I don't like kids. That's not a secret. I hate how they can't form sentences so they just cry to express themselves, they're loud, they want to touch everything, I don't know how to talk to them because they don't have the mental capacity to understand most things. They doubt know how to clean themselves or take care of themselves. All in all, I think they're terrible.
But this article isn't about how much I hate kids. It's about society's need to always protect them.
In my history of rock 'n' roll class, we discussed the role and formation of the Parents Music Resource Center and the hearings surrounding the growing outrage over the "dangerous" direction that music was taking. in the minds of these parents, many of which happened to be senators wives, the solution was identifying the most offensive songs, labeled The Filthy Fifteen, and making it mandatory to slap the parental advisory sticker on music that maybe be dubbed offensive or vulgar.
My issue with this is curbing the creative expression of artists to protect the kids. Yes, I realize that some things are not suitable for children. However, why is it the industry's job to control what kids can and can't listen to? Shouldn't that be the job of the parents? And everyone knows that telling kids they shouldn't watch/listen to something just makes them want to do it more?
In my history and philosophy of the mass media class, we talked a little bit about comic books and how they were seen as violent as well. And obviously, the constant push to band video games or increase the age you have to be to buy or play them is an ongoing discussion. Again, I get that sometimes these things can be violent but it is the job of the parents to control what their kids get their hands on not of the industry to warn you that obviously some things may not be suited for your specific child.
I've found that whenever a new medium of entertainment comes to the forefront, suddenly the push to restrict and shut down that medium. But who exactly is that helping? The kids are alright, they are going to be fine. I am not here to say that there is no correlation between violent media and violent behavior, which is what groups like the PMRC were trying to prevent, I suppose. However, correlation and causation are two different things.
So I really think we as a society need to stop worrying about the kids so much. They are literally fine. And don't give me that "you'll change your mind when you have kids" BS because I will not be having any kids and even if, god forbid, I did, I would hope I'd be a good enough parent that I wouldn't need to disrupt an industry to figure out what is and isn't right for my child.
Also, you can only control your children for so long. My parents controlled what I watched and listened to until I got to a certain age. Now they don't really care. And I turned out fine. Stop being a helicopter parent to your 17-year-old.
And as I said before, if you tell them no, they just want it more.
Protect the art, not the kids.