Why does the Motion Picture Association of America even bother with ratings when the titles of recent movies evidently have no scrutiny.  It all started a few years back when the raunchy “South Park” cable cartoon series released the feature “Bigger, Longer and Uncut,” and the producers admitted they got a kick out of having the MPAA allow such a gross title.  However, that seems tame compared to “Meet the Fockers”, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, and now “Kick-Ass.”

            If you are watching TV with your mother or children, do you not blush when ads for these movies appear?

            The old argument about turning off the TV if you don’t like what’s on it doesn’t work when billboards all over town are emblazoned with “KICK-ASS”; you can’t easily swerve the car in the opposite direction.

            It is practically impossible to shield young children from being bombarded by images and sounds that at the very least makes it quite difficult to explain to young people, at the worst makes life around them coarse and vulgar.

            I don’t mean to sound like a snob but enough already with all the smutty ads and movie titles.  No, using four-letter words and profane depictions is not the end of American civilization.  Yes, I enjoy watching R-rated DVDs, once my kids are in bed.

            All of us need to remember that there are children in our society, and we need to take care of them.   Children growing up with a coarser culture are bound to be courser themselves. 

There was a time when adults would refrain from using obscenities whenever women or children entered a room.  Now those obscenities are tattooed on the parents’ arms.

              Freedom is not about doing or saying anything you want.  If so, there would be no civilized society.

              There is plenty of room in the marketplace for garbage.  The public should have the choice whether or not to be forced to look at it and smell it.

              We all could use a little civility nowadays.