The destruction of innocence

By: American Decency Staff

Recently MSNBC.com posted an entertainment article regarding the CBS program “Two and a Half Menâ€Â, claiming “TV snobs are wrongâ€Â about the show.  The article goes on to sing the praises of this Monday night sitcom stating it, “Continually captures audiences who like delving into the smutty world of brothers Charlie and Alan Harper.  … You might see this series as nothing more than a sophomoric sex romp every week, but at its heart ‘Two and a Half Men’ is a classic comedy …â€Â I’m not sure what moral compass this commentator is writing from, but she should have stopped her description of “Two and a Half Menâ€Â at “smuttyâ€Â and “sophomoric sex rompâ€Â.  Seemingly every scene of every episode is replete with sexual references – sometimes graphically overt, sometimes boorish euphemisms and innuendo, but always crude. Yet Monday night’s episode seemed to go even further.  As we reported earlier in the week of the group sex scene in “Gossip Girlâ€Â, the popular teen program on the CW Network, CBS was having their own threesome scene on “Two and a Half Menâ€Â.  The lead character, womanizer Charlie, recently became engaged.  Yet, as the character states, “Less than 24 hours after setting a wedding date I woke up in bed with another woman.â€Â The episode shows Charlie taking his brother out drinking and teaches him how to pick up women.  Suffice it to say, the two men are shown the next morning waking up nude in bed with a strange woman after presumably engaging in group sex.   Charlie seems more concerned about getting caught than the betrayal of his fiancée, Chelsea.  Yet his mother counsels him, “Whatever you do, don’t tell Chelsea.â€ÂÂ  She then proceeds to tell her son of when she cheated on her husband engaging in an orgy. Yet as vulgar as is this show, one of the most disturbing aspects is the portrayal of Charlie’s nephew who has been raised in this environment.  The show, having been on the air for a number of years, started out with the boy elementary aged and now depicts him as a young teen.  This character (and the young actor who plays him) has been right in the midst of all the sleazy dialogue and themes. In this episode there is a scene played for laughs, but which is truly just saddening.  The boy matter-of-factly tells his Uncle Charlie’s fiancée of all Charlie’s women, saying:  “There’s been a lot, an awful lot – like around a thousand.  And that’s just since I’ve been old enough to pay attention.  When I first got here he told me they were coming over to water the plants.â€ÂÂ   Casual sex is just the norm for this young boy – who is shown watching porn himself and talking about the sexual aspects of girls. The writer of the above-mentioned article may consider this show “classic comedyâ€Â, but there is nothing funny about it.  It is grievous.  Beneath the layers of sleaze of “Two and a Half Menâ€Â is a microcosm of what we are doing to our youth.  The young nephew on “Two and a Half Menâ€Â has been immersed in an environment of illicit sexuality to the point that it is now normative for him.  Is this not what we have allowed to happen to the young people of our culture?  From television, movies, music, advertisements – our youth are immersed in a sea of perversity.   It is no wonder that for many [most?], sex is a meaningless act and innocence is a foreign concept. Please contact the advertisers and let them know you will not support companies that undermine the welfare of our youth with their advertising dollars. With help from our friends at American Family Online, we have created a new email device to make it easier for you to contact advertisers. By clicking this link https://americandecency.org/take_action_form.php you can send a prepared email to all advertisers of "Two and a Half Men". The sponsors of last night's group sex scene include McDonald’s, Target, Campbell’s soup, Discover card, Toys R Us, Chili’s, Old Navy, Burlington Coat Factory, Disney Pictures, Apple Computer and numerous others. Click here to send an automatic message to all "Two and a Half Men" advertisers.  https://americandecency.org/take_action_form.php You are welcome to modify the message and personalize it. To see the complete list of advertisers go to our website at: https://americandecency.org/archives/advertisers-for-cbss-two-and-a-half-men-2/ ==================================== To support this ministry: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/main.php?f=donate/display9 ==================================== American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

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