Morally bankrupt or folk with too little to worry about?

[replicant_008]

I started posting this in Television but it really doesn't belong there.

With all of the festering and finger pointing over the incident during the MTV half time programme during this year's Super Bowl including the FCC investigation, complaints from groups about the lack of moral decency....

...I'm kind of puzzled...

The US produces programming for children or deems that programming is okay for children which seems to allow for the screening of wholesale violence but as soon as someone swears or the slightest bit of nudity then everyone throws up their arms in moral outrage.

To be honest from my point of view what was shown during the MTV slot (although a little tasteless) pales in significance compared with what is usually present down at my popular local beach 5 minutes walk from my home most summer days. And when I spent time in Sydney, most girls sunbathe topless as they do in Spain and France.

Now I haven't spent a lot of time at the beach when I was in North America - mainly because I was chasing girls on snowboards... but it kind of strikes me as an own goal when violence seems to be a leading cause of premature death in many places but yet I don't see a slide into moral decay just because the girl next to me decides she wants to sunbathe without tan lines on her back or wants an even tan on her chest...

Call me a liberal or morally bankrupt but I thought there were more important things to get really annoyed about an incident which at best was an unfortunate accident or worse a cynical publicity stunt.

What do you think?

[TexasF355F1]

I agree with you; sort of. I think it was wrong that they did that. Especially knowing tons of children would be watching. But most of the 'children' watching were probably around 12 years old. And if you weren't watching close enough, the whole incident was probably overlooked. And I don't really know that many people that actually watch the halftime show anyhow. If I had young kids I would probably be a little upset, but not enough to cry over it. Parents these days don't know what or how their kids talk while at school or with their friends. It's pretty pathetic though, that something like this totally over shadowed the game itself(which was very exciting imo) as well as the winning team.

[Cbass]

There is still a strong puritan movement in the US, people who are strongly offended by even profanity, and even low cut jeans.

There is a list of words you can't use on a mainstream channel, or radio station. It's kind of funny, here in Canada we don't have these restrictions, so you can listen to many forms of music and television as they intended to be enjoyed.

Nudity on a mainstream US channel? Not likely. Here in Canada, all of the big stations put on movies that contain partial nudity at least. Does this make us morally bankrupt? Of course not, it just means that we have different morals, and are not offended by the human body, or the english language.

My 2 cents.

[TexasF355F1]

Originally Posted by Cbass

There is still a strong puritan movement in the US, people who are strongly offended by even profanity, and even low cut jeans.

There is a list of words you can't use on a mainstream channel, or radio station. It's kind of funny, here in Canada we don't have these restrictions, so you can listen to many forms of music and television as they intended to be enjoyed.

Nudity on a mainstream US channel? Not likely. Here in Canada, all of the big stations put on movies that contain partial nudity at least. Does this make us morally bankrupt? Of course not, it just means that we have different morals, and are not offended by the human body, or the english language.

My 2 cents.

It really all depends on where you were brought up and your personal moral views; like you said. I had no problem with it, but would if I had young kids watching(as I mentioned earlier). I talked to my mom last night and she was absolutely appauled. But her morals are to the extreme. My dad and I are totally different than her. Because of how she is, I told her I missed the halftime show. My dad probably acted as though it was wrong, but then I get an email from him yesterday with a close up pic of 'the boob'. Anyway, it really shouldn't have happened, but things will get worse as long as MTV produces something.

[YogsVR4]

The problem with the analogy of what you see down at the beach and what happened during half time is that there was no control. A parent can restrict what a child sees by knowing what the shows or the locations contain or display. If one goes to a beach, then you expect (and hope) to see women with little on. You watch a drama on nighttime television, then you'll get violence and small amounts of clothes. I doubt many parents were concerned with nudity occuring during the superbowl concert halftime show.

I think that there are some people who get to carried away by what happened. But, by the same token, there are those who blow it off by saying "you think thats bad, just look at..."

It was uncalled for. It shouldn't have happened. The NFL has appologized for the incident. They have also indicated that MTV will not be putting on future halftime shows. To me it sounds like a publicity stunt that went to far got called to the mat by the people who hired them (NFL) and the subject should be closed.


CBass - as for nudity on mainstream channels, they've been flashing asses and breasts for years now on some programs.

[MagicRat]

Agreed.
It was the format of the boob, not the exposure itself.
No one would really bat an eye if it were late night, but family programming where 10 million kids are watching is quite inappropriate.

IMO it was an ameturish display, something not worthy of MTV or the people involved.

Personally, though, it is quite ironic that children are much more able to see violence in many and varied forms long before seeing boobs, (at least after 3 months of age). I think violence is far more harmful to a kid than a good set of knockers.