Another Mary Whitehouse - Please?

Mary Whitehouse was a household name some years ago, vilified  and mocked by many, but respected by others. She has had a film made in her 'honour' where she was put down as a bigot and a short tempered, unbalanced woman. I think the film makers missed the point, and may even be living to regret their bias against the greatest voice of the television viewer in the UK.


You only need to be one minute after the 9pm so called watershed of 'adult' TV, for it to engulf you. The producers seem to be in some kind of race to be the one who can show the programme with the most cursing, swearing, crudeness, vulgarity, profanity, gratuitous violence, and taking the Lord's name in vain! We have done ourselves no favours by going down the road of 'anything goes permissiveness' in our media. And it's not just after 9pm. Take the rose coloured glasses off, as you watch some of the content on the major channels BEFORE 9pm. We have now changed the rules on what is offensive, and tolerate more 'mild' swearing and pornographic innuendo when our children are watching, and the programme makers know it. TV in the UK has become a minefield for any parent who wants to keep an eye on what their children are watching. Gone are the days when you could leave a young one in front of the telly while you caught up on the jobs around the house.


Mary Whitehouse was branded as an old fuddy-duddy, behind the times, and standing in the way of progress. We have paid a great price in our quest for progress, and in my opinion, the price is too high. We have too few shows which can be classed as 'family entertainment' and instead, we have a diet of movies and shows which would never have been shown a mere five years ago. We have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, and are in danger of raising a generation who have lost their childhood innocence by the time they were leaving primary school. For all she was portrayed as, Mary at least stood by her convictions, and could see the time when we would be 'watching people make love in our own living rooms'. She was laughed to scorn, but how right she was, and are we any better for not listening? I don't think so.


So, please, can we have another Mary Whitehouse in the UK? Someone who is not ashamed of their stand on the moral rights and wrongs, and how we use our media, especially television. I am tired of looking for a programme to watch, which is decent (oh, am I allowed to say that?), and as I hop from channel to channel see and hear a tirade of bad language (so called comedians are the worst offenders) and inappropriate so called love scenes, where we have totally devalued the meaning of love? I have found myself giving the TV a black eye (turning it off) more and more, and listening to some music. The alternative is to throw it out of the window! Maybe if more people switched off, the advertisers would take notice, and then the programmes would be changed! Pressing for good morality might not change things, but the lack of advertising money does talk, and talk loud! A change is long overdue, and we owe it to our next generation to turn it around, because sadly it's too late for this one.