Commentary

 

Commentary
By Jeff Schools

I Have Had It!

You know I listen to a little radio comedy show every day in the afternoon to relieve some of the stress of the day. This show is owned and operated by CBS/Viacom which is embroiled in a battle of the Super Bowl halftime non-extravaganza controversy. This show occasionally makes off color jokes of many natures.

Well this shows host decided, 2 days after the Super Bowl incident, aired a word, at approximately 4:30pm that is aired during the morning radio shows, during prime time television and heard, I dare say, on most grade school and junior high school playgrounds. It is a word that some people use, it is a word that some people might find offensive, and that word that can only be describe by initials, which by the way I find unbelievably appropriate to this discussion, B.S.

I support family values, I support most all conservative causes, but do any of these people who rail against indecency on TV and radio realize there is a on and off switch and a channel changer on all radios and TVs. Please, it is not the job of the government to control what is or isn't decent. It is up to you, me and every other parent in this country to control what our children see and hear. It is up to you, me and every other parent in this country what to teach our children what is decent in our family environment.

I am so sick of this fake moralism that is in vogue right now. Can we all please be adults and let us be free from governmental controls in our lives, don't we have enough. What these groups are leading the fight on right now only hurts the most sacred of all amendments, the 1ST , Freedom of speech. There is nothing more sacred in the history of our country to be able to say what we want, when we want.

The minute you try to define moralism and indecency, you tread on the 1st amendment. I have absolutely no problem with a group who tries promoting family values and other wholesome things, but when you start targeting specific television or radio shows, you tread on the first amendment.
There is an on and off button, why can't simple, smart people understand that. We continue to get mired in these useless debates, look at how quickly after the Super Bowl congress had a committee meeting and had the head of CBS and other networks along with many parent organizations right in front of the public.

I wish we could be so quick to react to education, lawlessness, jobs, healthcare and other things that every REAL American truly cares about. What 30ish laid off factory worker with a high school education cares if someone said B.S. on the radio. All the politicians care about is that little committee meeting and quotes from it, will look very good in a campaign ad. What the American people care about is slowly but surely the eroding of personal choices. I want the choice of shutting off a radio where a host says a bad word; I don't want my government to make that decision for me.

Politicians have refined the skills of picking and choosing what parts of the constitution fit into what ever hole we can make it fit in. When will we wake up and realize our rights are being eroded every single day, when will we learn what we are losing!

Jeff Schools is a community member in Gray, ME