Censorship in America?

I was walking around in Wal-Mart and I found this thing in Electronics. You hook it up to your TV and it reads the tv show in advance and bleeps out all the curse words and replaces them with alternatives.

It changes "Fuck" to "Friend" and "Shit" to "Smile". "Damn" becomes "Dandy" and "Hell" turns to "Heart".

The worst part is, it even bleeps out things that would only upset the most anal retentive of extremists southern baptist Christians.

It actually changes "Oh my God" to "I am surprised" and "God" to "Glory".

This is all apparently spoken aloud, the corrections done by a "robotic voice". This would produce a phrase similar to:

"Friend you, you Glory Dandy piece of smile. I am surprised, I wish you would just go to Heart!"

So what's your opinion on this? Has censorship in America gone too far?

[Camri]

People who have young kids, and are unable to watch televison with them all the time, might find it useful.

Some people have to work, and are unable to be there to censor what their kids are watching. Something like that might help them out. At least until their kids figure out how to get around it.

[Ilvane]

I don't think it's so bad.

I think we have gone way out of the realm of what is appropriate and good in America. I mean, you can't watch any shows on TV, for the most part, without hearing ass, bitch, or some other offensive word. Just because we are allowed to say things like this on TV doesn't mean we should.

I don't think everyone on TV should be having sex, and neither do I think it sells me anymore diet coke. I don't have to see someones behind to want to watch a show. Neither do I have to see breasts.

I really get tired of seeing every teen on TV wearing crop tops, and pop singers wearing nearly nothing. Hasn't anyone heard of leaving something to the imagination?

I don't think Wal-Mart is going too far. Maybe someone needs to stand up every once in a while and be modest, and family orientated. It's quite the rarity in this country.

-A

[Tsa`ah]

It's not a bad idea for those who have children and no means to lock out channels.


I don't think everyone on TV should be having sex, and neither do I think it sells me anymore diet coke.

Not to start an argument, but it doesn't sell any more diet coke or anything else to those that have an ounce more maturity than is the norm. Sex, violence, and vulgarity certainly have their place in some marketing demographics however.

The most sought after age group would probably be those from the ages of 13-21 or so. These are by far the most impressionable and gullible. I am in no way saying that all people in that age group are gullible, but I think it's safe to say that in today's American consumer culture, most do fit.

[Weedmage Princess]

What Ilvane said.

It's funny because not even 5 minutes ago, I was reading an article about children in America today, and how great the difference in lack of respect and manners is between children today and a generation ago. It's safe to say their over-exposure to things such as sex, violence, etc. etc. has a great deal to do with it.

I know some people will argue "Oh, it's stuff they're going to find out about anyway, blah blah" and while it's true they will find out about these things eventually, the later the better, as children these days aren't allowed to be children. Give their minds a chance to develop, give them a sense of morals and values, before exposing them to all the negativity right away when minds aren't developed enough understand what's going on.

[longshot]

Originally posted by Demon Lord Kage
I was walking around in Wal-Mart and I found this thing in Electronics. You hook it up to your TV and it reads the tv show in advance and bleeps out all the curse words and replaces them with alternatives.

It changes "Fuck" to "Friend" and "Shit" to "Smile". "Damn" becomes "Dandy" and "Hell" turns to "Heart".

The worst part is, it even bleeps out things that would only upset the most anal retentive of extremists southern baptist Christians.

It actually changes "Oh my God" to "I am surprised" and "God" to "Glory".

This is all apparently spoken aloud, the corrections done by a "robotic voice". This would produce a phrase similar to:

"Friend you, you Glory Dandy piece of smile. I am surprised, I wish you would just go to Heart!"

So what's your opinion on this? Has censorship in America gone too far?

This is not censorship.

This is a device you can buy to change content that you personally find unsuitable.

If it was forced to be on your television, then it would be censorship.

I fail to see how this product falls under the category of censorship though....

It's merely a tool to edit out certain elements for a certain group of people if they so choose.

edited to take out a redundant sentence.

[Edited on 9-11-2003 by longshot]

[HarmNone]

I agree with Longshot. This is not censorship. This is a tool that allows people who wish to do so to edit content that is offensive to them.

HarmNone

It is a censorship tool. A corny one too.

It's a tool that allows parents to be lazy and just butcher everything that comes on TV instead of being mindful of what their children are watching.

Personally, I think it's disgusting.

[GS4Gurl]

I think the thing is stupid because now days it doesn't matter what kids hear on tv they do things on their own. They hear bigger kids curse... cant censor them. I remember being in first grade and kids would swear and curse like there's no tomorrow. Yeah its a good idea if it actually worked but its just a waste of time. Theyre gonna hear and say what they want regardless.

[Neildo]

It's funny because not even 5 minutes ago, I was reading an article about children in America today, and how great the difference in lack of respect and manners is between children today and a generation ago. It's safe to say their over-exposure to things such as sex, violence, etc. etc. has a great deal to do with it.

The kids that I see have that problem are the ones from single parent families. That's when I see impatient moms cursing at their kid, threatening to smack them every 5 minutes all for letting out a little peep, etc. Also because people work so hard these days they're constantly busy with work and don't have much time to raise their kid. That's when they let their kid do anything they want because in their eyes, they can't do much about it.

That's my theory anyhow. All the single parents (or both parents that work 24/7) and busier lifestyle of today. And then once the good kids are around one of the bad kids, they imitate them as well. You can go ahead and have no TV but kids will still learn their bad habits from others. Unless you can personally be there to filter things out from your kid, no TV device or anything similar will help. You just need to give them some old fashioned TLC.. but good luck when both parents are workin their assess off 24/7.

- N