Family Guy...Does This Guy have a Prayer?

[NateSean]

http://hubpages.com/hub/Petition-The...ity-Violations

There's always some idiot out there who thinks he can have something removed because he personally doesn't like it. Or he's secretly jealous of the success it's been recieving and feels that ranting about it on his blog will change the world to his way of thinking.

I've read this guy's other stuff and his profile and pretty much all he is to me is a big, foot stomping adult baby with an over inflated ego. He reminds me of Grandpa Abe Simpson petitioning Fox to have words he doesn't like removed from the scripts. But with the information age placing people like Sarah Palin in power I have to wonder, does a guy like this really have a chance at taking Family Guy down?

Do you agree with his ranting? Disagree? Neutral?

[Hobbs]

Can anyone say "massive fail"?

[AdminAssistant]

Fox has already shut Family Guy down twice and had the good sense to bring it back. Personally, I don't think he has a snowball's chance of getting it shut down. Fox already censors the episodes, and now MacFarlane just makes two versions of each one: the Fox TV version and the DVD version.

Family Guy isn't even the only cartoon to depict such "obscenities" as the guy listed - South Park anyone? Oh wait, that's on cable. Then there are MacFarlane's other ventures. Hell, go after The Simpsons for the crime of not being funny for the last 15 years or so.

However, to truly answer your question, no, this guy cannot shut down Family Guy, at least not by himself. As he said, he's a Canadian citizen, and therefore cannot make a complaint to the FCC. Even if the FCC did bear down on Fox a bit, Fox would simply look at the ratings charts and maybe...maybe...smack MacFarlane on the hand a bit and tell him to tone it down.

[Rageaholic]

That is pretty nasty stuff, but we as people have a thing called the remote which means we don't have to watch stuff that offends us.

I'd like to say that this guy can't be for real (Family guy is a greater threat than any terrorist or politician?!?!), but reading fundamentalist websites has made me realize how crazy people can truly be.

[Greenday]

He should worry about reality TV crap before he worries about cartoons.

[Lace Neil Singer]

There's a little button on his remote that he could use instead of making stupid petitions; it's called the off button. Don't like Family Guy? Then don't watch it.

[MadMike]

There are quite a few shows on TV that I can't stand, like those god-awful so-called "reality" shows. I despise them. But I don't feel the need to piss and moan and try to get them taken off the air. There's a much simpler solution. It's called "not watching them."

Sadly, this simple solution seems to elude a lot of people.

[BlaqueKatt]

Do you agree with his ranting? Disagree? Neutral?

I don't even agree with the FCC-take it away family guy!


yeah the FCC has no jurisdiction over cable-only vhf/uhf channels-I personally don't like the idea of any appointed government body telling me what I can an cannot watch. not to mention that "policing the airwaves" is NOT, nor has it ever been the FCC's main job. those can be found here

it is the FCC's mission to "make available so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication services with adequate facilities at reasonable charges."[sic] The Act furthermore provides that the FCC was created "for the purpose of the national defense" and "for the purpose of promoting safety of life and property through the use of wire and radio communications.

notice nothing in there about being the obscenity police....

Oddly enough to go off on a tangent here-I notice he's only complaining about the sexual content of the show and not criticizing say CSI-or Law and order/ER you know the shows that are quite violent and gory.

This country has some odd priorities-case in point: In the movie "kick-ass" there is a "superhero/crime fighter" by the moniker of "hit girl"-she is shown brutally killing people with various swords/bladed weapons/guns-the only uproar over that character was the fact that "OMG-she used the word "cunt". So 12-14 year old viciously slaughtering other humans=ok, 12-14 year old swearing=not ok-WTF? That's some pretty messed up priorities there.....

brutal violence is fine, but sex is not to be shown-unless it's rape-then the violent part cancels out the sex part I guess....I don't know...I'm just rambling here now....

[MadMike]

brutal violence is fine, but sex is not to be shown-unless it's rape-then the violent part cancels out the sex part I guess....I don't know...I'm just rambling here now....

Or as they said on the South Park movie, Horrific, Deplorable Violence is Okay, as Long as People Don’t Say any Naughty Words!

Apparently there is some truth to that. I've seen quite a few horror movies on network TV, and they always seem to edit out any language or nudity, but leave the violence intact.

[Hobbs]

I personally don't like the idea of any appointed government body telling me what I can an cannot watch.

Actually, they're not telling you what you can or cannot watch; they're telling companies what they can or cannot air. There's a difference.

[draco664]

There's a little button on his remote that he could use instead of making stupid petitions; it's called the off button. Don't like Family Guy? Then don't watch it.

You're missing the point. The moron doesn't just want to 'not watch' FG, he wants everyone else to 'not watch' it too.

And since he realises that he can't personally convince everyone to stop watching, he needs to go down a different route.

[NateSean]

Top top it off, he has a very Salem Witch Trials approach to his views, which you can find out about in his comments below the article.

The sad thing is, he doesn't mind exercising his right to free speech, so long as he can squelch someone else's.

[BlaqueKatt]

The sad thing is, he doesn't mind exercising his right to free speech, so long as he can squelch someone else's.

being canadian-the man's right to free speech is subject to limitation-and writers have been prosecuted for what they have written in Canada.

[Lace Neil Singer]

You're missing the point. The moron doesn't just want to 'not watch' FG, he wants everyone else to 'not watch' it too.

And since he realises that he can't personally convince everyone to stop watching, he needs to go down a different route.

No, I'm not missing the point. He obviously doesn't like a show and he must have watched it at some time in his life; instead of doing the obvious and not watching it, he wants it taken off the air so he doesn't have to use the off button. I doubt he gives a toss for the views of "everyone else"; people like that rarely think of other people's points of view.

[protege]

You're missing the point. The moron doesn't just want to 'not watch' FG, he wants everyone else to 'not watch' it too.

And since he realises that he can't personally convince everyone to stop watching, he needs to go down a different route.

Reminds me of what one of the Allegheny County (PA) commissioners tried to do once. He tried to *force* the cable company not to show "obscene material" in his district. By his definition, he didn't want any of his constituents (aka the people who voted him into power) to be "subjected" to porn or similar material. Never mind that there's a crapload of material--murders, sexual assaults, rapes, etc. on the evening news--that he seemed to be OK with.

Sorry, but fuck that shit. I don't like the idea of some government asshole telling me what I can and cannot watch in my own home. At least he got what he deserved--several nasty letters to the editor in the newspapers, the media had a field day with it, and he eventually got tossed from office. Even the cable company itself politely told him to "get bent."

But, I'm actually surprised that he wasn't "doing it for the children"