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Dear Mayor and City
Council,
I am shocked and embarrassed by the actions of my City Council regarding
the passage of a resolution to draft a law to move adult programming to
after midnight.
Why does Berkeley need a special law beyond the 10 pm safe harbor guidelines
of the FCC?
At the heart of this resolution is the age-old cry of the censor "I’m
offended by what I see and I don’t think any one else should be able
to see it! I want it removed!" Two of the authors of the resolution
have said as much; Polly Armstrong said at the council meeting that she
didn’t think it should be on at all! And here is a quote from Betty
Olds in the Daily Planet:
"Disgusting," Olds said. "It shouldn’t be allowed
to be put on … I would be willing to forego having that channel (25).
… and I know that the majority of the citizens feel the same way."
She is even willing to kill the public access channel to GET HER WAY!
So, they cloak it in the worn out refrain of buzz words "We must
protect the children from pornography!"
It is clear that this resolution is not just designed to protect children,
but to protect EVERYONE from so-called "sexually-explicit" programming.
By moving the programming to after midnight, you are limiting the number
of people who have access to the show. You are denying many adults who
watch the show their right to watch the show because they have jobs and
have to go to work the next day and can’t stay up that late! Who
is being penalized here? And how do you define sexually-explicit? Boy,
now that’s a slippery slope…
And all this to protect some mystery child from stumbling on to adult
programming. How old are these "children" we are talking about?
I don’t know about you but I was not allowed to watch TV after 9pm
when I was a child (up until 15). And once I was old enough to stay up
later and watch TV after 9pm, I was old enough to make my own decisions
about what I wanted to watch (high school)! My parents trusted me. I am
so tired of "the children" being used as an excuse. You are
insulting the parents and the children of Berkeley by implying that they
cannot deal with this in their own way. It is not the business of government
to interfere with parenting.
The FCC has already established a safe harbor guideline of 10 pm and I
do not believe that Berkeley has to establish its own special law. And
I certainly do not want the City Council involved in some "review
board" and as the "ultimate authority"!
Never mind that one of the Council would like to blackmail the public
access channel by threatening it’s funding as a way to curb the "sexually-explicit"
content.
Never mind that one of our Council members thinks that the arrest of peaceful
UCB student protesters by Berkeley Campus police is "a matter of
foreign affairs". Does she really thinks she represents the views
of her district by saying that?!?
Never mind the childish and disrespectful way members of the City Council
treated each other at the meeting with lots of eye-rolling, face-making,
heavy sighing and barbed remarks. Now who’s setting a good example
for our children?
Michael LaBash
Berkeley resident
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