Nutter Watch US

The Parents Television Council (PTC) has issued a press release commenting on the FCC proposal to end fines for broadcasting fleeting strong language and nudity like Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction'.

The PTC President Tim Winter wrote in a press release:

The FCC asked for the public's comment, and they got it. By a margin of nearly 1,000 to 1, the American public told the FCC to enforce existing broadcast indecency law, and not to weaken it. The only question now before the FCC is whether to heed or disregard the public's comments that they, themselves, asked for.

The broadcast networks and their agents continue to cloud the issue at hand by arguing against the very existence of the broadcast indecency law. They are trying to re-litigate the Supreme Court cases that they lost, rather than focus on the FCC's proposal to focus only on 'egregious' instances of indecency.

It is essential for the FCC to remember whose interest it is that they are mandated by Congress to serve. The sheer volume of public comments -- over 102,000 comments that were individually filed by individual Americans, and were roughly 1,000 to 1 in favor of keeping existing indecency standards -- speaks louder than the broadcast networks that want to dismantle the law.

The American people have spoken. We call on the FCC to hear and to heed the public's overwhelming support for the existing broadcast indecency law. And we call on the Commission to reject the proposed change to the law as crafted by its outgoing and now-departed chairman.

Ungrateful US moralists from Morality in Media have been aggressively campaigning to get porn magazines totally banned from military bases.

But now a top Pentagon official has stood up for the troops explaining that adult magazines are allowed for sale on military installations because they do not meet the definition of indecent material.

According to a story in The Military Times , Frederick Vollrath, assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management, in response to a complaint from Morality in Media, said publications such as Playboy, Penthouse and Nude, do not meet the federal definition of indecent material, and are thus allowed for sale on Department of Defense property.

Morality in Media had complained that the magazines should not be sold on DOD property because it violates the Military Honor and Decency Act of 1996 which prohibits the sale or rental at military exchanges of material in which the dominant theme ... depicts or describes nudity, including sexual or excretory activities or organs in a lascivious way.

Morality in Media subsequently spewed that his response would be hilarious if it were not so tragic. The group said it does not understand why the Pentagon will continue to sell porn magazines despite being in the midst of its unprecedented sexual exploitation scandal.

Update: Freedoms not worth fight for

1st August 2013. See  article from  pornharms.com

Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) have decided to remove porn  magazines from their shelves.

The development comes after the release of a Department of Defense letter claiming that pornography magazines can be sold on base.

Rappers say 'outrage' over lyric on leaked track Jodeci Freestyle was learning lesson. Drake has joined J Cole in an apology for mocking autism on their new single. They said that the offending lyric will be removed from the upcoming official release.

The track had included Cole rapping: I'm artistic . You niggas is autistic, retarded.

Cole apologised:

Recently there's been a trend that includes rappers saying something offensive, only to be attacked for it in the media and pressured to apologise. I do not believe that an apology is needed every time someone is offended, especially when that apology is really only for the sake of saving an endorsement or cleaning up bad press. With that said, this is not the case today. This letter is sincere. This apology IS necessary.

Autism Speaks were among the 'outraged' organisations who spoke out against the line, accusing Cole of perpetuating negative stereotypes against people with autism.

New 'research' from morality campaigners of the Parents Television Council's 4 Every Girl Campaign claims that teenage female characters on primetime broadcast television are more likely to be presented in sexually exploitative scenes than adult women, and the appearance of underage female characters in a supposedly sexually exploitative scene increased the probability that the scene would be presented as humorous.

Study results revealed that out of 238 scripted episodes which aired during the study period, 150 episodes (63%) contained sexual content in scenes that were associated with females and 33% of the episodes contained sexual content that rose to the level of what the PTC see as sexual exploitation.

Topics that targeted teenage girls and were presented as humorous included: sexual violence, sex trafficking, sexual harassment, pornography, and stripping.

PTC President Tim Winter claimed:

The frequency with which viewers are able to watch and laugh at these sexually exploitative situations supports the notion that entertainment media is creating an environment that encourages and even facilitates the sexualization of women. When we laugh about dead hookers, it becomes increasingly difficult to see the mistreatment of sex workers as a national civil and human rights issue. The same can be said for child molestation or sex trafficking.

