A question/comment regarding censorship.

[Hamletmaschine]

Guns make Americans horny.

Sex just makes them nervous.

 

[Weird Harold]

...what makes one viewable and one not?

Times they are a changin' -- we've come a long way from the days when married people on television had to have twin beds and even storylines about expectant mothers couldn't use the word pregnancy.

Much of the disparity is simply a holdover from the more restrictive "Standards and Practices" limitations of the early days of television.

JMHO, but I think the distinction originally developed because the violence was part of the "good guy vs bad guy and the good guy always wins" stereotypical westerns. It was considered a good and moral thing to fight against the bad guys -- something to be encouraged -- while S*X was something that should be private and a secret kept hidden in the bedrooms of married people -- something to be discuaraged, or at least not discussed.

 

[amsubone]

Wow. i'm gone for a few hours and all i can say is Wow!