Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Just calm the f%^& down!


Wow, I just ran across this new article about sexting and I was surprised to see that the great sexting debate might not be some fleeting, momentary, absurd moral panic. It appears to be an absurd moral panic that has some staying power.

Apparently some polling data is showing that a larger number of older teens (16, 17) are doing sexting than their worried parents might have thought.

Now it remains to be seen if more anti-sexting laws will be pushed once again.

But where is the great surprise in all this? And quite frankly, I scratch my head over the sort of outrage and paranoia this is inspiring. I mean, let's see now...teenagers, kids going through puberty, are going to start experimenting with sex and exploring their sexuality. Who da thunk it? You know what? If you got anywhere close to a passing grade in high school biology class, you would think this sort of behavior was perfectly normal and expected.

Or perhaps the the kids of the folks in those morality groups like the Family Research Council or the Culture and Media Institute or the Parents Television Council might not be doing anything like this. You know, those people who have their kids sign the virginity contracts (and whose kids are having sex and getting pregnant at the exact same rate as all other teenagers who don't sign the contract and don't go to alcohol-free dances where you're supposed to stand at least a foot away from your partner and leave room for Jesus).

But, then again, who ever got pregnant from a "sext" message? Or caught a social disease from one? There are quite a number of other statistics on the sexual behavior of "these kids today," and they are also more likely to be engaging in safe sex activities than ever before. If a teenager is going to be having sex today, it is more likely that they will be using condoms than ever before. And, again, if sexual experimentation merely involves the cell phone, you don't even need to be worried about a leaky condom or a missed birth control pill.
So, with all the risky ways teenagers can explore their sexuality, texting might actually be the safest and best alternative.

And, of course, if today's parents, those creaky old squares, are giving too much static, junior can always remind them that grandma dropped acid and had sex with three guys at Woodstock.

I'm in complete agreement...


This is a really cool piece about the former Mrs. Marilyn Manson discussing the art form of burlesque dancing.

And I think she's quite right about the U.S. being somehow more Puritanical now then it was 70 years ago. But, then again, today we have certain groups who think TV shows like Lost and Heroes and Fringe are obscene.

And I completely support burlesque dancing in all its forms!!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

*%#^ 'em if they can't take a joke!


How can we tell when the world's going to hell in a hand basket? Maybe it's when political correctness gets spread all over the globe.

Check out this hilarious piece about the Labatt's Blue ad in Canada. The advertisement urges its audience to leave some beer for Santa this Christmas instead of milk and cookies. Naturally, some busy-bodies are upset over it. Even though the ad is really for Labatt's alcohol free beer. Alcohol free?? What a wimp out.

Although the best part is that Mothers Against Drunk Drivers is one of the groups not too worked up exactly because the libation is without alcohol and they don't feel like this is endorsing drunk driving.

But remember what was behind Grandma getting run over by a reindeer!!

Monday, December 7, 2009

The last days of the FCC...I hope!

Check out this piece on Yahoo News I was recently interviewed for here.

Of all the possibilities posed by converging media, especially the movement of so much broadcast material to the cable and the Internet, what especially excites me is the coming obsolescence of the Federal Communications Commission.

Since the FCC has no regulatory power over the Internet or cable, a very-near future (the nearer the better!) of online entertainment should be completely free and unfettered, completely independent of the meddling of a bunch of ill-read, double-digit IQ Church Ladies like the members of the Culture and Media Institute, the Parents Television Council, the Family Research Council, and the rest of their moralistic ilk. These are the folks who usually like to start their letter writing campaign to the FCC every time they hear the words "hell" or "damn" on TV, then turn around and claim to represent the values and sensibilities of the "average American." I don't think so!

But this sort of puritanical control over expression in the broadcast media will see its days numbered in the world of digital convergence and the move of ever more entertainment content to the Internet. And it's about time the FCC and its unconstitutional assaults on free speech was put out of commission for good.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Predicting the future on Culture Wars


We hosted our last program for 2009 on yesterday's Culture Wars, but we most definitely will be back in January.

The episode is now available for downloading at http://www.culturewars.libsyn.com/

We attempted to do a little prognostication for the near future as the end of the year is almost here. One of our guests was award-winning science fiction writer Cherie Priest, author of the new alternate-history novel Boneshaker. So check out what someone who looks ahead to the future for a living had to say. It's a great interview and her book is a great read.

Other prognostications come from Alan Miller, CEO of Universal Health Services and the author of Health Care Reform that Makes Sense, commenting on health care legislation and predicting what Congress will do next.