Have you seen this?

Oboe · Post by **Oboe** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 9:59 pm

I was browsing around earlier and I came across a very amusing article . . .

YOUR VOICE: Cartoon Network shocking, deceptive with TV-PG rating for 'Fooly Cooly'
JULIE MCBRIDE-WYATT;

Have you watched The Cartoon Network with your children lately? If you haven't, and you are a parent or advocate for children, you should read this.

There is a new cartoon called "FLCL," or "Fooly Cooly." Originating from Japan, this cartoon airs at midnight on The Cartoon Network as part of the network's evening programming called "Adult Swim."

My husband heard about "FLCL" from some young men in their 20s who found it quite entertaining and told my husband to watch it sometime. When my husband and I turned on "FLCL," we were shocked and outraged.

Had this program been on a channel other than The Cartoon Network and had it been rated "R," we would not have been so alarmed. This program is rated TV-PG. What we saw was nudity below the waist on a teenage girl, kids blowing people's brains out with machine guns, extreme violence and sexual content - all being acted out by adolescent characters. Why has this show been rated TV-PG?

We feel safe as parents of young teens to allow them to watch television unsupervised even at a late hour because we trust in proper TV ratings and have our family television set with a parental code for anything PG-13 or above. It doesn't do any good for The Cartoon Network to display a parental warning prior to its late-night programming because parental codes don't lock out a show based on that type of warning. What works is to rate a show correctly in the first place.

Let me say that we are not extremists. We don't try to hide our kids from the real world, nor do we chase down every bad thing in life and try to abolish it or censor it. What we are saying is that this particular show is vulgar and dangerous and could possibly incite violence. We are outraged that it has been rated TV-PG to be openly viewed by kids on, of all places, The Cartoon Network.

So, children can watch Scooby Doo during the day and at night they can see teenage girls acting out oral sex acts with a lollipop.

When we tried to contact The Cartoon Network, we found that it does not accept phone comments from viewers. We went to its Web site, cartooncomments@ turner.com, and did not find a place to contact anyone at the network. We will, however, mail it a copy of this letter.

We have been in contact with the Federal Communications Commission, the ACLU and organizations dealing with violence against children. We have been spreading the word to educators and churches to raise public awareness about this incorrect rating.

Julie McBride-Wyatt lives in Edgewood.

I find this VERY amusing. Personally, I love FLCL and the thing that gets me is that ADULT Swim is made for MATURE AUDIANCES. Lady, you let your kids stay up till 12 on a school night? Read the signs! Kaaaay . . . Oh, by the way, the whole "oral sex" thing was Ninamori with a popsicle . . . eating a popsicle any normal kid would. Somehow YOU saw waaaay too into it. And yeah, they show Haruko's ass . . . SHE'S NOT A MINOR!! She's at LEAST 21 or 22. And do we remember any "blowing of brains out"? I don't.

I just seriously don't understand parents. I work at Blockbuster and just recently I was up at the register and a man with his 6 or 7 year old son come in. They go over to the game section for a few minutes and I hear the son say "I wanna get Vice City!". I'm like "oooookay, don't give him that, Mr. Dad." But sure enough here comes the father with Vice City in his hands. I say "Sir, you do realize that's a mature rated game?". You know what the bugger says? "I'm getting it for myself."! Bull shit! But anyway, I warned him. Nothing I can do now. So a couple of days later, the Mr. Dad comes back in and asks to speak to the manager. I noticed he had Vice City in his hands and his son trailing behind him. I'm giggling to myself like "You idiot. I TOLD you." But anyway, I show him to my manager. The man immediately goes on this crusade about keeping "video game trash like this" in the store. My manager said "well, sir, we do have ratings on each video game for their audiances. Did someone warn you about this rating?" That just makes the man more upset. Anyway, long story short, he upset the whole store and got a free rental while me and my manager laughed at him after he went out the door.

Now, I don't understand this. Why don't parents pay attention or anything? Either that or they point the blame at anything but themselves. No wonder most parents think video games are trash and anime is porn. They don't pay attention! they're just looking for things to blame besides their bad parenting skills.

*ahem* Anyway, comments? Anything? Discuss.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:17 pm

Well, if there's nudity, violence, and sexual content, I'd agree with the rating being wrong.

But shows don't incite violence in children - bad parenting does. ^_^

TallonKarrde23 · Post by **TallonKarrde23** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:19 pm

im not one who really likes FLCL...its just not amusing to me, i'd rather watch Excel Saga...subbed that is. But people are stupid, thats just how the world works, they will always bitch about stupid things that are pretty much irrelevant. Just how the world works i guess. --; I didnt bother watching it all on CN, did they really have nudity? thats damn amazing, i mean they cut out episodes of other shows and added fake clothing to people before, lol.

