Don't rely on FCC to protect your kids

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jul 3, 2001 | by Barry Fagin

Colorado is supposed to be a battleground in the culture wars. If the past few weeks are any indication, I'd have to agree. Shock rocker Marilyn Manson's visit to Denver had the "free speech" and "protect the children" forces battling each other. In my hometown, a radio station got slapped with a hefty fine by the FCC. Its crime? Playing a song by Eminem. As a rock and roll fan, and a parent with an interest in civil liberties, I've been following both these issues closely.

Make no mistake, Eminem is not for the squeamish. He is vulgar, shocking, profane, and deliberately provocative. He makes fun of those who idolize him, and he reeks of contempt for his audience. His lyrics are misogynistic, his riffs are thin as water, and musically he's completely forgettable. It's hard for me to find anything redeeming in his work. That's why, as a parent, I can sympathize with the mother who complained to the FCC when she heard Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." Even the radio edit version is pretty vile.

It's hard enough being a parent these days without having to deal with your kids' exposure to songs about cannibalism, graphic sexuality, and bestiality. That's why the vision of government as a helper in the daunting task of parenting is so seductive. When it comes to raising kids, we all could use a little help now and then. But it's a vision parents everywhere should resist. We should be very wary of sharing our role with government. For make no mistake, when we assume that the Federal Communications Commission's job is to make sure our kids don't hear bad words on the radio, that erodes our role as parents. In my opinion, parents are much better off in a world where there are no legal restrictions on what radio stations can play. Then we'll all have to engage our kids at an early age in a discussion of what's out there and why. That's what I do with my children, and you know what? It works pretty well.

My kids are 13 and 11, and my wife and I make sure they're well versed in the excesses of modern popular culture. This has two advantages. By exposing them to some of pop culture's more radical efforts in an environment free from anger and fear, it takes away the forbidden fruit syndrome that attracts many teen-agers to otherwise unremarkable cultural artifacts. Better still, carefully exposing children to the negative elements of a dynamic capitalist society helps them better appreciate the positive ones. My son, for example, hates "The Real Slim Shady," but loves Mystery Science Theater. And why shouldn't he? One is garbage, while the other is art.

While we're on the subject of what we can and can't hear, must we have the FCC tell us what we can and can't see? Why can't television content be left to people to decide for themselves? No one has to watch TV (our family doesn't), and networks aren't in the business of airing shows that no one wants to see. What exactly are we afraid of? There is every reason to assume that if parents know they're the sole source of control over what their children watch, they'll take a much more active role in scrutinizing their children's TV watching. To me, that would be real pro-family social policy.

The same goes for movies. The entire film rating system is silly and pointless, rendered obsolete by technology. When a new film comes out that might make a good family movie night, my wife and I ignore the ratings and go straight to the Internet. Sites like www.kidsinmind.comURLcq.gtl let us know in excruciating detail what's going to happen before we walk into the theater. Why would anyone care about movie ratings when they could judge for themselves?

In my own personal journey through politics and parenting, I've become convinced that content-based regulations in any medium accomplish nothing more than making their advocates feel good about themselves. Most parents, including myself, would rather raise children than fight political battles, but it's an issue we ignore at our peril. Raising moral, responsible children is simply too important a task to entrust to anyone else.

- Fagin is the Senior Fellow in Technology Policy at the Independence Institute. He is the co-founder of Families Against Internet Censorship.