Gotta love those peeps across the proverbial pond...

Directed towards the PTC:

"Why can't they do something constructive and actually help people (oh I don't know, by jumping in front of a bus or something?)."

Couldn't have said it better myself. :)

Oddjob | August 17, 19:28 CET

This censorship nonsense has been out of control since the days of George Carlin first trouncing the Seven Dirty Words and Frank Zappa going up against the Mothers of Prevention. On either side of the pond, it's an affront to humanity's inalienable rights. Those who have children think it is the responsibility of complete strangers to make the world bow to their sensibilities. It's actually the other way around. The world is by default a place for adults, and if someone wants to protect their children from the world, that's where the white picket fences come in, and maybe electrified fences and bars on the windows and locks on the doors and leashes on the kids and blah blah blah, and eventually the parent is supposed to realize you can't protect the child from reality, so the best you can do is arm your child with knowledge and not ignorance: the only protection is preparation.

Isn't that really what Buffy was all about? Her world is filled with vampires and demons and other predators, and all of humanity is just standing there ignorant by default - and the demons want humans ignorant because that makes them easy prey. Buffy Summers comes along, becomes armed with knowledge and befriended by a team of people who also refuse to remain ignorant, and she turns the tables on the evils of the world not by trying to hide the truth, but by facing it head on. Consequently, Firefly is about people who try to run from their society, but despite the fact space is infinite, they find they got nowhere to run. Ultimately they have to face what they disagree with in society and come to terms with it. Xenophobia doesn't work.

So naturally, anyone who is for censorship would be against Whedon, because his stories defy the very concept of restricting free speech and the proliferation of information. Or something like that.

ZachsMind | August 17, 19:58 CET

Yeah, ZM, yeah! Huh? (Thinks). Yeah!

Except I really believe having children is just a cover for these people to assert their own ignorance and fear. If you're demanding censorship on behalf of the tiny, tiny babies it makes it soo much easier. I'll bet many of the PTC supporters don't even have kids. (Just as many "pro-life" supporters . . . well, I really shouldn't and won't go there.)

Fortunately there are many parents on this and other boards who agree with you and who work actively to disprove the very real proposition that you describe.

SoddingNancyTribe | August 17, 20:12 CET

ZachsMind, it is a pleasure to meet you. Like how you think.

Madhatter | August 17, 20:13 CET

Couldn't have put it better myself ZachsMind!

The Watcher | August 17, 20:30 CET

There's always going to be a group of people looking to destroy anything they don't like or understand. I can't even get mad at these kinds of people anymore.

They rise up with there latest ludicrous claim and I do my best to slap em down. Its a neverending battle...

sTalking_Goat | August 17, 20:34 CET

It is complete fear that "these people" have been taken over by. They are so fearful that they are trying to control every aspect of their lives and feel that they must control ours too..."for our own good". Fear=Control, Control=Fear. Simple. But like I said earlier...I'm a parent...and a damn good one at that...I will make the choices that I feel are right for my family...not someone else who fears that my child will find out about sex, violence,...um...the world. I do NOT need a village raising my children...I'm doing great!

Coll | August 17, 21:25 CET

Amen to that, Coll.

I think the most cogent part of ZachsMind's commentary is that the world is NOT for children...otherwise, we'd all stay children...which is not to say that children don't need nurturing and guidance...the Bozell Brigades seem to think that all of us *adults* are essentially children in need of their perpetual guidance and protection.

Thanks but no thanks. And, as I've often said, I say that as a conservative politically and religiously.

Buffy is one of the most profoundly moral things I've ever seen come out of popular culture. That it happens to be art, and of a high order, is nothing shy of a miracle.

Chris in Virginia | August 17, 22:39 CET

• Controlling magic is like controlling a hammer


• This is all about fear


• Stop Evil Hand Stop


• We are defined by the things we fear


• I could go on and on but the point is much of Whedonesque stuff is about the futility of control versus chaos and fear versus security and all that philosophical bullcrap.

And it's a pleasure to meet y'all too. =)

ZachsMind | August 17, 23:00 CET

"…you can't protect the child from reality, so the best you can do is arm your child with knowledge and not ignorance: the only protection is preparation."

Well said, Zachsmind!
Fear and ignorance only breeds fear and ignorance and for the PTC to take it upon itself to “protect” children by denying everyone is ridiculous. If a parent can’t conclude that Sesame Street might be more appropriate for their child than Nip/Tuck, maybe they shouldn’t be breeding in the first place. I think it’s more important for a child to have a variety of experiences and a parent who is there to explain or reassure them rather than acting as if something doesn’t exist. I don’t think television should be used as an unsupervised babysitter, but the PTC is not the boss of me. How dangerous to have something like “Buffy” that challenges their narrow viewpoint. You sure can’t keep a kid down on the farm once they start to ask questions and think for themselves!

bloodflowers | August 17, 23:05 CET

"You sure can’t keep a kid down on the farm once they start to ask questions.."

That may ultimately be the real issue. It's easier to keep a society suppressed if they're not educated. If 'elders' can hide truth from their underlings as long as possible, it perpetuates their illusion of control.

That's what was going on when Buffy & Willow released the Slayer power to all potentials everywhere, and turned what had been traditionally limited to a select individual into a choice availed to every qualifying soul. That's the power of choice, and it's all about power. =)

ZachsMind | August 17, 23:38 CET

Exactly ZachsMind!! Again, I really missed your posts!!!

Coll | August 17, 23:49 CET

Zach totally nailed it. Restricting other people's free speech is the copout way of avoiding doing the hard work of actually preparing your kids to deal with reality. And of dealing with reality yourself. Life isn't puppy dogs and balloons and cotton candy. Life is sometimes horrible and depressing and dare I say 'inappropriate' ;) But by hiding from that and by hiding that from your children you do yourselves and them the gravest disservice I can imagine. Live life, don't hide from it.

zeitgeist | August 18, 03:25 CET

Excellent comments! Thank you all for a great read.

...the hardest thing in this world ... is to live in it. Be brave. Live.

Passion | August 18, 06:34 CET

For me.

Madhatter | August 19, 01:45 CET