Recently, Vice President Al Gore has taken the issue of censorship to the forefront in Hollywood. Although he has traditionally had a rocky relationship with the entertainment industry, he has brought the issue out as his trump card, once again, solely to win over the vote of young families. After a Federal Trade Commission report came out last week stating that Hollywood markets violence and sex to children under the age of 17, Gore quickly jumped to the attack. Although Gore refuses to call it censorship, he says he is going to provide the FTC with new enforcement powers and the ability to prosecute companies if they don't change their selling practices. My favorite instance of Gore's ludicrous crusade is when he attacked various entertainment moguls for showing movie stars smoking in their films, which he claimed advertised cigarettes to children.
People smoke in reality, so it makes sense that films reflect that in an attempt to capture realism.
I would at least hope not. The most upsetting aspect of this mess is Gore's blatant hypocrisy. Meanwhile, Republican Party candidate George W. Bush has remained relatively quiet on the subject. However, when questioned on the issue, he proposed measures similar to Gore's, except to a lesser extreme. One of the things I liked about Bush early in the campaign was his strong platform on personal responsibility.