kiddiesunshine
11-26-2001, 10:39 PM
Nothing beats a good argument, especially when you know you're right! Anyway, I was talking to my friend's mother about stuff and the conversation made a turn towards my favorite topic: Cartoon Censorship.
Well, the lady is for censorship because "The characters don't talk right and it's teaching children the wrong way to speak". She never mentioned stereotyping or violence, you know, the usual censorship reasons. Instead, she says the cartoons shouldn't be on the air if they say "wabbit" instead of "rabbit", and things of that nature. Well, boy, was I wasting my time. This has to be one of the most ignorant and stubborn people in the world today. Here's her argument, slightly paraphrased because I don't remember what she said word for word:
"I don't think those cartoons should be on TV if they can't talk right. If I set my child down to watch TV and Elmer Fudd calls Bugs Bunny a "wabbit" over and over, then I tell my child it's "rabbit", he'll get confused. Should I have to keep trying to teach my child the right way to say it because he thinks the TV is right? And there are millions of kids who watch this stuff and it's causing speech problems in most of them, because they don't know a pussy cat from a "puddy tat"."
Well....my God, it went on like that for at least an hour. I should also note that she thinks that ages 2-5 is the Looney Tunes key demographic. I was dying. So, I had many, many things to say. Little did I know, she had little or no interest in it. Well, here's my argument:
What makes you think that those cartoons are meant for kids 2-5. Most of the jokes are wayyyyy over their heads. I know, I didn't laugh at Looney Tunes until I was in middle school at least. Daffy Duck, shooting himself to sell a movie script isn't appropriate for that age group. Here's where it comes back to the parent. The parent has the job of deciding what they want their kids to experience, until the child is no longer a child and is able to venture out and make his own decisions and judgements. TV wasn't made so you can get the children out of your hair for a couple of hours. If you didn't want to deal with the hassle involved with children, then you should not have done what it took to have them in the first place. You, as the parent, have the choice of what you want your child to watch. That's why we have the V-Chip and other parental control devices. If you don't want your child to watch Bugs Bunny, then for God's Sake, lay down the law! Be a parent! you are in charge of your child. Act like it. Now what you're saying is that the writers and other workers who work hard on these masterpieces should go and change the very thing that made those masterpieces what they are? A person's manner of speaking is part of his/her pesonality. When you write a story, it's called "Regional Dialect" and "vernacular". Those things make for good characterization. What would it be like if everyone spoke the same way? It would be very false, as no two people speak in the very same way, due to education and upbringing. The cartoons are good the way they are and shouldn't be changed because parents want the TV to teach the kids. You had the baby. You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. No one said it was gonna be easy. Granted, you want your parenting job to be less difficult, but should that increase difficulty for everyone else? Let the people do their jobs. they're not hurting anybody. If you don't like it, change the channel. PBS is best for you if you want Professor Television.
---The lady's son, my firend, said neither of us were right in that we weren't thinking of the child. I don't know what kind of point he was making. I think he was just avoiding taking sides.
----What an argument it was. But it was like talking to a brick wall.
Well, the lady is for censorship because "The characters don't talk right and it's teaching children the wrong way to speak". She never mentioned stereotyping or violence, you know, the usual censorship reasons. Instead, she says the cartoons shouldn't be on the air if they say "wabbit" instead of "rabbit", and things of that nature. Well, boy, was I wasting my time. This has to be one of the most ignorant and stubborn people in the world today. Here's her argument, slightly paraphrased because I don't remember what she said word for word:
"I don't think those cartoons should be on TV if they can't talk right. If I set my child down to watch TV and Elmer Fudd calls Bugs Bunny a "wabbit" over and over, then I tell my child it's "rabbit", he'll get confused. Should I have to keep trying to teach my child the right way to say it because he thinks the TV is right? And there are millions of kids who watch this stuff and it's causing speech problems in most of them, because they don't know a pussy cat from a "puddy tat"."
Well....my God, it went on like that for at least an hour. I should also note that she thinks that ages 2-5 is the Looney Tunes key demographic. I was dying. So, I had many, many things to say. Little did I know, she had little or no interest in it. Well, here's my argument:
What makes you think that those cartoons are meant for kids 2-5. Most of the jokes are wayyyyy over their heads. I know, I didn't laugh at Looney Tunes until I was in middle school at least. Daffy Duck, shooting himself to sell a movie script isn't appropriate for that age group. Here's where it comes back to the parent. The parent has the job of deciding what they want their kids to experience, until the child is no longer a child and is able to venture out and make his own decisions and judgements. TV wasn't made so you can get the children out of your hair for a couple of hours. If you didn't want to deal with the hassle involved with children, then you should not have done what it took to have them in the first place. You, as the parent, have the choice of what you want your child to watch. That's why we have the V-Chip and other parental control devices. If you don't want your child to watch Bugs Bunny, then for God's Sake, lay down the law! Be a parent! you are in charge of your child. Act like it. Now what you're saying is that the writers and other workers who work hard on these masterpieces should go and change the very thing that made those masterpieces what they are? A person's manner of speaking is part of his/her pesonality. When you write a story, it's called "Regional Dialect" and "vernacular". Those things make for good characterization. What would it be like if everyone spoke the same way? It would be very false, as no two people speak in the very same way, due to education and upbringing. The cartoons are good the way they are and shouldn't be changed because parents want the TV to teach the kids. You had the baby. You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. No one said it was gonna be easy. Granted, you want your parenting job to be less difficult, but should that increase difficulty for everyone else? Let the people do their jobs. they're not hurting anybody. If you don't like it, change the channel. PBS is best for you if you want Professor Television.
---The lady's son, my firend, said neither of us were right in that we weren't thinking of the child. I don't know what kind of point he was making. I think he was just avoiding taking sides.
----What an argument it was. But it was like talking to a brick wall.