I saw this article on Yahoo! news. No big surprises; a bunch of people protesting a planned TV show as offensive. Big deal. But then I saw this part:
So apparently the fact that the country has been at war isn’t as important to congressmen as a proposed reality TV show. Thanks, esteemed members of Congress! Glad to know that you’re all on top of the issues that are really important to constituents.
Next on the agenda: representatives from the Senate Subcommittee on Dawson’s Creek make an impassioned protest that Joey should totally end up with Dawson and not that yucky Pacey.
It’s an “issue” that’s important to their lobbyists. And I don’t believe it’s any of Congress’ business to be protesting shows in the first place, outside of legislation relating to the basic FCC guidelines. Even if there weren’t already a federal body in place to maintain standards for broadcasting, I wouldn’t want Congress to be the arbiters of taste for the country.
For that matter, I fail to see what business the miner’s union has protesting a program that’s not about mining, but hey, whatever kills their canary.
And it’s doubly frustrating to see Congress ignoring protests and input from constituents on important matters while watching them snap to attention whenever a lobby drops a hot-button election-friendly issue in their laps, like protesting TV shows or movies or videogames.
So let me get this straight. Congressmen who, with their constitutents, find this program extremely offensive are wasting their time by protesting it?
Could it be that your bias is at work here? After all you labeled this thread ‘Hillbilly’ Protest.
Would you be acting the same way if this was a show about a black family that was picked to live in white Beverly Hills (like a ‘Prince of Bel Air’ Reality show)?
I heard about this show a while back. As a lifelong Southerner (with some extremely country relatives) I find it pretty offensive myself, but I’m not going to protest it because I have, you know, a job. And that’s what my Representatives are for.
And what should the congressfolk be doing instead, come to think of it? Bolting rivets into stealth fighters or something? Life here doesn’t just shut down during wartime, and the entire idea of this show really is offensive: “Yay, let’s all have YET ANOTHER laugh at the expense of those dumb hicks Down South, where we’ve never been! Those jokes NEVER get old, because we feel smugly, baselessly certain they’re all true!”
The rest of your post shows understanding and sensitivity. I differ with you on only one point. I can understand the Representatives being concerned, but I think they should express their displeasure with the concept on a personal basis rather than as legislative representative.
I also believe in boycotting the sponsors. I hate it when television exploits stereotypical thinking. If stupid hillbilly families are so common, why launch a big search?
About twenty years ago I was taped for the opening of a national morning news program. I was to say my name, where I was from and wish the country “good morning.” So I said something similar to: “I’m Zoe Chloe Pithian-Thayer from Central City, Alabama. Good morning, America!” I was told that I didn’t sound like I’m am from Central City, Alabama. I said, “Oh. You want magnolia!” and I did another take with a fake Southern drawl. That made them very happy and it was broadcast.
I wish now, of course, that I had not played along with them. I’ve lived in the South all of my life. I’m an eleventh generation Southerner. I should have said to them, “This is what a woman from the South really sounds like.”
(Exit stomping her little foot and shaking her curls.)
Hmm. I see your point, but I think there’s a fine line there. It seems to me that the show is simply reinforcing the stereotype that much of the country believes of all Southerners. I’ve had friends from California come to visit and be shocked that we have tall buildings and an opera here; that kind of image is astonishingly pervasive outside of the South, to the extent that a Northern friend once said to me in all sincerity, “Yes, but you’re not a real Southerner…”
To cut to the chase before I start getting all worked up, the idea of the show seems to be to have a laugh at the expense of the entire population of the South, and as such I’m glad the representatives at least voiced some displeasure. And heck, all they did was write a letter that most of them probably just had an assistant sign; it’s not as if they chained themselves to the gates of the studio lot.
Basically, yes, that’s what I’m saying. And they’re also wasting my money, if they’re doing this on the clock.
