Date: 1999-06-17
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition to the amendment. I do not think anyone in todays modern society can deny the power of the entertainment industry. of the movie industry. of the TV media. We know that this is an industry that can make us cry. that can raise goose pimples on.our skin. It can make the hair on the back of our neck stand up. The industry should never deny its power. In conversations with many executives. they have thought from time to time it was rather foolish for an industry that can convey all of these emotions. that can change the direction of society with uplifting movies. can repeat the history in realistic movies. to deny that power. But we also know that where we run into trouble with the media industry is where the media industry has access to our children in a vacuum. where the media. the- entertainment industry has access to our children in a disproportionate number of hours during the day. when the media and the entertain. ment industry become substitutes for what families should. in fact. be doing. -Because the same research that tells us rather convincingly that the media can have a very powerful impact on our children. that the entertainment industry can help desensitize our children to violence. to the acts of violence. that it. in fact. can teach them how to perpetrate violence. the same research and additional research makes a very important point. Where they have strong family bonding. effective teaching of moral values and norms. and effective monitoring of behavior. the effective exposure to violence on TV is probably negligible. So. really. what this amendment is about is about whether or not we are prepared to choose. whether or not we as families with children and grandchildren are prepared to choose. We can let the media. we can let the entertainment industry become a substitute for our families. We can let our children have access to it without guidelines. without some sense of discipline. We can let it become the teacher of our children. or we can choose to become .the teacher of our children. We can let it babysit de facto. become the babysitter for our children. provide day care for our children: or. in fact. we can spend time with our children. We can decide whether or not it becomes a substitute for our reading to our children. We can decide whether it becomes a substitute for our conversations with our children on values. on ethics. on sex. That is the decision that we have to make. Because it is not the media in and of itself. it is not the entertainment industry in and of itself that creates this problem. It is in combination with thevacuum that is created by families that creates a vacuum. because they. in fact. have made other choices- in their life. some out of necessity. some out of neglect. and some because simply that is what they want to do. But they have made choices. as we have documented time andtime again. They are spending less time with their children. They are having fewer conversations with their children They are spending less time at the breakfast table. at the dinner table. some because they have very long commutes. some because I guess they choose not to spend- time with their children. That is where the problem in this intersection of this very powerful industry comes into play. I do not think they can solve that by having a blanket condemnation of that industry. I do not think they can do that. because I do not think. then. it is realistic to the childrenwho they aretrying to address. They understand the differences between uplifting movies. movies like "Schindlers List." movies like "Star Wars." movies like "Notting Hill." movies that portray life as they see it. and movies that have nothing to do but pursue the exploitation of women. sex. and violence.