FOX TV “honors” Sandy Hook by …

By: American Decency Staff

The terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School has shaken us individually and as a nation.  Any parent or grandparent especially feels the horror of what happened when evil shot its way through that school. 

“Rachel weepingfor her children,refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 3:18b)

Not since September 11, 2001 has our nation so collectively grieved.  Across the nation people gathered to pray.  Flags were flown at half-staff; impromptu memorials sprang up; the ubiquitous moment of silence was featured before Sunday football games.

And then there was the FOX Network with its own way of showing “respect” for this horrific action and loss of life. 

Sunday night FOX typically airs its usual lineup of debauched animated shows – Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show.  As we’ve stated before, when we monitor these shows we know what we’ll find.  The specifics might vary, but the overall content remains the same.  Rife with vulgar dialogue, extremely crude sexual themes, and sickening, bloody violence, each episode is a new variation of the same repulsive theme.  

Take Action!  Click here to let the sponsors of Family Guy know you won’t support companies that empower the culture-rotting trash of these shows.

Sponsors include:  Subway, Old Navy, American Eagle, KFC restaurant, Nexus, Microsoft, and T-Mobile.

**We encourage you to also forward this email to your family and friends and urge them to take action, too!

This past Sunday night, however, FOX announced the decision to cancel the scheduled episodes of Family Guy and American Dad.  

Fox reportedly made the programming change “to avoid airing what might be considered "sensitive content” so soon after the violence that snuffed out the lives of 20 little children and seven adults.

Translation:  The episodes scheduled to air had such graphic violence, common to these two shows, that the network was worried about backlash from viewers and advertisers.

Which begs the question, why is okay for FOX to air such violent garbage 51 weeks of the year, but just not after a national tragedy?

The original episodes scheduled to air were entitled:  "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" from Family Guy and "Minstrel Krampus" from American Dad. 

One thing we know about the cancelled American Dad episode is that it featured a demon that punished naughty children at Christmas.   And based on the title, I’m sure the Family Guy episode was bent on mocking Christ.  Seth MacFarlane, the creator of these shows and an avowed atheist, has a history of focusing his most offensive material against Christianity.

While FOX did cancel these episodes of “Family Guy” and “American Dad,” they replaced them with – wait for it – reruns of the same shows!

So instead of what was scheduled, Family Guy aired content such as this:

–          A baby eats “yellow” snow which had been urinated on by a dog – being told its lemon-flavored snow.

–          A woman plays a saxophone with her vagina while engaging in phone sex

–          Elderly men are bashed in the head with baseball bats

–          September 11, 2001 is mocked

–          During a phone conversation with his elderly mother, viewers hear Peter, the main character, tell his mother: 

“You’re staying in the nursing home!  I don’t care!  I DON’T CARE!  Believe me, no one is touching you in your sleep – because you’re gross!  And even if they are, who are you saving yourself for?

These are just a few examples from Sunday night’s episode.  Yet, FOX deems this material acceptable week after week – including sickening violence that is no less gruesome just because it’s animated.

Col. David Grossman, a former West Point psychology professor, Professor of Military Science, and an Army Ranger, is a leading expert addressing our understanding of killing in war, the psychological costs of war, and the root causes of the current "virus" of violent crime that is raging around the world.  He authored “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society” and his works also include:  Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence. 

The summary of “Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill” states in part:

“There is perhaps no bigger or more important issue in America at present than youth violence. Jonesboro, Arkansas; Paducah, Kentucky; Pearl, Mississippi; Stamps, Arkansas; Conyers, Georgia; and of course, Littleton, Colorado. We know them all too well, and for all the wrong reasons: kids, some as young as eleven years old, taking up arms and, with deadly, frightening accuracy, murdering anyone in their paths. What is going on? According to the authors ofStop Teaching Our Kids to Kill, there is blame to be laid right at the feet of the makers of violent video games (called "murder trainers" by one expert), the TV networks, and the Hollywood movie studios–the people responsible for the fact that children often witness literally hundreds of violent images a day.

“Authors Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria DeGaetano offer incontrovertible evidence, much of it based on recent major scientific studies and empirical research, that movies, TV, and video games are not just conditioning children to be violent–and unaware of the consequences of that violence–but are teaching the very mechanics of killing. Their book is a much-needed call to action for every parent, teacher, and citizen to help our children and stop the wave of killing and violence gripping America's youth….”

Will FOX and Seth McFarlane’s consciences be pricked regarding the culture of violence they’re contributing to?  I highly doubt it.  As long as they can rake in money by producing this filth, they will continue to do so.  The only thing that trumps MacFarlane’s license to offend is Fox’s quest to make money.  Fearing advertiser and viewer backlash led Fox to cancel these two  episodes. 

But what about the episodes that air next?   Fox has no qualms about spewing the filth of Family Guy and American Dad over the airwaves and many advertisers have no problem with sponsoring it.  As Fox has demonstrated, money talks.    And that is the Achilles Heel of advertisers and of Fox.  Letting them know they have lost a customer (or a viewer) may be the only thing that will get their attention.

Take Action!  Click here to let the sponsors of Family Guy know you won’t support companies that empower the culture-rotting trash of these shows. 

Sponsors include:  Subway, Old Navy, American Eagle, KFC restaurant, Nexus, Microsoft, and T-Mobile.

We encourage you to also forward this email to your family and friends and urge them to take action, too!

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 American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

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