Word: simonal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...hearings, however, also witnessed talk of forcing television manufacturers to place lock-out devices on all new TVs--the ongoing Congressional hearings on TV violence could lead to legislating that clamps down on broadcasters' freedom. For that reason alone, the otherwise ridiculous spectacle of Senator Paul Simon attempting to pin the savagery of guns and knives in the hands of Crips and Bloods on the likes of "MacGyver" and "G.I. Joe" should be taken seriously...
...believe Senator Simon's assertion that the TV, insidiously taking hold of one's brain, forces the hapless viewer to imitate of all the behavior depicted thereon, we may deduce from the Senator's wardrobe that it has been a long time since he watched. The idea that a man who is known more for his garish bow ties and his grotesquely proportioned earlobes may well decide what can and cannot be beamed into American households is just as frightening as America's violence problem...
...Senator Simon's performance was odd, then Ted Turner's was disgraceful. The industry's Judas, Turner pilloried broadcasters for showing violent programming. Aflame with righteous indignation, he claimed an obvious causal connection between the violence in television programming and that of America's streets...
Even assuming for a moment that TV does wield the incredible influence Senator Simon and his intellectual cronies claim, the result would hardly be wanton violence. TV may be violent, but on TV the bad guys always get killed in the end and murderers are always uncovered...
...Senator Simon, Mr. Turner and their boosters to claim that TV causes random violence, they must plumb the depths of cynicism. Young people do perceive "the violent message" of television, but they are too stupid to absorb anything else, even if it is just as obvious. This comes from men of a generation, which relies on its children to operate its VCRs...