Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 09:48:32 -0700
From: ernesthancock@inficad.com ("Ernest Hancock")
Subject: [lpaz-govcom] Re: Important: Draft of GSF Announcement
To: CCan2@aol.com
Cc: lpaz-govcom@yahoogroups.com ("lpaz-govcom@egroups.com")
Reply-To: lpaz-govcom@yahoogroups.com
Thank you. This was very good and I'll pass it on.
Ernest Hancock
> In a message dated 3/9/01 5:14:52 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
> r.destephens@worldnet.att.net writes:
>
> << Check out her web page. Essentially she says that it ain't the guns. >>
>
> My opinion column of yesterday in the NE edition of the AZREP suggests one
> reason. It was written before the latest school shooting and is pasted
> below. Reader response has been overwhelmingly positive.
>
> Hucksters in the Family Room
> By Craig J. Cantoni
>
> Parents have lost their collective minds. We have let mass marketers and
> media conglomerates poison our kids with the wrong values.
>
> That thought was driven home by a recent PBS Frontline show, Merchants of
> Cool. It revealed in chilling detail what we parents instinctively know:
> that unscrupulous marketers will crawl through a sewer to get their share
of
> the billions that kids spend each year. I feel like a spineless imbecile
for
> letting the sewer rats drag my kid into the sewer with them.
>
> A hint of the consumer culture can be seen in the expensive cars at
> Scottsdale high school lots. It also can be seen at Fashion Square Mall,
> where pouty prepubescent kids parade around plastered with swooshes and
other
> logos. If they only knew how uncool it is to be seduced into being a
walking
> billboard by some corporate gigolo.
>
> If you think there is little harm in such crass consumerism, then you may
> want to peek at something more harmful: the utterly disgusting bilge that
> oozes into your family room each night on network TV or, worse, on the MTV
> cable channel. MTV is nothing but a continuous commercial in which
tattooed
> and pierced musicians -- er, vulgarians -- give the finger to the very
> parents who foolishly foot the bills. Better yet, watch TV in your kid's
> rom, where, in a form of child abuse, 75 percent of teens have their own
set.
>
> Be sure to watch the episode of Dawson's Creek that features a 14-year-old
> boy having an affair with his teacher. Or the MTV show Undressed. Or
any
> of the segments of Boston Public. Or listen to Grammy winner Eminem grunt
> about raping his mother. The themes are all the same: Parents are dopes,
> dope is good, teachers ar perverts, sex has no more of a moral
implication
> than drinking a Sprite, and your self-worth is determined by what you wear
> and drive.
>
> The most disturbing aspect of the Frontline show was what came before.
What
> came before was a Nova special about a doctor and his colleagues who had
> devoted their lives to finding a cure for cancer. I watched in awe at the
> genius and dedication of the researchers, who most assuredly were not
> considered cool when they were kids. But my spirits plummeted from
> inspiration to despair when Frontline came on, for it was an accurate
> portrayal of the shallowness of the Northeast Valley.
>
> There once was a time when the positive values of selflessness and
frugality
> were passed down from grandparents, parents, neighbors and teachers, all
of
> whom presented a united front to kids. Now the values of narcissism and
> materialism are passed down by unprincipled hucksters at the hegemonies of
> Time-Warner, Viacom, Disney and Rupert Murdoch. It is estimated that kids
> see 3,000 advertising messages each day, including the commercials beamed
> into their classrooms
>
> Worse, parents have become shills for the hucksters. We, too, are walking
> billboards. We, too, laugh at the juvenile potty humor of juvenile
Hollywood
> writers and actors. We, too, listen to local TV news anchor-heads blabber
> about Tom Cruise's divorce and the latest episode of Temptation Island.
We
> are just as brainwashed -- or is that lobotomized? -- as our kids.
>
> Does anyone share these sentiments? Is there at least one kindred soul
out
> there? If there is, please write a letter to the editor. It won't change
> anything, but it would sure make me feel better.
> ________________
>
> Mr. Cantoni is an author, public speaker and consultant. He can be
reached
> by e-mail at ccan2@aol.com
>
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