“’Cultural Vandals’ Hide behind Free Speech,” – First for a Reason
I disagree with the essay, “’Cultural Vandals’ Hide behind Free Speech,” by Jeff Durstewitz. The author believes that the First Amendment should not allow our children to be stripped of their innocence. He thinks that the constitution should set limits and standards to protect them, but I strongly disagree. I think that parents are very capable of protecting their own children themselves, and that freedom of speech should extend to the so-called “cultural vandals” in our society today (Durstewitz 530).
The First Amendment was first for a reason, it shouldn’t be taken away for anything.
In his passage, the author starts off talking about how guns are mistakenly blamed for teen violence in our country. He deems that teen violence is much too vague a topic, and the real damage being done to children isn’t physical. He insists that our society is dedicated to corrupting the young people of our country. He goes on to talk about how violent movies are a problem, and he says that “the evidence of moral and cultural degradation is almost inescapable,” (Durstewitz 530).
In his conclusion, the author challenges the application of the First Amendment when children are affected. He believes that “we have the right to set standards and limits where children […] are concerned” (Durstewitz 530).
I believe that the First Amendment rights of the Constitution should not be compromised to protect our children. I feel that parents are very much capable of taking care of their own children. Let the parents do the parenting. It should be up to them what their child may or may not be exposed to. The author uses the example of, “nine-year olds and younger watching South Park,” as a problem, as the cartoon is geared towards more mature viewers since it uses adult humor. Adult-oriented programming, in most cases, is unfamiliar to young children. They do not usually understand the very jokes and adult humor that is “corrupting them”. Since many children are very curious, they may ask their parents what something means or just laugh (without knowing what they’re laughing about) and forget about it. If the parents decide that they do not want their child watching a particular show or channel, cable television allows parents to block out any channel that they don’t want their kids to see. It’s an easy solution to an easy problem.
The Essay on Child/ parent relationship in the Little Boy Crying?
The poem, Little Boy Crying, written by Mervyn Morris is mainly about father and sons relationship. Poet shows the two main themes through this relationship; fathers love towards his child and his effort to lead his child into a right world in life. Mervyn Morris explores the child and parents relationship by using second person narration and language techniques such as allusion and emotive words. ...
The motion picture rating system is quite possibly the most well-known rating system that exists in our country. Every parent knows the difference between a “PG” movie and one that is rated “R”, even if they don’t have the slightest clue what “TV-14” constitutes. Parents can fairly easily keep their children from going to a movie that they find inappropriate. Children must be a certain age to view mature movies without a parent or guardian with them, so if the parent refuses to vouch for them there isn’t a whole lot they can do. They could ask an older sibling, but most older brothers and sisters wouldn’t be caught dead at an “R” movie with their little brother. And most parents would have the courtesy to make sure its okay with the child’s parents before bringing him or her along with their own child to a movie. There are ways around everything, but parents who are really concerned for their child’s welfare will be able to get the job done.
In the case of computers and the Internet, there are even more options for parents. Computer games have content ratings clearly marked on the front of the box, so the parent may evaluate whether or not to let their child play that game. The Internet may provide large amounts of inappropriate information at the fingertips of users of all ages, but active parenting can help prevent this too. As Stewart Dalzell writes, “parents can install blocking software on their home computers or they can subscribe to commercial online services that provide parental controls” (526-527).
The Term Paper on Cultural Differences in Parent-Child Communication
Today’s children face more diversity than their parents were when they were at the same age. The cultural differences in how the parents deal and communicate with their children around the world are a great challenge. Parent’s involvement in their children’s literacy and communication either in school, home or community will be effective through communication strategies and awareness about ...
Programs such as Net Nanny are readily available to anyone who cares enough to take the initiative to shield their child from harmful web sites. Even if the majority of people find a web site entirely inappropriate, who are we to try and take it away from everyone? If it’s posted, then it is there for somebody. The Internet upholds the basic idea of freedom of speech, just because something is unpopular doesn’t mean it should be done away with.
Music today may be viewed as a bad influence on children, but if you think about it, rap music isn’t all that much worse than other music in history. Any inappropriate rap songs are “just one more entry in pop music’s long history of macho hyperbole and violent boast” (Ehrenreich 522).
And even so, censored music is found all over the place. Radio music is censored, and the majority of children are exposed to the radio more than anything else. Music is frequently downloaded off the Internet now, but there are programs that can keep children from doing so as well. However, children are much more likely to get violent if you take away their music than they are if you let them listen to what they are interested in. And if the parents decide that they don’t like it, it is their decision.
The author may have the best of intentions in mind in writing this essay, the well being of our nation’s children is definitely important to everyone. However, I do not feel that we should sacrifice the very principles that our nation was founded on to fight parents’ battles for them. The Amendment to our Constitution concerning Freedom of speech wouldn’t have been the First Amendment if it wasn’t important.
