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Within recent memory, Republicans were gleefully
assailing Hillary Rodham Clinton for her book, It Takes
a Village.
The title came from a proverb: It takes a village to
raise a child.
The adage has been attributed to
African sages, Navajo elders and Hispanic abuelas -- the
source apparently depends on the ethnicity of the audience
when a candidate decides to quote the maxim.
Republicans were quick to point out that villages
don't raise children, parents do,
and that Big
Government, which could be virtuous when subsidizing
multi-national corporations, was evil when it infringed on
family life.
Fair enough, but where were these anti-village people last week when Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a law that would prohibit the sale of violent movies, video games and books to children under 17?
Hyde apparently figures that parents aren't doing the job, and so it's up to the village -- specifically, the retailers in the village, who would be penalized for selling violence to minors.
Hyde's proposed law is mere political grandstanding, of
course. In response to the Columbine High School shootings
on April 20, politicians in both parties have rushed to
do something
-- that is, advocate more laws -- to
demonstrate their concern.
The refreshing exception has been Rep. Tom Tancredo, in whose district the tragedy occurred. He said he had no idea what could be done to prevent such horrors in the future.
But such candor is rare. Instead we've got President Clinton leaning on theater owners to start checking IDs at R-rated movies and Henry Hyde ready to regulate retail sales -- even of books.
Back when my kids were little, it was generally my job to read them bedtime stories. Grimm's Fairy Tales, in the original unsanitized versions, are pretty gruesome, but those never produced nightmares or any expressed desire to go after a wolf with an axe.
Few books are as gory as the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the kids liked those bloody pagan sagas; they even named a kitten Hector because they admired the noblest of Trojan warriors. But if Homer inspired them to take bronze swords or tower shields to school, I didn't hear about it.
The only tale I can recall that affected them on account
of violence was a story written for children -- Peter
Rabbit
by Beatrix Potter. The book is not at hand, so
I might be a little fuzzy about its plot.
To the best of my recollection, the book started with Mother Rabbit warning Peter and his siblings to stay out of Farmer MacGregor's garden, lest they end up in the farmer's stewpot the way that their father did.
In response to their questions, I had to explain that to stay in business, farmers must protect their crops from pests. It was like the violent Saturday morning cartoons they had seen with Elmer Fudd discharging his shotgun at carrot-stealing Bugs Bunny.
Since Bugs always survived, unlike Peter's father, the kids hadn't quite caught on -- until we got to the book.
Then I had to put up with at least an hour of shock and outrage that anybody could kill a cute, furry little rabbit. When I pointed out that I had done this myself on occasion, they expressed disgust and a fervent wish to believe that they were really adopted, rather than related to anyone who had actually slain, skinned, gutted and eaten cottontails.
Henry Hyde's proposed law would forbid the sale to
minors of material that appeals to the prurient, morbid
or shameful interest of children without social redeeming
value for children.
I do not recall any social redeeming value
in
Peter Rabbit. It was just entertainment -- violent
entertainment, at that.
Granted, Hyde's bill would only outlaw retail sales of such material to minors. Parents could continue to expose their children to Peter Rabbit in the privacy of their homes.
But we all know that wouldn't last. We forbid alcohol sales to minors, and parents who let children sip wine at dinner can be prosecuted. We forbid gun sales to minors, and parents whose children get into the gun cabinet can be haled into court.
So Hyde's law, if it passes, would be just a start -- the guardians of American virtue will soon demand the authority to inspect homes to be sure the R and NC-17 videos are under lock and key, that the violent deer-hunt-simulator computer game is protected by a password, that the gory books are stored at least six feet above the floor and no ladder is available.
These days, we just can't trust parents to do anything right. Even Republicans, formerly guardians of family values and sworn foes of Hillary Rodham Clinton, are working hard to put the village to work raising children.
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