Pixelate the Morality Police; ...it is worth taking a closer look at the groups

[Guest guest]

Pixelate the Morality Police; " ...it is worth taking a closer look at

the groups and organizations spearheading these self-righteous

crusades. " 1/28

 

 

 

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0126-23.htm

 

Published on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Pixelate the Morality Police

by Christian Christensen

 

 

In an era when broadcasters in the United States have caved in to

self-appointed morality monitors to the extent that they are actually

" pixelating " cartoon rear-ends, it is worth taking a closer look at

the groups and organizations spearheading these self-righteous

crusades. More often than not, peeling back just a few layers of these

rancid onions will reveal phenomenal hypocrisies. The Fox News Channel

is the most obvious case in point. While railing for hour upon endless

hour about the need for God and morality in public life, Fox News

" journalists " appear blissfully unaware of the fact that, across the

Atlantic, editions of " The Sun " newspaper are rolling off the presses

in London. " The Sun " is famous for two things: xenophobic trash

journalism (often revolving around celebrity drug use and sex), and

showing photographs of topless, silicone-enhanced teenage girls. The

hypocrisy? Both media outlets are owned by the same man: Rupert

Murdoch. You have to admire the chutzpah of people like Bill O'Reilly

who cross themselves with one hand and take money made (in part) from

soft-porn newspapers with the other.

 

While Fox News is the leader in on-air morality, the Parents

Television Council (PTC) wins the prize for off-air godliness. Last

month, Mediaweek magazine revealed that over 99% of indecency

complaints (other than those regarding the Janet Jackson Super Bowl

incident) lodged with the Federal Communications Commission came from

members of the PTC. According to the PTC website (www.parentstv.org),

the organization, " was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not

constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity on television and

in other media. " In addition, the PTC claims to be, " a nonpartisan

organization " that " produces critical research and publications

documenting the dramatic increase in sex, violence and profanity in

entertainment. This information is provided free of charge so parents

can make informed viewing choices for their own families. "

 

A quick look at some of the people sitting on the " Advisory Board " of

the PTC, however, reveals a group of individuals who do not appear to

practice what they preach:

 

* PTC founder and President Brent Bozell III. A longtime

conservative activist, Bozell was the National Finance Chairman for

the 1992 " Buchanan for President " campaign. When most people think of

" compassion " and " family values, " neo-fascist Pat Buchanan doesn't

automatically come to mind. " Obscenity, " on the other hand, might.

* Susan Howard. Howard is well-known for her role as Donna Krebbs

on the 80s hit show, " Dallas. " Since the soap that made her famous was

soaked in scantily-clad women, emotional cruelty, violence,

alcoholism, and martial infidelity, it is amusing to see someone like

Howard take the moral high-ground on " values " in television. Oh, by

the way, Susan Howard is also on the Board of Directors of the

National Rifle Association.

* Coleman Luck. A writer and producer, Luck's television

experience includes work on " Otherworld, " " The Equalizer, " " Fire, "

" Matrix, " and " The Burning Zone. " Most of these programs included a

fair amount of death and violence. It would appear that, for Luck,

" obscenity " is acceptable so long as he is the one who is getting the

paychecks.

* William Bennett. Opinionated conservative commentator and author

( " The Book of Virtues " ) who was chairman of the National Endowment for

the Humanities and Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan, as well

as President Bush's " drug czar " . Following the publication of " The

Book of Virtues, " it was discovered that Bennett was a very popular

guest at a number of Las Vegas casinos. Conveniently, many

conservative commentators then decided that gambling was not, after

all, a vice.

* Bruce Jarchow. An actor who, according to the PTC website, " has

earned a reputation in Tinseltown for his principled stands on what

roles he will and will not accept. " The site indicates that Jarchow

has appeared in mild films such as " Ghost, " " Radio Days, " and " The

Doctor, as well as the TV programs " Seinfeld, " " Coach, " and " Honey, I

Shrunk the Kids. " For some strange reason, however, the PTC website

fails to mention some of the other, less family-friendly products the

" principled " Jarchow has appeared in, such as " The Puppet Masters "

(R-rated horror), " Mad Dog and Glory " (R-rated comedy) and

" Married...With Children " (crude Fox sitcom packed with blatant sexual

banter). Again, moralists like Jarchow are happy to make money from

programs while at the same time denying our right to watch them.

* Billy Ray Cyrus. Country singer most famous for his mind-numbing

1992 song, " Achy Breaky Heart. " In the spirit of anti-feminism, the

PTC website lauds the video for the song in which, " the muscular,

pony-tailed Cyrus was mobbed by adoring women. " Amazingly for a man

devoted to clean, family-oriented material, Cyrus starred in the TV

pilot " Mulholland Drive " made by erotic, anti-family values filmmaker

David Lynch. And, Cyrus had the lead in the independent film

mega-flop, " Radical Jack, " the synopsis of which highlights the lunacy

of Cyrus being on the board of the PTC: " CIA agent Jack Reynolds

(Billy Ray Cyrus) has a score to settle. Five years ago, his family

was slaughtered after he tried to break up an illegal arms ring. But

now he's discovered the location of the gunrunner who killed his

family--and he's going undercover and taking on a whole crooked town

in order to get his man! "

* John Carvelli. Conservative activist and Chairman Emeritus of

the 400 Club of the Republican Party of Orange County, who, in 1987,

" took part in a fact-finding mission in Nicaragua and Honduras with

the National Conservative Foundation during the Nicaraguan civil war. "

" Fact-finding " in Nicaragua and Honduras in 1987 for the National

Conservative Foundation? Enough said.

 

What makes the people at Fox News and the PTC so irritating is their

faux purity and phony " homespun " values. Sure, Bill O'Reilly really

loves old-fashioned values. Meanwhile, he has no problem taking an

obscene amount of money from a man who makes millions from young girls

exposing their breasts. Sure, Bill Bennett is really worried about the

moral fabric of America. Meanwhile, he drops a few hundred thousand in

a city built on organized crime, prostitution and exploiting the

dreams (and the labor) of the working poor. If members of pious,

conservative organizations are serious about stamping out obscenity,

they should begin by looking in the mirror and asking who has the

moral and ethical authority to stand on a soapbox and tell fellow

citizens what they can and cannot watch. I'm not sure if people like

that even exist, but, if they do, I'm pretty sure that Billy Ray Cyrus

isn't one of them.

 

Christian Christensen is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of

Communication at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey. His email

address is bahcesehircc.

 

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