Warpwind · Post by **Warpwind** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:29 pm

How the hell did it get such a low rating I'm sure I've seen the dvd with a mature rating like MA15+. Is this anime rated as PG on CN? if that's the case is it edited? Mind you I think Australia is more strict on licenseing.

Moonlight Soldier · Post by **Moonlight Soldier** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:30 pm

Pfff.....Maybe ranting about something that they don't understand makes people feel less stupid... (wow what a bad grammatical sentence...ahem anyways) Most people take absolutely no notice of ratings and then inevitably something like (Blockbuster) happens. I don't know if I'd blame bad parenting or just sheer ignorance. (Many people are ignorant these days and refuse to learn...DAMN pride...)

Besides...instead of making an ass of themselves by ranting and raving about something (in the case of FLCL) concerned parents should take that oppportunity to explain to the their kids what they consider wrong about whatever they're complaining about. Though I completely agree...letting your kid stay up till the wee hours of the night, unsupervised and watching something called "ADULT swim" just proves how stupid/ignorant/dumb (insert comment here) some people are. I mean it doesn't take a genius to figure these things out!

/end comment.

Nurd · Post by **Nurd** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:30 pm

It amazes me how people these days feel that PG automatically equals "Safe for Kids", this is completely untrue, the G rating does mean this as these movies have been approved for any and all audiences (hence the rating "General") PG is labeled PG because someone feels that the Parent should watch it first and decide whether their kids are capable of handling the information contained therein.

(Parental Guidance? Parental Responsibility? Geeezus, what was I thinking, the government and private sector should be responsible for my kids)

Bah, farmers get kick backs from the government for not growing certain crops as to not flood the market and drive prices so far down that other farmers cannot make a living. I think the government should do the same for me, I want to get paid to not think for myself anymore so I can stop causing others to possibly question their world view and accept all the bullshit being shoveled into their brains.

Nurd

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:35 pm

The reason I blame parenting is because the woman says the show could 'possibly incite violence.' And if parents weren't so 'hands-off' with their children, they wouldn't have to worry about some kid bringing a gun to school or acting violent against others - they'd have been taught better than that either by fear or plain old common sense and respect for rules and ethics. You don't learn that from Adult Swim or even daytime CN shows - it's up to the parents. They're blaming the anime for doing something that a bit of good parenting would make very improbably to begin with. Besides, if a child doesn't know the difference between cartoon violence and real guns, I'd say some parent needs to go back to school and learn how to explain things - because the kids a ditz (and she's talking about *teenagers* not little 6yr olds).

Oboe · Post by **Oboe** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:48 pm

Hoo boy. I guess I'm just frustrated. Recently I saw the documentary "Bowling For Columbine" and lemme tell ya, it really explains a lot of parents' "explainations". ( I think I spelled that right . . . it's getting late.)

I just wish there were more open minded people in this world. Did you know that the average IQ in the US is between 80 and 97? I just can't get over that. And to think that an amazingly expressive artform such as anime or video games can be belittled or shunned like that!

OzzieArcane · Post by **OzzieArcane** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:55 pm

Oboe wrote:Hoo boy. I guess I'm just frustrated. Recently I saw the documentary "Bowling For Columbine" and lemme tell ya, it really explains a lot of parents' "explainations". ( I think I spelled that right . . . it's getting late.)

I just wish there were more open minded people in this world. Did you know that the average IQ in the US is between 80 and 97? I just can't get over that. And to think that an amazingly expressive artform such as anime or video games can be belittled or shunned like that!

... isn't 120 IQ what's considered normal? If that's the case man we got some dumb SOBs living around us. Not only are alot of people stupid though. There are alot of people that just feel that they HAVE to complain about something. I work at a grocery store and people will complain or get upset over the dumbest things. Such as such great classics as.

"What do you mean you don't take American Express? Why not? You HAVE to put up a sign that warns us that you don't take American Express you know"

"Why is the frozen orange juice all the way in the back of the store, I shouldn't have to walk all the way back there. You should put it closer to the front of the store"

I know there are some other really great ones but for some reason none of them come to mind at the moment.

Nurd · Post by **Nurd** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 11:17 pm

OzzieArcane wrote: ... isn't 120 IQ what's considered normal? If that's the case man we got some dumb SOBs living around us. Not only are alot of people stupid though. There are alot of people that just feel that they HAVE to complain about something. I work at a grocery store and people will complain or get upset over the dumbest things. Such as such great classics as.

"What do you mean you don't take American Express? Why not? You HAVE to put up a sign that warns us that you don't take American Express you know"

"Why is the frozen orange juice all the way in the back of the store, I shouldn't have to walk all the way back there. You should put it closer to the front of the store"

I know there are some other really great ones but for some reason none of them come to mind at the moment.

Normal is relative, in theory the average IQ is the "Normal" IQ. But the way the educational researchers figure, an IQ between 100 and 120 is probably optimal.

Your life reminds me of the guy from Clerks: "No ice? You mean I have to drink this coffee hot? "

Nurd