The prevalence of images that trivialize sexual exploitation can be interpreted as sanctioning the sexualization of women. When these messages, images and ideologies are delivered via mass media, the definition of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are communicated both implicitly and explicitly to viewers. Similarly, when the media associates humor with sexual exploitation they are sending a strong message that these issues are harmless and require neither urgency nor a strong response.

We hope that these disturbing findings will spur concern, increased dialogue, and a collective responsibility to find answers that will result in a qualitative difference in the lives of young girls and women everywhere.

A Christian group in Texas has begun taking photos of people's cars as they patronize sinful businesses and posting them online.

The Repent Amarillo group announced they would be photographing vehicles that patronize strip clubs, porn shops, and gay bars, and then posting the images to their Facebook page. The group posted:

Think of it as God's public sex offender list. So, if you want to know if your friends, husbands, boyfriends, co-workers, or family members are visiting these places then STAY TUNED!

They're calling it the Ephesians 5:11 Project after a Bible passage which reads, Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

Jim Carrey plays Colonel Stars and Stripes in his new movie Kick-Ass 2.

He has generated loads of international press coverage by bashing the film's extreme violence in the wake of last year's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Carey tweeted:

I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence.

My apologies to others involved with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.

Rapper Kanye West may have the US number one album next week, but may have lost a few customers after offending the American Parkinson Disease Association.

The album Yeezus contains the track On Sight with the lyric:

A monster about to come alive again.
Soon as I pull up and park the Benz,
We get this bitch shaking like Parkinson's.

Gossip site TMZ reports that the American Parkinson Disease Association VP, Kathryn Whitford, said:  We find these lyrics distasteful and the product of obvious ignorance.

One Million Moms is currently whingeing about  Kraft Foods for its new Let's Get Zesty salad dressing advertising campaign. The campaigners argue that the advert uses sex to sell by promoting a nearly-naked Zesty Guy as the official spokesperson for the product.

The group One Million Moms was founded by the nutters of the American Family Association. The groups spouts on its website in a post entitled Shame on Kraft:

Kraft has gone too far and will push away loyal, conservative customers with this new ad campaign. Christians will not be able to buy Kraft dressings or any of their products until they clean up their advertising. The consumers they are attempting to attract -- women and mothers -- are the very ones they are driving away.

The nutter group amusingly adds that it has to use asterisked words to get round email filters set up especially to please nutter groups just like them:

Who will want Kraft products in their fridge or pantry if this vulgarity is what they represent? One Million Moms cannot get over the gall of this company. It is unnecessary for Kraft to use s*x to sell salad dressing!

Kraft has explained its advertising campaign, describing it in a recent statement as a playful way to promote salad dressing.

Our Kraft dressing's 'Let's Get Zesty' campaign is a playful and flirtatious way to reach our consumers. People have overwhelmingly said they're enjoying the campaign and having fun with it.

Anti-porn miserablists of Morality in Media (MiM) hailed the US Navy after it ordered a fleet-wide inspection to eliminate porn and patently lewd, lascivious or obscene images on display in public workplaces.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered the annual inspection but probably disappointed  MiM when a Navy spokeswoman confirmed that Mabus's order does not ban the sale of adult material in Navy and Marine Corps exchanges or forbid sailors and Marines from viewing it privately. The MiM issued a press release claiming that porn would be banned from Navy bases entirely

Under his instruction, officers and senior enlisted leaders cannot search government laptop or desktop computers (with the exception of visible screensavers), assigned individual barracks rooms/living quarters, assigned desk drawers, assigned cabinet drawers, clothing (e.g., coats), assigned lockers, purses, briefcases, backpacks, private automobiles and personal electronic devices (e.g., iPads, iPhones, etc.).

But Mabus did order that ships, hangars, training centers and all other department workplaces be free from materials that create a degrading, hostile or offensive work environment. Essentially, the Navy does not want a female pilot to have to work in a squadron ready room adorned with, say, a bikini pinup calendar.

The anti-porn group Morality in Media said Friday that it applauds Mabus for his order and challenged Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to take it to the next level: Will Secretary Hagel follow suit and make this order military-wide? it asked.

