Important- Please read!
I know I haven't posted in months, but I just read this a minute ago and I think it's too important for you all not to see. I also know this likely isn't the correct place to post this, but my reasoning for putting it here is that more of you read the General Messages than anything else on the board. Rights are being violated in disgusting ways by our president and something has to be done. It doesn't even make sense!
Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004
The Bush administration has decided that people with
bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special
guidance from the federal government.
So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about
200 television programs inappropriate for
closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests
to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.
The department made its decisions based on the
recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five
members are, only the government seems to know, and it
isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a
perspective that is Talibanesque.
The government is refusing to caption Bewitched and I
Dream of Jeannie, apparently fearing that the deaf
would fall prey to witchcraft if they viewed the
classic sitcoms.
Your government also believes that Law & Order is too
intense for the hard-of-hearing. So is Power Rangers.
You can rest easy knowing that your federal tax
dollars aren't being spent to promote Sanford and Son,
Judge Wapner's Animal Court and The Loretta Young Show
within the deaf community. Kids with hearing problems
can forget about watching Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, classic cartoons or Nickelodeon features.
Even Roy Rogers and Robin Hood are out.
Sports programming took a heavy hit, too. The
government has decided that people with hearing
problems don't need to watch NASCAR, Major League
Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the
National Football League or Professional Golf
Association tournaments.
The National Association of the Deaf says the
government used to caption these shows but abruptly
changed course, deciding that the shows don't fit the
required definition of "educational, news or
informational" programming.
"They've suddenly narrowed down the definition of
those three kinds of programming without public
input," says Kelby Brick, director of the NAD's law
and advocacy center. "Basically, the department wants
to limit captioning to puritan shows. The department
wants to ensure that deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals are not exposed to any non-puritan
programming. Never mind that the rest of the country
is allowed to be exposed."
How imperiled the nation might be if The Simpsons and
Malcolm in the Middle reached into the living rooms of
the impressionable hard-of-hearing. Or, for that
matter, Scooby-Doo.
The censorship raises baffling questions about who
gets in and who's left out. The government has
rejected Nancy Drew but is accepting Andy Hardy. Cory
the Clown has won approval, but the Cisco Kid is
toast. Charlie Rose and Rod Serling are worthy of
captions, but Catherine Crier and Dominick Dunne
aren't. Go figure.
The Department of Education is refusing to reveal the
names of the panel members whose opinions determined
the caption grants and also won't disclose the new
guidelines. By every appearance, the government has
changed its definition of what constitutes a
caption-worthy program. But it's keeping the new rules
secret.
"They apparently used a panel of five individuals and
then made the censorship decisions based on the
individuals' recommendations," Mr. Brick says. "We
have found the identity of one of the panelists. This
individual tells us that he never knew he was on such
a panel and that his views would be used for
censorship. No panel was convened. The five panelists
were contacted individually and separately."
It could be that people with bad hearing are new
casualties of the Bush administration's budget
priorities. Paying the Halliburton bills and sending a
man to Mars will be costly, perhaps equally so. It
could be that missing Bewitched and Law & Order is
just one sacrifice the deaf will have to make to
advance homeland security and fight terrorism.
The education department makes promises about "No
Child Left Behind," but it didn't say anything about
leaving behind people with bad hearing. Maybe they
should have seen this coming.
The NAD is lobbying Congress to change the policy.
Some networks and sponsors are stepping in and
providing captions for some of the "inappropriate"
shows. But the government's dismissive treatment of 28
million Americans defies words.
"We are outraged the department has taken
paternalistic steps to exclude deaf and
hard-of-hearing individuals," Mr. Brick says. "Such
censorship is offensive and insulting."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinio...ions/sunday/opinion_0442326e064c624b0099.html
Other ADers are welcome to print them out, if they would like. 
