Did I mention how mad I am about it?
It makes me furious that ABC cancels really original, clever shows like Pushing Daisies, which was nominated for a bunch of awards, by the way. And yet, we're subjected to yet another season of the Bachelor. Yea. So we can all sit back and watch a gaggle of insipid, brain-dead girls flip their hair, sob, and claim "I am SO ready to be a mother!" when they can't even hold down a real relationship with a real-life guy, let alone a newly-made celebrity one with a kid in tow. I mean, come on. Is this the kind of female figure we want our little girls observing and emulating?
Let's just all get out our cell phones and text each other. OMG!!!!
Yes, I'm being a little bit of a brat. You know what, though, at some point people have to realize how ridiculous they're being. Can we be any more self-centered or superficial?
While I'm on a rant about ABC, I'm going to venture onto the subject of ABC Family - "a new kind of family". Yes that's actually their tag line. That channel is so revolting to me that I won't even let the kids watch the decent movies they occasionally play because I know the commercials for their original series will be completely inappropriate. I am so sick of seeing sex being pushed at children and adolescents. No, it is NOT okay!!!! And anyone who thinks it is needs to have his or her head examined!
What is wrong with wholesome family programming?
Heaven forbid our children are spared any ugliness. Heaven forbid they remain innocent and play with their dolls and Matchbox cars a little while longer. Heaven forbid we let them believe in magic and fairy tales! No, let's just shove a cell phone in their hand, give them a $30,000 car to drive the minute they turn 16, expose them to the "real world" - sex, drugs, alchohol - and let them watch whatever garbage they want on the TV's they all have in their bedrooms.
Yep. Our kids are happy, right? They have everything they need, right?
So we must be good parents.
Oh, and by the way, anything broadcast on a channel advertised as a "family channel" must be OK.
Ha. If ABC Family is "a new kind of family", then it's a sadly dysfunctional family I want no part of. I sincerely hope ABC execs can live with themselves, shoving sex and crap at kids in the guise of family entertainment. Yep, it's a sick world when you can go to bed at night feeling good about corrupting an entire generation of children, ABC. But then, I guess that's what pays for the nice cars, and the HD TVs, and the cell phones, and the texting, and everything else for their own kids. Why do we as parents shove all this material filler at our kids? Is it because we want them to have it "better than we did"? Or do we just think they're not capable enough to entertain themselves when it's quiet and nothing is going on?
Can't we just let them swordfight with sticks and build forts in the hedges? Can we not let them use sheets to make tents in the living room and play ball with them one-on-one in the front yard instead of pushing them onto a sports team that practices twice a week with Saturday games?
It's a vicious cycle indeed. All this stifled imagination, all this wasted creativity. Maybe that's why we keep churning out the mindless, inane reality shows. I guess it's kind of reassuring to watch the hapless idiots on TV and think to ourselves, "Wow, at least I'm not THAT pathetic!"
Think again.
I guess I got off track a little, but I think ABC and particularly their "Family" channel just sum up the whole disgusting morass of our society these days.
Vice is vice, whether you pretty it up in a dress and high heels or you serve it up straight on the PlayBoy channel. Let's be honest here. Sex sells. But I am darn well not going to give my kids the pocket money to buy it with. I don't care if their little friends are doing this and that. Their little friends can go through the rest of their lives with a poor body image, low self-esteem, drug and alchohol problems, and STDs, but at least they'll be "popular" right now. But, oh, pardon me, I believe they're calling STDs something different these days, boys and girls, so that it doesn't sound quite so disgusting (imagine that - gonorrhea sounding disgusting? - no!). I believe it's STI now, sexually transmitted infection, is it? Not disease, but infection. Yep, put herpes in a dress and heels and isn't it glamorous?
This is straight from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease's website, just FYI:
Sexually Transmitted Infections |
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), once called venereal diseases, are among the most common infections in the United States today. More than 20 STIs have now been identified, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate they affect more than 19 million men and women in this country each year. The annual medical costs of STIs in the United States are estimated to be up to $14 billion.
Understanding the basic facts about STIs—the ways in which they are spread, their common symptoms, and how they can be treated—is the first step toward preventing them. Researchers supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are looking for better methods to diagnose, treat, and prevent STIs, including supporting research on vaccines and topical microbicides.
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Can you imagine? "Once called venereal diseases". Who are we trying to fool here? Why not say it like it is? "Venereal disease" sounds yucky because - and this one's a shocker, folks - it is yucky.
But let's not make anyone feel bad about themselves, or heaven forbid, that it's their fault, or anything like that. (By the way I am NOT referring to people who contracted a disease like HIV through means beyond their choice or control, like blood transfusions, during birth, etc.)!!!!
And the second thing that burns me up - the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is looking for "better methods to prevent" STIs. Hmm....now let's pour millions of dollars into that one. I appreciate the work on furthering diagnosis and treatment, but let's cut to the chase. What's the best way to prevent a sexually transmitted disease?
How about don't sleep with fifty different people.
Staggering, isn't it?
I just don't know how I keep coming up with these.
I'm all for abstinence as the best form of prevention. But I'm also for education. I'm talking about helping and guiding kids to make the right choices. We have got to give them the knowledge and the self-confidence and the support to make good choices. You can say, "Abstinence is best", but unless you help them to see why it's best, and unless you present them with a strong, living example of this ideal, it's just empty talk, or worse yet, just more rules to infringe upon their freedom.
But it's kind of hard to educate the public in basic standards of common sense, morality, and good health practices when the media just keeps shoving "wild and irresponsible unmarried sex is cool and glamorous" at us. Yeah, right. Go ask someone with gonorrhea how glamorous and cool it is. That's the reality folks.
So, now, how about we raise some responsible, well-informed kids?
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