US moralists wrote in a press release:

Morality in Media wholeheartedly supports the effort announced last week by U. S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to remove pornography and other sexually exploitive materials from military workspaces, as the U. S. Air Force did in a similar effort last year. Secretary Hagel was responding to a Pentagon survey which estimated that 26,000 people in the armed forces were sexually assaulted last year, up from 19,000 in 2010.

Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of Morality In Media said:

Research overwhelmingly demonstrates a link between pornography consumption and increased sexual violence and objectification of women. It is no surprise that the Pentagon sees an increase in sexual assaults when it allows the prevalent use of pornography on bases and even allows the sale of pornography in its facilities.

The next step for Secretary Hagel should be to order the military to stop selling pornography in military exchanges which would send a strong message that sexual exploitation is unacceptable.

Does Porn Cause Violence?

But Tracy Clark-Flory of Salon disagrees with the ludicrous claim: "Research overwhelmingly demonstrates a link between pornography consumption and increased sexual violence"

See  article from  salon.com

Enforcing basic sexual boundaries in the workplace is one thing. Blaming sexual assault on pornography, which is what the MIM press release goes on to do, is another. It reads, Research overwhelmingly demonstrates a link between pornography consumption and increased sexual violence. What that sentence suggests is that there is a demonstrated link between porn-watching and an increase in perpetration of sexual violence --- and that is patently untrue. The availability of Internet porn has been shown to be associated with a decrease in sex crimes.

Now, that isn't to say that porn-viewing necessarily causes a decrease in real-world sexual violence; some have argued as much, but I haven't seen evidence that convincingly goes beyond correlation to indicate causation. It's simply to say that there is no evidence that pornography consumption causes, or is even associated with, an increase in cases of sexual violence. Period. End of sentence.

...Read the full article

Josh Stearns, a father of two young sons posted photos of a set of LEGO stickers on his Tumblr account. Stearns was "appalled" by the image of a hard-hatted construction worker waving at an unseen passersby, shouting HEY BABE! He wrote:

I was so disappointed to see the brand affiliated with a product that normalized street harassment and cat-calling.

The Internet chattered. Bloggers weighed in; people began posting negative reviews of the product on Amazon.

LEGO took note; last week Stearns logged onto his computer and found an email from Charlotte Simonsen, senior director at LEGOs corporate communications office in Denmark. Simonsen explained that the stickers had been licensed by a company called Creative Imagination and have already been discontinued and apologised:

LEGOs typically uses humor to communicate the Lego experience. We are sorry that you were unhappy with the way a mini-figure was portrayed here.

Steams also received a response from Andrea Ryder, the head of the LEGO Outbound Licensing Department who said that the product was no longer available and that we would not approve such a product again.

US morality campaigners of the Parents Television Council have launched #NoIndecencyFCC Week, May 6-10. They are hoping to encourage moralists to file public comments to the FCC's proposal to limit broadcast indecency complaints.

PTC President Tim Winter said:

We are focusing on #NoIndecencyFCC to let the FCC know that we consider its proposal to limit broadcast indecency complaints extremely troublesome. Only pursuing so-called 'egregious' complaints from the public about indecent TV or radio content will lead to broadcasters pushing the decency limits even further -- including the airing of nudity or harsh profanity when millions of children are in the audience.

Federal law limits the broadcast of indecent material to the times of day when kids are much less likely to be in the audience, making no distinction for 'egregious' instances. Either material is legally indecent or it is not, and the 'egregious' nature of violating the law should only dictate the punishment a broadcaster faces for breaking that law. It is unnecessary for indecent content to be repeated many times in order to be actionable, and it is unwise for the FCC to pursue a new course that will guarantee nothing but a rash of new litigation.

We are encouraging the public to share its concern with the FCC in a public comment by the deadline of May 20. To date, over 90,000 public comments have been filed, most of them expressing outrage that the FCC would even consider such a proposal.

If this proposal is adopted, the greatest harm will fall upon our children and grandchildren, who already face waves of explicit content when they use the airwaves of which they, too, are co-owners. The FCC proposal erodes a parent's recourse for broadcast decency enforcement and, instead, cedes control of our airwaves entirely to the entertainment industry. It's time to say #NoIndecencyFCC!

The PTC is also encouraging people to take to Twitter using the #NoIndecencyFCC hashtag.

Students at Carnegie Mellon University say it's freedom of expression, but the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh whinges that it is inappropriate and disrespectful.

