Decency and the PG-13 rating.

The Iraq War documentary, Palace has been given a PG-13 rating by the MPAA despite the films use of language.

Any thoughts?

Persoanlly, I have long thought the rating system to be so crappy a lifetime supply of Charmin couldn't clean it up. But this seems to me to be a step in the direction of fixing it. In my line of work I go into high schools and junior high schools with regularity. As an old fuddy duddy, I am frequently shocked to hear the things coming out of these kids mouths. Now if we choose to believe that a 13 year old never has heard or used the words "f**k," "sh*t," or "a**hole" then we are kidding ourselves.

Our system allows violence and some nudity in PG-13 movies. Why is language the last one to break that barrier? I would personally like to see the nudity thing go back to being a strictly R thing, but it isn't as bad as some wouldmake it out to be...they're not showing hard core sex in PG-13 movies...yet.

Poke

What kind of damage does hearing a bad word or seeing a nude figure cause? Rated-R should be reserved for graphic violence (people getting their heads blown off type stuff), sex scenes, and graphic language (language that describes graphic violence of sex in a profane way).

Look its this simple, everyone has the right to know what they are getting into before they give up hard earned money. Parents have the responsability to monitor what their children are viewing. It is not however the role of a single independent agency to determine what movies are acceptable or not. If there is nudity, drug use, rough language, graphic sex, pink teddy bear choral numbers or what ever it is that certain segments of society should find objectional at any given time then that info should be readily available. There should not be an arbitrary and subjective lettering system applied be a single group of people.

And while I am at it, it is not the responsabitly of theater operators or walmart cashiers to babysit our children. It is however the responsability of parents to know what their children are up to. I am so tired of our pass-the-responsabilty-on-to-someone-else society. We bring these kids into the world, now lets take responsabilty for their well being.
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Wow when I started this response I had no idea that I would get so angry. I suppose it is because I really dislike (big understatement) having people tell me what I can and can not do or what is right and what is wrong. I have a brain and I like to use it. I just wish others would do the same and leave me alone in the process.