He follows that one up with the story of the misnamed professor who's been laughed out of every university in the world. That Ate Everyone and The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, which expound the worst kind of crap without a whit of style. Sure it's bad, say the publishers, but at least our kids are reading. And as he and the coals burn, the attendant cooks lay slabs of meat on him, in preparation for a grand feast. Oh, but it's all OK, because MTV provides a disclaimer at the beginning of each program warning the viewer that participating in these stunts is basically a stupid thing to do.
Movies are no better.
We recently passed over Big Daddy after we saw the poster with Adam Sandler and the little kid he's trying to adopt relieving themselves against somebody's wooden door. It was rated PG-13. Yet the scenes of the Rug Rats eating leftovers from plates found in a hotel hallway or eating food scraps off the floor left me cold. After all, Europe is now engaged in fighting mad cow disease, and it's serious stuff. You never went to the library, the movies, TV or radio for source material.