At an annual art school parade, a female student dressed up as the pope, and was naked from the waist down while she passed out condoms. Witnesses say the woman had shaved her pubic hair in the shape of a cross.

The Pittsburgh Diocese has asked the university to take action. Bishop David Zubik whined:

I think we all know that when we're growing up we do stupid things but to cross over the line in this instance shouldn't happen with anybody.

Perennial Hindu whinger, Rajan Zed, has had a knock at Selena Gomez for donning a Bindi on her forehead during her performance of Come and Get It at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards.

Traditionally, the area between the eyebrows (where the bindi is placed) is said to be the sixth chakra, ajna, the seat of concealed wisdom . According to followers of Hinduism, this chakra is the exit point for kundalini energy. The bindi is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration. It is also said to protect against demons or bad luck. The bindi also represents the third eye. In modern times, bindis are worn by women of many religious dispositions in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and is not restricted to Hindus.

Officials at the Universal Society of Hinduism have referred to Selena's use of the religious symbol as insensitive, with spokesman Rajan Zed telling WENN:

The bindi on the forehead is an ancient tradition in Hinduism and has religious significance... It is not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects or as a fashion accessory aiming at mercantile greed.

Selena should apologize and then she should get acquainted with the basics of world religions.

US moralists of the Parents TV Council have issues a call to action against the lyrics of song being played on US radio stations:

Radio stations across the country are playing a song called U.O.E.N.O. that talks about drugging a woman and taking her home to rape her. Millions of teenage boys and young men are hearing---and absorbing---this message condoning date rape.

Take action below to call on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate every radio station that chooses to promote date rape by airing this song.

Put molly all in her champagne
She ain't even know it I took her home and I enjoyed that
She ain't even know it.

The song is released from a selection of Rocko's Gift of Gab 2 mixtape , featuring Future and Rick Ross. Ross is claiming the controversy to be a misinterpretation of the lyric.

One radio station, WUVS-103.7 in Muskegon, Michigan, has pulled all Rick Ross songs.

Update: Rick Ross Given a Kicking by Reebok

12th April 2013. See  article from  reuters.com

Sports shoe retailer Reebok has terminated its relationship with rapper Rick Ross, whose song lyrics have kicked off a little 'outrage'. Ross had been promoting Reebok shoes in print and TV adverts. The company said in a statement:

While we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault, we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse.

At this time, it is in everyone's best interest for Reebok to end its partnership with Mr. Ross.

After the US Supreme Court's decision in FCC v. Fox Television Stations in September 2012, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has initiate a review of the Commission's broadcast indecency policies and enforcement to ensure they are fully consistent with First Amendment principles.

In the interim, the Chairman directed the Enforcement Bureau to focus its indecency enforcement resources on egregious cases and to reduce the backlog of pending broadcast indecency complaints.

The Bureau has reduced the backlog by 70% so far, more than one million complaints, principally by binning them on the grounds that it had taken so long to process them that they were too stale to pursue.

The FCC now seek comments on whether the full Commission should make changes to its current broadcast indecency policies or maintain them as they are.

Update: American Family Association have their two Penneth

5th April 2013. See  article from  christianpost.com

The American Family Association, a major pro-family group, has announced that Americans should petition the FCC to uphold high television, radio decency standards.

In addition to the overarching negative impacts of indecency in media on children, a more immediate issue exists: radio 'shock jocks' that thrive on shocking even the most hardened of sensibilities will have even greater latitude to express even more profanity without the worry of FCC censure, states AFA.

The family values campaigners of Morality in the Media have just issued their Dirty Dozen list commendations for top notch facilitators of adult sex entertainment:

Attorney General Eric Holder

Mr. Holder refuses to enforce existing federal obscenity laws against hardcore adult pornography, despite the fact that these laws have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and effectively enforced by previous attorneys general.

Comcast

Major cable and satellite TV companies such as Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, DIRECTV and DISH provide hardcore pornographic premium channels and pay-per-view movies to tens of millions of American homes. Comcast is the largest of these. With the growth of the Internet, pay TV pornography does not sell like it once did, but it still sells and pollutes countless minds.

Facebook

The world's most popular social networking site has become a top place to trade pornography, which we have reported on numerous occasions. According to reports, even child pornography is regularly shared on Facebook and women and children are trafficked on the site.

