McFarlane's Regrets Ring Hollow

Seth McFarlane has proven beyond doubt that he is not interested in anything or anyone save himself. His cartoons, Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show regularly prove it.

Episodes are often so unbelievably gross and so downright crude that it is difficult to imagine he truly sought to entertain his audience. He more likely wants to insult our decency and intelligence, first by employing repugnant story lines, and then by trying to make a statement on the meaning of life (or lack thereof) afterwards. There is no actual comedic purpose to the former, and no worthwhile insight on the latter.

Yet he has the gall to complain about what someone has done with an unaired episode of Family Guy centered around one of his characters massacring runners during the Boston Marathon. While his anger is understandable after this week's tragic events, it is all the same hypocritical in light of his routine and uncharitable lambasting of people, events, and institutions which he has displayed through his aired episodes of Family Guy and his other creations. He would not have been upset with the entire version of his show if nothing unusual had happened at this year's Boston Marathon; why is he upset that a cropped version gets spread around the web? Because it's crass? That hasn't stopped him before.

He clearly believes that as a Big Cartoon Producer he has the right to say and do whatever he wants, and that it should pass as decent intellectual fare. Or he is snidely playing his audience by going so far off the path of creative entertainment, knowing that they'll watch and praise his avant guarde attitude? Where has his arrogant attitude gone now, now that his work might be immediately offensive? Either way, it demonstrates not artistic merit or any real concern for the folks in TV land or folks in general. It is little more than the arrogance of a small mind.

Turning the Channel: It's not that Simple

I watched for what I am telling myself the Fox network shows Family Guy, the Cleveland Show, and American Dad for the last time. They are simply too crude and vulgar for the taste of anyone with an ounce of respect for other people. So I am using my option of turning the channel from here forward.

The trouble is that response doesn’t come near to recognizing the whole problem. No one should put garbage that offensive on the air, and no one ought to watch it. Yet when I protest that, I am yelled at shrilly about free speech and to turn off the TV then if I don’t want to see it. That’s all well and good...for me. It says nothing about the makers’ of such shows obligation to me or other prospective viewers.

Like it or not, folks, you do have an obligation to the general society to keep things clean, and to be respectful of the legitimate concerns of the individual. He has a right, and no less than that, to not be offended when it comes to things truly offensive. Merely turning off the TV does not address that question: it begs it.

I would like to ask the Seth McFarlanes of the world if I have an obligation to help, say, the poor. If he says that I do, then I have the right to ask him about his obligations towards me. Because if I have obligations outside of myself, then so does he. Conversely, if he has no obligations to me, then I likewise have none towards others. That’s the real question: do I owe something to humanity or not, and on what grounds?

It’s the question which does not get asked when the media (and cartooning on network television is as much part of the media as a news show) want what they want. Their silence on the matter speaks volumes.