This is all getting so ridiculous, we're going to have to make up a new word for it. Now the family values people are all a-flutter about Saving Private Ryan. Not only has this movie been on regular TV before, it's been on ABC before. Twice. And since when are the right wingers worried about violence in pop culture? They're usually so obsessed with sex, they let the violence slide. Besides, violence is their bread and butter - war, cops, gay-bashing - they usually seem to like it all. Before I read the whole article, I was thinking that Ryan would be right up their alley. Schmaltzy Spielberg, Tom Hanks, nobility in battle, and all that shit. I mean, I'm not a big fan of the movie, but these people have GOT to be stopped. As I continued to read, I was more and more appalled by the sheer arrogance of their arbitrary power trips. I mean, the FCC won't tell them ahead of time if they'll get in trouble for airing it because "that would be censorship." So, to show it, the networks have to bite the bullet, hope no one complains, and if someone does, then they get slapped with a huge fine. That's how one of the most powerful government agencies runs itself. And how is it censorship before but not after? And you know what the biggest problem is? Not the violence (see, I told you). It's the word fuck. A word that connotes sex. Many of the main characters (who are very young men, probably away from home the first time) die in creatively horrific ways in this movie. And this is what the FCC made a ruling about when the question of obscenity came up a few years ago: "The expletives used by some characters, in context, do not appear to depict or describe sexual or excretory organs or activities." And this was a reason it was NOT indecent. I know I'm not making any sense anymore but the state of this country has ME in a state. Dammit.