Prob’ly. I labeled this thread “Hillbilly Protest” because it’s a protest about a show called “The Beverly Hillbillies.” I don’t know what “bias” could be at work here. I was a Georgian for 25 years, a hell of a lot longer than I’ve been a Californian (born & raised in Decatur, incidentally), so make of that what you will. Sheesh.
In the case of a “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” reality show, I’d complain if a significant number of US Congressmen, during war time, saw it as their place to tell television networks what is and isn’t appropriate to air. That’s not Congress’ job. If it’s obscene or violates network standards, sure, jump right in and make another law. And as Zoe pointed out, if a bunch of congressmen want to protest the show on a personal basis, then more power to them.
I think the show is a completely bone-headed idea, but it’s far from the worst that the Hollywood Brain Trust has come up with. And I definitely don’t feel that there should be laws against offending people. Legislative time could be better spent elsewhere, like getting Fear Factor off the air.
(And Zoe, I can relate to your GMA story. I’m always having my genuine southern-ness called into question because I watched too much TV growing up to have an accent. It usually comes back within 5 minutes of stepping off the plane at Hartsfield, though…)
The funny thing to me is that the original “Beverly Hillbillies” was wildly popular in the South. There is no way the reality show could be a stereotypical as the original. I think that if they got the biggest 'necks in the whole south, they wouldn’t call a pool a cement pond or fix possum innards in a kettle in the kitchen.
This show should be no more offensive than the Sopranos is to Italians or Fargo was to North Dakotans. These congressmen are just grandstanding. If southerners were really this touchy they would be picketting Jeff Foxworthy concerts instead of buying tickets.
Them (and the Beverly Hillbillies) are fictional shows and are treated as such (btw, there are plenty of Italians find the Sopranos offensive). This is a reality show, saying look how dumb these people REALLY are!
To use the Soprano analogy, it’d be like taking a large Italian family and placing them in a reality show dealing with mob-like things. I’m sure you’d get more uproar over that (dealing with offensiveness… not any potential illegality ;)) than you’d get over the Sopranos.
Them (and the Beverly Hillbillies) are fictional shows and are treated as such (btw, there are plenty of Italians find the Sopranos offensive). This is a reality show, saying look how dumb these people REALLY are!
To use the Soprano analogy, it’d be like taking a large Italian family and placing them in a reality show dealing with mob-like things. I’m sure you’d get more uproar over that (dealing with offensiveness… not any potential illegality ;)) than you’d get over the Sopranos.
See the United States Constitution (http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Constitution.html), Article I, Section 8. Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes; regulate foreign commerce; coin money; establish post offices; declare war; raise and support armies; etc.; and “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers…”
There is absolutely nothing in there at all about standing up for the morality of their constituents. Such is not and should not be the job of the Congress.
Personally, I agree totally with the OP. Not only is it stupid and wasteful for Congressmen to be protesting a silly TV show, but it’s stupid for people to be protesting it, too. If you don’t like a show, exercise your rights by not watching it. Trying to prevent others from having the right to watch it is anti-American.
I think it would be funny- if they took a nice stereotypical Beverly Hills family (preferably one including teenagers) and let them move into the house that the mountain people left. See who finds their new home more difficult to adapt to.
I’m 100% with you. Government trying to legislate morality is awful. And of course it already happens to an extent (e.g., pornography laws), but I see no reason for it to get worse.
This is where you lose me. Someone decides to make a TV show perpetuating an extremely derogatory stereotype of a large part of the population, and you object to the governmental representatives of that subset of the population writing a letter about it? They’re not “protesting” in the sense of “marching with signs” or something; they just wrote a letter.
While the phrase “anti-American” makes me nervous, I agree with you. However, they weren’t trying to “prevent” anything; they were expressing displeasure, and “asked that plans for the show be scuttled.” No legislative action was invoked (as far as I can tell from the article), nor should it have been, of course. As my representatives, these people have a much louder voice than I do, and I’m glad that they’re saying something I agree with, for once.