Saturday, January 07, 2006

This Blog Is Rated PG-13

(I wanted to thank everyone for their comments on my last blog. They gave me plenty of food for thought.)

While at the library this week, I thought I would use their public computer to browse the humor blogs nominated for the Best of Blog awards. However, the library's censoring software stopped me from visiting the first nominee. The second site was "forbidden" as well . . . as was the third.

Finally, I was able to access a nominated humor blog. And what do I find in the first post? The phrase "punk ass mother*#@#$%." I censored the offending phrase myself here. Wonder why the library's censoring filter didn't. Maybe they thought any word associated with 'mother' can't be bad. Obviously, that's not the case.

Now if some ten-year-old stumbles upon this same site I did, she might call out, "Hea mom, what does "punk ass mother*$%^$#" mean? So much for protecting our youth from profanity, lewdness and adult content.

It's not easy to hide from children all that is racy or vulgar in our society. I remember chaperoning six junior high schoolers in an overnight field trip to the big city. On the last day, we visited a small shop in a mall for some souvenirs.

One of my charges decided to help himself to post cards by the hands full, thinking them to be complimentary. While I helped to restock the cards, another of my group was checking out the magazine rack. A Playboy magazine high atop the rack was accidentally shaken loose and the kid caught it as it fell. He immediately began flipping through the pages. Better catch him before he gets to the centerfold, I thought. But the shop clerk spied him first, told him to put the magazine back, and ordered him out of the store.

Back home, the parents asked for my version of why their son was ejected from the gift shop. The boy reported that he was merely trying to put the Playboy back after it had fallen. I said that wasn't exactly true, and explained how he was flipping through the pages. Well, the son had already claimed he had done nothing of the sort. The parents weighed what I had said against their pre-teen's credibility.

"We believe our son," the mother said.

That caught me a little off guard, since they knew me to be a youth coach and fellow parishioner at church. Oh, well. Trying to keep children from dirty words and pictures can be a challenge. Being oblivious to it all is one way to deal with it, I guess.

11 Comments:

Blogger Fred said...

The filters at school are pretty tough, too. If a student is doing a research project on the atomic bomb, the filter will kick in.

What they do is go to a foreign language Google, as in google.fr, and the results will come up in French. Then, the kids just use a translation site to get the results.

Aren't they clever?

6:26 PM  
Blogger Deb said...

You're right; it is very hard to hide the language from the youth.

Last night my hubby rented The Bad News Bears. Even though it was the modern remake, we assumed it would be safe to watch with the entire family. Wrong1 Within 5 finutes of the film starting, "a**hole" and other vulgarities were flying. We were disappointed in the movie for that reason

7:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm just a dad too at www.genuineblog.com and I think you can be especially funny without the language.

7:07 PM  
Blogger Peter said...

Some parents don't want to know the truth if they don't like what they are hearing, sadly though that doesn't always help the kids, as in this case where he has learned that if he lies about what happened his parents will believe him.

4:08 AM  
Blogger Tracey said...

I am very concious of what my child sees/hears in my home. I don't understand why people feel the need to use vulgarity to get a point across.

While visiting family back home over the holidays I was constantly amazed at my inlaws with small children who didn't bother to censor their language and then try to correct the little ones who would repeat it back. How the child is supposed to learn is beyond me.

I'd like to believe that my child is honest 100% of the time, but i'm also realistic enough to know that isn't always the case! Theres always three sides to a story and I try to take in to account all versions.

6:16 AM  
Blogger the many Bs said...

I guess the parents are just in denial.

It's difficult to protect kids from everything. They are going to get exposed to it one way or another.

10:01 AM  
Blogger poopie said...

Oh lord, save us from those parents who always believe their kids. PUleeeez. I learned long ago never to say "my child will never(fill in the blank)".

11:15 AM  
Blogger Nankin said...

No matter how hard you try to protect your child, somebody else's darlimg little angel will fill them in.

I told my kids that if they got sent to the office for improper language I wasn't going to come to school to defend them. They were on their own.

This may sound cruel, but it worked.

1:18 PM  
Blogger OldHorsetailSnake said...

I have been in that situation. Never felt so small as when I was told "My daughter wouldn't do that. She doesn't lie to me and if she says she didn't do it, then she didn't." Except that I saw her do it. Pish.

3:18 PM  
Blogger Trucker Bob said...

Think of the lesson her denial has taught her son about responsibility. Not to mention your standing in his eyes.

11:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rut-roh! Not the Playboy again! He as probably just reading the articles...

I know, Dave, I know. If I ever won a page redesign or something that might get fixed- but since even I can barely load it there will be an ice rink in Hades before that happens. I think someone has to be able to load your page before it wins anything. Sigh. That's why I am especially grateful to those who actually come, read and comment. Don't worry- I'll be at your place soon with the weather- just in case you hadn't noticed it yet today...

I know, Dave, I know. If I ever won a page redesign or something that might get fixed- but since even I can barely load it there will be an ice rink in Hades before that happens. I think someone has to be able to load your page before it wins anything. Sigh. That's why I am especially gratefull to those who actually come, read and comment. Don't worry- I'll be at your place soon with the weather- just in case you hadn't noticed it yet today...oh, well you know what it is. Maybe you didn;t know that the barometric pressure is 30.15 and rising?

6:26 PM  

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