Google Play

Google has essentially no restrictions on the types of apps allowed in their app store, Googleplay. Pornographic apps are in every category and in many of the categories there are countless porn apps available.

LodgeNet

This is the company that provides most of the in-room TV pornography to major hotels and motels. Despite the federal and many state laws, which prohibit obscene materials on cable and satellite TV, LodgetNet has made untold millions by providing hardcore pornography to its customers. Children have also been exposed to this material.

Hilton

This hotel chain, like Hyatt, Starwood and many other top hotel chains, provides hardcore pornography movie choices; and it's "adult" channels that are often the first thing advertised when you turn on the TV.

Twitter

Twitter's policy reads: "We do not regulate Tweets that link to content on external websites, including pornography." For this reason, Twitter has become the new 'micro-porn' service with tens of thousands of porn tweets an hour. Of course, there is no way to keep this from children.

American Library Association

For years, this self-styled champion of First Amendment freedoms has worked to encourage public libraries to keep their computer unfiltered. The ALA's misguided campaign has resulted in countless patrons of all ages being able to access or being inadvertently exposed to hardcore adult pornography and even child pornography on library computers.

Wikipedia

The popular encyclopedia-type website houses thousands of pornographic images within its articles. According to news reports, even child pornography has been found on Wikipedia. Despite this problem, Wikipedia leadership refuses to monitor the site or to code the pages as having "adult content" so that filters can block the pages.

Cosmopolitan

This staple of the supermarket checkout line may be as pornographic as Playboy magazine, but without the pictures. This publication has steadily declined from a somewhat inspirational women's magazine to a verbally pornographic "how-to" sex guide, further desensitizing young women and girls to the pornified culture around them.

Barnes & Noble

This Fortune 500 company, operator of 689 retail bookstores and a very active website, is a major supplier of adult pornography and child erotica. Nearly two dozen porn magazines are currently for sale at one store we randomly checked.

US Department of Defense

The Pentagon has a serious pornography problem, and it is doing next to nothing to combat it. In fact, it seems to be embracing pornography. Morality In Media receives a steady stream of comments from servicemen and women and their spouses regarding the widespread availability of pornography in the US Military.

Former model Nicole Clark and director of Cover Girl Culture joined the new 4 Every Girl campaign to call for 'concerned' parents to contact the Federal Trade Commission about the marketing of R-rated Spring Breakers to a largely underage audience through Seventeen magazine. Clark said:

Many teens grew up watching Vanessa Hudgens in Disney's High School Musical franchise and Selena Gomez in Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place -- both entertaining and wholesome programs enjoyed by millions of children over the years.

It is natural that as these actresses enter their late teens and twenties they will take on more mature roles. This does not justify marketing their new R-rated film to their child fans. Seventeen magazine and the film's distributors are promoting an R-rated film to readers who are 12 - 19 years old. 2/3 of Seventeen readers are underage for this film.

According to the MPAA's ratings there is strong sexual content (one of which is a three-some), nudity, drug use and violence throughout. If tobacco companies are banned from marketing cigarettes in teen magazines, why would sex, violence, and drugs get approval?

This stunt has inevitably given the film free press coverage. There should be a price to pay for this inexcusable and irresponsible act against our young girls. Too many companies have learned they can earn national, free press coverage through shock and awe stunts. There needs to be a heavy fine to deter this irresponsible behavior.

The Federal Trade Commission has an obligation to examine the ways this R-rated film has been marketed to children.

We hope that Hearst and Seventeen magazine will take responsibility for the harmful sexual and violent messages they've promoted and remove the harmful ads aimed at their young readership. We will be asking all concerned parents and families to join us in contacting the FTC to advocate for responsible advertisements.

A gay-themed play that re-imagines stories from Christianity is drawing the ire of a Massachusetts family advocacy group, as well as condemnation from religious organizations nationwide.

Titled The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told , the production retells Bible stories portraying biblical characters as gay. The self-described satirical comedy by playwright and novelist Paul Rudnick opens its weekend run Friday night at the Academy of Music Theater in downtown Northampton. The actors are students from the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in nearby South Hadley.

