there."

The 80s are making a comeback –

As a child of the 80’s, I can look back fondly on many of the things that made it the decade it was:

Pink Izods (had ‘em)
Parachute Pants (had ‘em)
Jamz (had ‘em)
Big hair (definitely had it)
Make-up on women AND men (I’ll admit to wearing eyeliner when we went clubbing)
Flipped-up collars (did it)

Some of these things are making a comeback in 2005. In fact, last week, I was forced to sit through a fashion show and learned that pink on men is making a comeback, as are the flipped-up collars.

The Killers are bringing back an 80s sound (complete with fake British accents) and the newest CD from Disturbed contains a (very good) cover of “Land of Confusion”. Depeche Mode has even put out a new album (which I’m looking forward to picking up).

Unfortunately, something else from the 80s is making a very vocal comeback…fundamentalist right-wing Christian nut-jobs who demand a nanny-state “for the children”.

I should preface this rant with the following:

I am a Christian;

I was raised in the church and, although I didn’t regularly attend church throughout most of the 90s and the first 4 years of the 21st century, my faith and ideals remained very strong.

I’ve found myself back in the good graces of the church and am now an active member in good-standing (I think) of a fantastic Presbyterian congregation.

I vote Republican (I only bring this up to support my “right-winger” credentials)

That said, stuff like this really pisses me off.

The FCC received, in the month of July 2005, 23,547 complaints. FOUR of those were not from the Parent’s Television Counsel. What was so offensive that one organization filed 23,543 obscenity complaints?

Roger Daltrey of “The Who” said fuck when singing “Who Are You” at the Live 8 concert (shown on ABC) and;

Some crime drama I’ve never heard of on Fox had some objectionable content.

Because I’ve never watched “The Inside” and have no idea of the objectionable content in question, I’ll refrain from commenting. But COME ON! 13,000 complaints because a senior citizen rock star sang an almost 30 year old song that contained the word “fuck” on national TV? Are we really so sensitive?

This is, of course, nothing new. I compare this to the 80s because, as a child of the 80s, I vividly recall the PMRC and the American Family Association. More on this later…I could write a book on the topic, which would make for an extremely long post.

As Clare Luce Boothe said “Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but, unlike charity, should end there.” My message to Brent Bozell and the rest of the morons at the Parent’s Television Counsel would be for you to monitor your own children’s viewing habits rather than try to impose your morality on the rest of this country. If you see something that’s truly objectionable, change the channel. Also, if your idea of “truly objectionable” includes the utterance of a four-letter word (most of which are heard in every office building and playground each day), get a freaking grip. Spend a few minutes surfing the web and I’m sure you can find way more objectionable items.

Perhaps even more objectionable than I find your attempts to cede your child-rearing responsibilities to the government to be.