A bit off topic, but......
 

Yeah I have always found it amusing at how censored American TV shows are, compared to Australian programs. I have never (that I can recall) seen a mainstream US show that uses the F (or even S) word, or directly mentions things like abortion. While these are much more prevalent in Australian made programs (not suggesting this is better/worse, just different).

Considering that we have no Bill of Rights or constitutional right to the freedom of speech, I find it kind of ironic that it appears that the US mainstream media is more censored than ours.

Yeah, this has been an ongoing issue for a while. In Australia the legal drinking age is 18, which is also the age that most people leave school and get their drivers license.....you can imagine the consequences. Also in the last 3-5 years there has been a dramatic increase in binge drinking by teens, largely blamed on the price and marketing of Ready-To-Drink "alco-pops" (Jim Beam and Coke etc). As a result, the government increased the tax on RTD's by 100% about 6 months ago. This did nothing to help the problem, in fact has just made more young people drink spirits that they mix themeselves.
As well, there is some talk that the Australian government is going to ban ALL advertising of alcohol, including sponsorship of sporting events/teams. Will be interesting to see if that has any impact - it seemed to work when the same ban was put in place for tobacco.
As a high school teacher, I am very interested in seeing what happens with these issues......

Freedom of speech was, essentially, to ensure freedom of political speech. Censoring obscenities does not affect political speech, so many feel it is less of an issue. Others feel that any censorship is bad, as it eventually spreads.

We may have a bit more censorship of the obscenities, but our libel laws are a bit more geared towards the speaker than in other countries.

While the language and nudity are certainly censored by the FCC here, topical restrictions are purely market driven. Stations aren't prohibited from airing the stuff, they just shy away from it because viewers won't want to see it.

Interesting that your government could ban such a thing. Not even possible here due to, well, free speech issues. :)
I'm curious, have smoking rates gone down in your country?

Really? :confused: Do you actually believe that?

When is the last time that you saw an add for cigarettes on TV? How about on a billboard or in the previews at a movie theater? :p

Absolutely! In around 1985 the advertising of tobacco in print, tv and radio was banned. Then circa 1990 tobacco sponsorship in sporting events was banned. Up until then our major football code was sponsored by our most popular tobacco company. This ban created a few issues with international motor sport, but they had an exemption until around 1998 that allowed them to use tobacco logos, but not brand names. Recently, laws have been passed that prohibit smoking from ALL pubs, bars and food outlets (except some designated locations like special rooms in casinos). Smoking is also illegal in a motor veichle if there is a child under the age of 16 in it. There is currently talk of banning smoking in public places, it is already banned on many beaches.
As well, there have been changes to the packaging of tobacco, there are now large, graphic photos on the packs showing the effects of smoking.
These change have had a dramatic impact on the rate of teens smoking. In 1980 about 35% of teens smoked regularly and around 85% had tried tobacco. Today those numbers are around 15% and 45% respectively.

Very much agreed. Sad thought; they may require socks to be a certain color. Just let them play.

-Lucas

The NFHS Doesn't Monitor This Website, Or Does It ???
 

Thirty-five posts on a "Socks" thread? I hope that we're not giving the NFHS any ideas.