Brian Camenker, founder and director of MassResistance, claims religious organizations nationwide are 'outraged':

[The characters] Adam and Eve are 'Adam and Steve.' In the second act, they have the nativity scene where Mary is a lesbian who says all kinds of gross things. It's just a terrible play.

At one point, the Virgin Mary shouts:

I'm not supposed to be pregnant, I'm a bulldyke!

Camenker believes Christians must openly oppose such 'atrocities':

And the trouble is that this is tomorrow's America that's learning this stuff, and we need to take it a little more seriously than we are

According to Camenker, religious groups around the country have protested vociferously. He says one local newspaper reported the school had received nearly 12,000 emailed petition messages against the production.

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield spouted:

I didn't know it was the responsibility of charter schools to teach religious bigotry. [...That's the responsibility of the church!]

The school says it has no intention of canceling the play or changing its content. PVPA's head of school, Scott Goldman, has stated the play is consistent with the school's philosophy and is, in the school's view, an appropriate theater piece for its students.

A US catholic nutter organisation is claiming 'outrage' over the cover of the latest edition of the UK's Loaded magazine.

The 'offending' cover has glamour model Lucy Pinder cantily covered in priestly regalia with the headline For God's Sake .

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, whinged to TMZ:

Lucy Pinder shouldn't have any problem turning men's heads, so it is all the more gratuitous to see her wearing a priest's stole, stitched with crosses, nicely covering her plus-sized chest.

If Lucy has any guts, perhaps next time she'll carefully drape herself in some Islamic garb during Ramadan. And then run for the hills.

Lucy Pinder retorted:

The shoot is meant to be fun and very tongue-in-cheek, so chill, Catholics.

Close to a dozen pastors, reverends and bishops crowded the entrance to the Steen Outdoor Advertising building in Southwest Philly on Tuesday to protest a billboard that makes a cheeky edit to the 7th Commandment.

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, reads the I-95 ad for an online adult sugar daddy-mistress matching service, with the Not artfully crossed out.

A.J. Perkins, a marketing rep at arrangementfinders.com notes that the Toronto-based website site is family friendly, but his definition refers only to the fact that outright nudity is prohibited. The home page greets visitors with shapely lingerie-clad legs framing a would-be paying customer and the tagline, Intimacy with a Twi$t.

A group of Port Richmond third-graders from nearby St. George Catholic School already protested the sign last week. Philadelphia Unification Church Pastor Crescentia DeGoede said her group gave the company notice they were going to hold a protest of their own three days ago, after Steen representatives refused to meet with area religious leaders.

Perkins couldn't speak to the future of the sign, but said its efficacy was assured by a 600 percent increase in members from the area sign-ups in the past few weeks.

Action figures depicting characters from Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained are sparking a little 'outrage' in the US.

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association partnered with the Weinstein Company to release eight-inch tall figurines for sale on Amazon. However there is no sign of them on Amazon at the moment, so presumably they have been pulled.

Najee Ali, director of the advocacy group Project Islamic Hope, told AP that the collectible line of movie merchandise is a slap in the face of our ancestors and is hoping for their removal from the market. He feels the plastic personifications of the characters in the film trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced.

As the racial debate over Django Unchained continues, the movie is raking in big bucks at the box office. With over $108 million accumulated domestically, Tarantino's latest is on pace to become his biggest success yet at the box office.

Update: 'Outrage' adds to collectability

19th January 2013. See  article from  cinemablend.com
See example being offered at US Amazon for $699.99

The Weinstein Company, the production company behind Django Unchained has backed down in the face of the film's most unexpected controversy.

The nutter group, Project Islamic Hope, had asked for the movie's action figures be banned claiming that the dolls trivialize the atrocities of slavery. The group's leader Naji Ali said:

I actually enjoyed the movie, but we cannot support this type of commercialization.

The LA Times reports that Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network joined the clamour and called for supporters to boycott the collectible figures.

The Weinstein Company has responded by withdrawing the figures:

In light of the reaction to the Django Unchained action figures, we are removing them from distribution. We have tremendous respect for the audience and it was never our intent to offend anyone.

Of course the ban has resulted in the figures becoming even more collectible and the prices on Amazon have rocketed to several hundred dollars.

After a particularly vitriolic attack on the media industry for violent games and films, the US National Rifle Association has launched its own shooting game for the iPhone and iPad.

