By Clark Goldband

Nobody asked me but I think the latest barrage of FCC inspired censorship is much more dangerous than people are led to believe.

This country was founded on freedom of speech. And while our constitutional framers certainly didn’t intend to protect someone’s right to talk about sexual acts with food products, or exposing a breast on a halftime show, censorship of any kind falls down a very slippery slope. American media has its fair share of tasteless, repugnant programming. I’ve come up with a revolutionary idea to fix the problem – I voice my opinion by changing the channel. Viewers will always determine the marketplace, if there’s really an outcry over a particular program the ratings will significantly falter, that’s the beauty of capitalism. We can all speak by our actions, rather than ridiculous efforts to “protect the children.”

For one thing an exposed breast is hardly offensive. (And we wonder why the rest of the world laughs at us. If we spent half as much time talking about international events, perhaps we would know more about American policy than many Asians and Europeans). If anything, boobgate was the opportunity to open a dialogue on sex that most parents never appropriately give their children. The degree and depth of this talk certainly depends on the age of the child, but most experts agree it’s never too early to start an open dialogue with your child.

What I found most offensive to people of all ages were ads for erectile dysfunction. The spots verbally caution erections lasting over four hours may be problematic and immediate cause to see a medical professional. Now these ads have repeatedly aired during “family viewing time” and have received little if any attention from government regulators. Perhaps pharmaceutical companies fall under a different category because of their strong ties to the financing of political parties.

Nevertheless, parental responsibility has gone out of the window. In this day and age when a nine-year-old girl breaks into a house, commits robbery and is arrested, the mother is contemplating suing the cops for “traumatizing” her child.

Parents need to take a long hard look at what programming their young children are watching and take the appropriate actions. Install a v-chip, set channel locks on your television, and talk to your kids. But the purpose of government is not to determine whether something is appropriate for your family.

I’m not going to tell you what to watch, and I certainly won’t tell you what you shouldn’t watch, because censorship is un-American.