Values and V-Chips
“Who are they?” I asked. “Who are the people who rate the shows? Do they share my values? Do they love my children as much as I do?”
My questions concerned the “V-chip,” which President Clinton mandated a few months ago as a requirement for all new television sets. The chip is supposed to filter TV programs, based on ratings assigned by a board similar to the movie rating board.
About that same time, a reporter from the local NBC affiliate station interviewed me (an associate pastor) for a story she was preparing on the V-chip—thinking that I would be solidly in favor of it. After all, it is pro-family values, right? Yes, but whose values? I am the only one who can integrate the principles and values I hope for my children to live by with the disciplines that those principles require.
The idea of taking a stand is at the heart of the V-chip problem. I really can’t think of a single reason why I would defer to someone else the responsibility to mold and monitor my children’s TV viewing habits. Some argue that time is a relevant factor: “With such busy households, parents don’t always have the time to watch with the children.” This may be a prevalent scenario, but have we reached a reasonable conclusion? Is letting someone else parent my child’s TV watching the right solution to my time management problem? I am personally convicted about this. I am not willing to throw my children the remote control and implicitly say, “What you do with your time is not as important as what I do with my time.”
Imagine what the world—your children’s world—will be like if you stand for yours!
—Clark H. Smith
My questions concerned the “V-chip,” which President Clinton mandated a few months ago as a requirement for all new television sets. The chip is supposed to filter TV programs, based on ratings assigned by a board similar to the movie rating board.
About that same time, a reporter from the local NBC affiliate station interviewed me (an associate pastor) for a story she was preparing on the V-chip—thinking that I would be solidly in favor of it. After all, it is pro-family values, right? Yes, but whose values? I am the only one who can integrate the principles and values I hope for my children to live by with the disciplines that those principles require.
The idea of taking a stand is at the heart of the V-chip problem. I really can’t think of a single reason why I would defer to someone else the responsibility to mold and monitor my children’s TV viewing habits. Some argue that time is a relevant factor: “With such busy households, parents don’t always have the time to watch with the children.” This may be a prevalent scenario, but have we reached a reasonable conclusion? Is letting someone else parent my child’s TV watching the right solution to my time management problem? I am personally convicted about this. I am not willing to throw my children the remote control and implicitly say, “What you do with your time is not as important as what I do with my time.”
Imagine what the world—your children’s world—will be like if you stand for yours!
—Clark H. Smith