Milhouse 'N' Me

No, not this Milhouse...this one--former U.S. Republican president Richard Milhouse Nixon. Unfortunately for my readers, the similarity between your humble blogger and Nixon is not that I'm having a stroke and dying, but rather that I've set up my very own "Enemies List".

And the first inductee is a group I've had a problem with from the first time I heard about them and what they do--the Parents' Televison Council. These opponents of free creative expression have led crusades against just about every TV show I've ever watched, including the cable-only Rescue Me. These people wouldn't bother me if their only goal was to provide advice on show content so that responsible parents can monitor and control what their children watch--that's a useful service; after all, part of being responsible is being informed.

But they can't just leave it at that--they have to make it their personal crusade to see anything that they don't like pulled off the air, through any means necessary, especially via government interference. They just love to get their army of Midwest housewives (by which I mean wives the size of houses) to send in complaints about stuff that they themselves haven't even seen personally, hiding behind the guise of "protecting the children". We all know whose job it is to protect children from so-called "harmful" media content--the parents. They have plenty of resources available to them--all modern TVs and receivers are equipped with the V-chip or something equivalent. And any child with neglectful or irresponsible parents is almost sure to have bigger problems than what they're watching on TV. Stop trying to ruin content suitable for adults just because you're offended by its themes. If you don't like it, change the channel. Or better yet, drop your TV into a full bathtub. Then climb in with it.