I think there are plenty of parents out there already NOT doing their job parenting - that’s the reason all these people want the movies pulled, right? I mean - we regulate what movies you can watch and then parents don’t actually have to educate their own children.

You don’t want to watch an R rated movie? FINE. Then don’t. That is completely YOUR choice. BUT - telling the rest of us that we can’t isn’t the way this country works. If you want the government to step in a censor your entertainment possibilities, move to China.

Most kids who WANT to rent those R rated movies are older anyway - they are most likely already seeing news programs, advertisements, magazines and billboards of a questionable nature. The best way to keep your child moral is to teach them morals.

It’s a lot like sex ed - you have this bible-belt ideal that if you teach abstinance, kids won’t have sex, yet it’s been proven that they still do - it’s just that the pregnancy rates go up.

Also - I love how the same people who are trying to censor my movies are the ones who bitch and moan when schools don’t allow religious celebrations. It’s just one more realm of censorship.

Your kids are going to be exposed to immoral and r rated stuff. It’s not about telling them to avoid it - they can’t. It’s about teaching them how to handle it and how to remain moral peopled even with that influence. THAT’S what makes a good person!

To: Ms. Hughes,
Everyone is allowed their personal opinions on any issue, but dare you dictate to others ‘what you think they should or shouldn’t see’? It comes off utterly disrespectful and small-minded. If you’re that passionate about your opinion, please complete a petition in your city/town or organize a protest to have Redbox banned. Respectfully, I do encourage you to let your passion be your motivation, for it is everyone’s right.

Thankfully, I live in a large metropolis and am certain that gaining majority consensus to do such a thing would be literally impossible.

Also, I, am a mother of three and agree with all the statements made on the true essence of ‘parent-ing’.

It’s not in the least like selling cigarettes or alcohol to minors, which is in fact a crime everywhere in the United States.

Plus it’s just really stupid to compare the harmful effects of cigarettes or alcohol on minors and the harmful effects of most R-rated films on minors - since, in my humble opinion, most children wouldn’t be all that harmed by watching most R-rated films (though there may be a few exceptions, like the torture porn films - but I still imagine that seeing those wouldn’t turn them into homicidal maniacs or anything of that sort.) Mind you, I wouldn’t want to show most of them to children - there are many films that simply aren’t meant for children but which can be worthwhile, and even uplifting for adults. (And then there are other films that aren’t worthwhile for adults or children - but that applies to G-rated films just as much as R-rated films.) But if children do happen to be exposed I don’t think they’re going to be permanently damaged, in most cases. Besides, I know several people who were allowed to watch certain R-rated films starting at the age of 11 or 12 - and they’ve grown up to be pretty decent, normal, functioning, social, sane, moral individuals, believe it or not.

The point being: It should be up to the parents.

Amy - Please read my other post in this thread. Please do not assume that all R-rated films are junk and “degrading our souls” or whatnot. While most are indeed junk (most films are junk, regardless of their rating,) there are others that are among the most artistic, enlightening, and edifying of all motion pictures. You may not be interested in seeing them, and I respect that - but don’t assume that those of us who do watch them are just “filling our heads with junk.”

Now tell me, since you seem to believe that all R-rated films are trashy - what exactly about “There Will Be Blood” fills our head with junk? How does it degrade? Not that I expect you to have seen it - but the film is simply the story of a man’s descent. It is no more trashy than many of the great works of literature, which also depict the darker side of man. A work can contain immorality and still ultimately be moral - and that is the case with many of the greatest R-rated films. To suggest that the R-rating (imposed by a completely arbitrary system that makes absolutely no moral judgments about the films that it rates) somehow automatically makes it trashy and not worthy of being seen by anyone… Well, that seems kind of a silly attitude.