The game, which simulates a shooting practice, has been approved for children from 4 years old.

NRA: Practice Range , billed as the NRA's new mobile nerve center, says it strikes the right balance of gaming and education and delivers a one-touch access to the NRA network of news, laws, facts, knowledge, safety tips, educational materials and online resources .

The player can practise shooting at targets, including some in the shape of coffins, and has a choice of nine firearms. Some of the guns can be upgraded for $0.99 each. The game is available in the UK.

There have been calls for gun law reform after 26 children and teachers died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. US Vice-President Joe Biden is expected to make recommendations on gun control to the White House on Tuesday. Last week Biden met with video game makers to discuss gun violence in popular media.

President Barack Obama has also announced that he will lay out his plans for tackling gun violence later this week.

Update: Shooting up the Ratings

17th January 2013. See  article from  gamepolitics.com

When the NRA-branded iOS app NRA: Practice Range launched earlier this week it carried a rating of ages 4+.

Well it looks like Apple has reviewed the rating (no doubt after the game gained national attention by the mainstream media and some harsh criticism from several high profile politicians) and deemed that it was just too low.

The game now carries a rating of ages 12+, meaning that your young children are no longer able to play the app for free. Apple's ratings descriptor for the game says that it contains Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence. That descriptor is debatable given that the realistic simulation only contains target shooting.

A Utah group claims that the Sundance Film Festival's lineup features 'obscene' movies and is therefore at odds with Utah's culture of family values, and wants the state to pull its financial backing.

The Sutherland Institute claims the state shouldn't back a festival that features films about porn stars and women having affairs with one another's adult sons. This is referring to a pair of mainstream Hollywood movies, the R Rated Lovelace and the not yet rated Two Mothers starring Naomi Watts and Robin Wright.

Derek Monson, Sutherland Institute's director of public policy spewed:

There are a lot of people here that find that kind of thing objectionable. We are a family friendly state and we endeavor to be so because we value the benefits that strong families bring to society.

Utah state officials stand by the backing, saying the money is an investment in a festival that brings major economic impact and international exposure to the state.

Utah expects to spend $300,000 supporting the festival again this year, but the University of Utah estimated that last year's festival brought $80.3 million in economic impact for the state.

Common Sense Media and the Center for American Progress commissioned SurveyUSA to conduct a nationwide survey of parents who have a child under age 18 living at home.

1,050 parents were interviewed 01/04/13 and 01/05/13.

Results:

• 89% of parents nationwide say violence in today's video games is a problem. (albeit 44% from this total said it was only a minor problem).
   
• 75% of parents say shielding children from violence is difficult.

All parents were shown video of an advertisement for the video game Hitman: Absolution . 84% say the advertisement is inappropriate to show on TV at a time when children are watching.

Parents were also shown a video of an advertisement for the movie Gangster Squad . 63% of parents say the advertisement is inappropriate to show on TV at a time when children are watching.

A Nutter group from Southington in Connecticut is holding a violent video game return program in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last month.

SouthingtonSOS said it will host the event on Jan. 12. The town of Southington will have a trash bin there for the collection of the games, and anyone returning games will be offered a gift certificate donated by a member of the Southington Chamber of Commerce as a token of appreciation.

The Board of Education said it sent out information electronically about the event last week to Southington residents.

Nutters of SouthingtonSOS said the group's action is not intended to be construed as a statement declaring that violent video games were the cause of school shooting ...BUT... said:

There is ample evidence that violent video games, along with violent media of all kinds, including TV and movies portraying story after story showing a continuous stream of violence and killing, has contributed to increasing aggressiveness, fear, anxiety and is desensitizing our children to acts of violence including bullying.

Update: Games burning event called off

10th January 2013. See  article from  gamepolitics.com

In the days following the announcement of the program some experts were critical of the idea; the parenting editor at Common Sense Media likened the collection and destruction of video games to censorship, and Texas A&M International University researcher Christopher J. Ferguson wrote the group warning them that their efforts might cause more harm than good. Many editorial writers and advocates saw the buyback program as the equivalent of an old time book burning.

With all that pressure, the group decided that they would not host the Buyback program after all this week, but a spokesperson for the community organization called their efforts successful because it raised awareness about violent media, reports Polygon.