Radio CG 7: The First Amendment & Failed Parenting

Tonight’s episode was pretty wild: We found common ground right away, specifically regarding the new Netflix show Cuties. The guys agreed that the show was disgusting and set a bad standard. In fact, Republicans and Democrats across the country seem to be able to agree on Cuties even when they don’t agree on anything else. But how did a show like this get made? What does it say about parenting these days? The conversation that followed was one for the ages, with plenty of callers and even a couple references to QAnon.

How Much Does the First Amendment Cover?

We’re not going to chat too much about what Cuties is; you can read a synopsis of the show and the controversy it’s generating for yourself. The issue the guys had with it was its sexualization of 11-year-old girls. Turkey has banned the show for this very reason; they would like the U.S. to follow.

Both sides agreed that it’s closing on pornography. Many pornographers stand behind the First Amendment and their right to free speech and creation; a growing number of people believe that when it comes to children, you can’t hide behind the First Amendment. This is nearly exploitation, so add that to the list of problematic content Cuties brings to the table.

How do shows like this get made? Obviously money is involved. Someone thinks, “This will sell,” and it’s all downhill from there. But the child actors in programs like this don’t always choose it for themselves. Their parents allow it. Possibly even encourage it.

That prompted us to ask…

Where Are the Parents?

Pat believes we expect too much from schools. They should be teaching our kids reading, writing, mathematics – how did they get saddled with sex education, too? This is something parents should be dealing with.

You’ve heard of stage moms and “Tiger Moms,” right? The ones who push and push and push their kids. Keeping their kids constantly busy may be their way of keeping them safe – if they’re too busy to sleep, they’ll be too busy to get into trouble, right?

But while they’re pushing their children to be THE BEST in all things, they’re failing as parents. They aren’t teaching their kids about how to be a good person, or about sex, or other real-life matters.

Then you get the parents who let kids just stay home and play on the computer without policing what they’re looking at. Have you seen what’s available on the Internet? Yeah, the kid may not be outside getting into trouble, but they can get into just as much online.

It’s still not parenting.

The guys reason that the parents who were OK with – or even encouraged their children – to partake in Cuties weighed the amount of money the kids would make and decided it was worth it.

How Do We Manage This?

Despite the rare display of unity from the government in this matter, it’s unlikely much will get done on a federal level. Pat and Dean turned to their callers to help them figure out how to solve it, and by the end they had branched out from alleged child porn and into the overall (admittedly fine line) of what qualifies as art and what does not (the Grand Theft Auto series came up).

There were some calls to handle it on a local level. There was the suggestion to “vote with your pocketbook” and to go to Netflix with your complaints and concerns (and then cancel your subscription, if need be).

We’ll keep on top of this topic and revisit if anything happens. Many thanks to those who called in with suggestions. We hope to talk to you again soon.

If you’ve got thoughts about Cuties or anything else we covered, give us a holler in the comments!