By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

I know I said I was going to get silly this week, but there are more important things at hand.

Recently there has been a lot of talk about violence in the media and the damage it does to our nation's children. Last week, a bill passed a Senate subcommittee that would "limit television shows with graphic bloodshed and gratuitous violence to be banned from daylight viewing until 10 p.m."

I think that is a great idea, but can you name any television shows with graphic bloodshed or gratuitous violence that do air before 10 p.m.? I can only name a few: "Cops," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The X-Files," wrestling... oh, and one more... the news. Now, for animated violence and bloodshed, I guess we'll be saying goodbye to "Popeye," "Tom and Jerry," "Bugs and Daffy" and "The Three Stooges." Heck, everything on Cartoon Network will have to pack it in until 10 p.m.

I wonder, though, did those programs have an adverse effect on us? I saw Jerry beat Tom over the head with everything from an anvil to a grand piano, but never once thought of doing that to anybody. In fact, I've seen a lot of violence on television and in video games, but I've never even been in one fight. I'm not the only one who has watched wrestling or played violent video games, and many of you out there aren't innocent either.

So why all the hoopla now? There were more horror movies out in the late 1970s and early 1980s than there were in the last five years, but now these movies are doing "horrible, irreversible damage."

Here are some numbers: There was a "Friday the 13th" movie released every year from 1980-1989, with the exception of two years: 1983 and 1987. Was the country less violent in those two years? No way. There was A "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie every year from 1984-1989, with the exception of 1986. Did those films do serious harm? Most of your teenagers weren't even born when the first "Freddy" movie came out.

"The Exorcist" came out in 1973 and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" followed the next year; then came "The Omen" trilogy, "Halloween," "Prom Night" and "The Shining." Was there a lot of controversy about the damage it did to the country's youth when they came out? Do you, the people who were the youth of America then, think those movies damaged you?

I think the country is overreacting and filled up with Oprah brand psycho-babble. We hear about Columbine and then we see images from "The Matrix" and the two are so similar that it just had to be violent movies and video games that led to that shooting. Well, these boys were wearing trenchcoats and packing heat long before they might have seen the movie, and there were violent video games since the first Nintendo came out. Do you remember that it came with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt and most systems came with the gun?

Lots of people blame wrestling today and I'll grant you that the storylines are more adult-themed than in the past, but lots of people grew up watching Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper and so on, and the only difference between then and now is that back then the majority of the whuppings were taken by the foreign characters: The Iron Sheik, Nikkolai Volkov, etc.

The storylines are more risque, but that is because they are trying to target the adult viewers. Why do you think "Monday Night Football's" ratings slipped? It was because "Raw is War" (WWF) and "WCW Monday Night Nitro" surged in popularity. And the kids weren't watching football anyway.

I guess what I'm trying to say is stop trying to pin it all on the media, because it is hypocritical and the only thing it will lead to is censorship.

Here's an example. Look at the programming lineup of the Disney Channel for one week and count up how many programs deal with the occult. Trust me, it's a lot. Every time I flip by the channel there is a movie about werewolves, witches, mummies, ghosts or vampires. Disney never gets targeted, though, and they shouldn't, because their programs do not harm children. Everybody likes to be scared once in awhile. In fact, it's the only way that a couch potato's heart will ever get any exercise, barring those frequent trips to the kitchen or bathroom.

Don't let the government tell you what can or can't come on television. They bring it up only because their constituents bring it up, and while their hearts are in the right place, they are just wrong.

Congress has already passed a law making the V-Chip mandatory in television sets 13 inches or larger, and that should be enough. The reason it isn't is that people can barely program their VCRs without their children's help. If a kid wants to watch something on television, he or she will find a way.

Making your child feel like an outcast from his peers does more damage than an hour of Buffy ever will.

If you want to target something wrong with the media, it is the strong sexually themed content on MTV. TRL ("Total Request Live") is watched by a majority of viewers who are under 17, many under 15, and they are inundated with sexually themed songs, dancing, clothing and commercials. You shouldn't worry so much about your child killing another child, as much as you should worry about them having a child.

O.K., I'm done now. Next week, I promise I'll try to be silly.

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