An article in Times Online today refers to a decision of the National Telecommunications Commission that The Simpsons is unsuitable for children and must be taken off morning television.
'The National Telecommunications Commission said the show pushed “messages that
go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents”'
The Simpsons will be replaced by Baywatch which is certainly popular with adolescents, though not for the purposes of education in the normal sense. For those who don't know, it focuses heavily on the physique of the actors, male and female who work as life guards on the beach in swimsuits.
This story is intrinsically absurd, but is not just a bit of trivia. This must be seen in the context of Hugo Chavez' '21st Century Socialism'. The bizarre decision making must be understood in terms of the irrationality of Chavez belief in the state interfering everywhere, and his own creation of a Cult of Personality which is simply the personalised aspect of a process in which state officials interfere irrationally and unaccountably.
The other aspect is that The Simpsons is an American show. There is a lot of joky criticism of American society in the show mixed with an essentially affectionate attitude towards middle America. It could be said thatthe criticism ends up justifying American society since the end of the show always draws us back to the value of the family life of the main family, who are clealry typically American. In the eyes of Chavez and his followers it probably looks like Yankee Imperialist propaganda. There is some logic to this view, Chavez and his political apparatus need to control the population's image of the US in order to mobilise them and create an enemy image. Every extreme illibreal movement needs an all threatneing enemy to justify its incursions into individual freedom, some similar comments apply to Vush's 'War on Terror' and The 'Patriot' Act, which is a law to weakne the rights of US citizens in relation to the federal government.
'The National Telecommunications Commission said the show pushed “messages that
go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents”'
The Simpsons will be replaced by Baywatch which is certainly popular with adolescents, though not for the purposes of education in the normal sense. For those who don't know, it focuses heavily on the physique of the actors, male and female who work as life guards on the beach in swimsuits.
This story is intrinsically absurd, but is not just a bit of trivia. This must be seen in the context of Hugo Chavez' '21st Century Socialism'. The bizarre decision making must be understood in terms of the irrationality of Chavez belief in the state interfering everywhere, and his own creation of a Cult of Personality which is simply the personalised aspect of a process in which state officials interfere irrationally and unaccountably.
The other aspect is that The Simpsons is an American show. There is a lot of joky criticism of American society in the show mixed with an essentially affectionate attitude towards middle America. It could be said thatthe criticism ends up justifying American society since the end of the show always draws us back to the value of the family life of the main family, who are clealry typically American. In the eyes of Chavez and his followers it probably looks like Yankee Imperialist propaganda. There is some logic to this view, Chavez and his political apparatus need to control the population's image of the US in order to mobilise them and create an enemy image. Every extreme illibreal movement needs an all threatneing enemy to justify its incursions into individual freedom, some similar comments apply to Vush's 'War on Terror' and The 'Patriot' Act, which is a law to weakne the rights of US citizens in relation to the federal government.
1 comment:
Companeros! Los Simpsones con loros ideas capitalistas NO PASARAN! Viva el proletariate mundial! Viva el lider maximo maximorum!
Since 1989 I lived in communism regime and I know the absurdistan of those political leaders such Chavez
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