Friday, November 12, 2004

Saving Private Fines...

While my wife and I were flipping through the channels last night, we stopped on WKRN (our local ABC affiliate). On the digital cable guide, it said "Saving Private Ryan". However, that's not what was on the screen. Our local affiliate was one of those that chickened out and didn't show a wonderful movie showing the sacrifice of our World War II veterans on the day that the nation chooses to honor those veterans. I have a question for the television broadcasters; remember the First Amendment? You know the one about freedom of speech and of the press? Somehow we've succumbed to the notion that the government owns the airwaves. We are the government. Instead of allowing us to make a choice on what we watch or allow our children to watch, the networks are treating us like morons who can't make our own decisions. It is just further indications that we are heading for a nanny-state.

So what did they choose to replace this work of art that honored our WWII veterans? We watched about 10 minutes of this "show". It was about a woman who discovers her husband was having an affair with her sister and her sister killed her husband (I don't know why, I didn't watch all of it). They showed the murder from the husband's point of view (with blood splattering on the sister) and the wife said things like "You slept with my husband." Great moral decision there, WKRN. Let's not show the people a historic film about the horrors of war, because that might damage someone. Instead let's show a movie with a plot that could come from a Jerry Springer show.

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