Simply by doing what's right, the industry can stop Congress from pushing that legal theory. Parents, too, must act. The ratings systems are supposed to school parents on the appropriateness of specific media products for their children. In this day and age, when media are so pervasive and so violent, parents must be ever-vigilant. They should pay heed to the movies, CDs and video games their children consume.
Responsibility cuts both ways.
If entertainment industry executives won't exercise it by tailoring marketing plans to ratings and by leaning against the excesses so evident in much of what they produce, then parents and other interested parties should get active. When they work, old-fashioned consumer boycotts do wonders to concentrate corporate minds. Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sept. 15, 2000. Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.