Re: Jackass,Viacom&CBS

[Chuckigo@aol.com]

A.Joseph wrote:
<<You should have seen me, at age 6, trying to be a
 hand-puppet after watching "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.">>
> > 
to which Brian responded:
<<Yes, but did you set the sock on fire?>>
> > 
followed by A.Joeseph's last question:
<<Sock on fire?>>

in keeping with the original thought, Brian's very funny
reference was to the basis of the kid-on-fire lawsuit.
(the kid-on-fire is not funny... asking if Joe set a 
sock puppet on fire did strike me as humorous.)
to which i'll add, with all respects to Dave Barry:
"The Flaming Sock Puppets" would be a great name for a
rock group.

on a serious note:  as we learned in "Field of Dreams",
if you build it, they will come.
if you put it on television, sadly, they will watch it.
whether it's the slow-speed pursuit of a wanted, former
football player from seven different camera angles, or
someone setting themself on fire based on that which 
they saw on tv, there is, somewhere in there, a lapse
in common sense.  is there a responsibility issue?  one
would hope that by the time a young person reaches his
or her teenage years that they would excercise their OWN
responsibility.  even Saturday Night Live taught us that
"Fire...Burn!"
for many years, we've all watched or listened to programs
that have advised us to "not try this at home..." and
that "these people are trained professionals...", etc.
me?  i've watched video footage of bungee jumping. i've
also read the wire copy of the seventy foot cord used on
a fifty foot bridge.  i've watched video footage of
stuntpeople donning a flame-retardant suit, surrounded 
by additional stage hands with hoses and fire extinguishers.  i've not once desired to attempt either.
i think that all of us on this list may have done some
"really stupid things" (in our own opinions) during the
course of our lives, but even if it "looks like fun", 
no doubt there has always been a measure of thought
applied before following through.
in the case of the responsibility issue:  it lies 
clearly with the plaintiff in this lawsuit.  otherwise,
we'll need to hold the producers of daytime soap operas
responsible for unwanted babies, 
("well, they had sex on AMC and itlooked pretty safe to me...") 
among other things.

- -Chuck Igo