We Know What's Best For You

Whether you like it or not. Agape Press (07.27.05), via AmericaBlog:

"Emmy Awards or not, an online activism group that includes thousands of moms and housewives finds no redeeming value in Desperate Housewives, the prime-time series that chronicles the 'sex-ploits' of a group of suburban women." Moms Hope to Make 'Housewives' Desperate for Sponsors

The good women of OneMillionMoms, a subsidiary of Don Wildmon's American Family Association, find "little humor in a prime-time television program that promotes such societal ills as adultery and sexual promiscuity." We have the sneaking suspicion they don't find humor in much of anything. They definitely don't like gays, or Paris Hilton's Hardee's ad, plus they're honked off at NASCAR for airing Levitra ads last March in which the terms "long-lasting erection" and "if erections last more than four hours" were used. Hard to believe, eh? Big Don doesn't like Desperate Housewives either, having described the show as "'a television show that promotes prostitution, adult-teen sexual relations, infidelity, deception, seduction, adultery, promiscuity [and] sadomasochism.'" So, uhhh, what time is it on? Back to the moms. They're trying to convince companies to refrain from advertising on the show. They had some luck with Mary Kay Cosmetics and a few others, though one wonders if they'll be much missed. When it premiered last October about 21.6 million folks watched it, "leading the twisted prime-time soap to the top spot in the ratings week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research." "About 18 percent of all 2 million TiVo boxes are programmed to record every episode in the inaugural season of the show. The number of Season Pass requests for 'Desperate Housewives' has tripled since the show's debut earlier this month." That would be 360,000 subscribers who forked over Desperate Housewives was also Tivo's most popular series for the week of July 24, 2005. Yeah. No GodFearing advertiser would want a piece of that action, huh. The Cato Institute has a question for Big Don's comrades over at Parents Television Council (Janet Jackson's SuperBowl teat, the Summer Olympics nekkid statues):

"While the PTC claims to be non-partisan, the watchdog group's public policy advocacy adopts a distinctly social conservative and moralistic tone. Interestingly, the PTC's motto is: 'Because Our Children Are Watching,' which begs the question: Why are your children watching? Why are they watching Desperate Housewives or any other show you find objectionable? I know my kids aren't watching." Desperate Housewives and Desperate Regulators

"Despite the fact that today's youngsters live in a media-saturated world and consume much more news and entertainment than previous generations, important cultural indicators are all showing significant signs of improvement. Consider these facts [ed.: the author cites no sources]: * Juvenile murder, rape, robbery and assault are all down significantly over the past decade. Overall, aggregate violent crime by juveniles fell 42% from 1995-2002. * There are fewer murders at school today and fewer students report carrying weapons to school or anywhere else than at any point in the past decade. * Alcohol and drug abuse has generally been falling and is currently at a 20-year low. Teen birth rates have hit a 20-year low and fewer teens are having sex today than they were 15 years ago. * High school dropout rates continue to fall steadily, as they have for the past 30 years. * And while teenage suicide rates rose steadily until the mid-1990s, they then began a dramatic decline that continues today. "Not surprisingly, you don't hear any of this good news over at the PTC website or from other conservative groups. Could it be because it does not fit nicely into their "Let's-blame-media-for-all-our-problems" mentality?" To paraphrase Cato's recommendation, rather than bitch about this stuff, turn off your fucking TV sets, you idiots.