Paris Hilton and an Oops

By Anne Louise Bannon

yourfamilyviewer.com

First off, I owe Sean Sanders, of Science Magazine, a massive apology. Food Detectives, which I wrote about yesterday is produced in partnership with Popular Science magazine, not Science. Which I knew. Not sure how that happened, but I apologize and will continue to strive even harder at better accuracy. (Lord, I hate it when I screw up.)

Given the Olympics, it looks like most of the other networks have given up counter-programming anything against them, and it’s just as well, since the ratings for the games have been huge. So that’s what’s on tonight. Enjoy.

I thought I might mention something that I’ve got a sneaking suspicion will be an ongoing issue until the first Tuesday of this November – election advertising. One of the blessings of watching my programming off my DVR is that I miss the vast majority of commercials out there, so I didn’t catch the recent ad put out by Senator John McCain’s camp, comparing Senator Barack Obama to a variety of vapid celebrities, including Paris Hilton. I’ve seen endless bits and pieces on my local news, however, and just rolled my eyes and sighed and thought it’s going to be a long election.

Then Ms. Hilton struck back with her response on the www.funnyordie.com website. You know, there is just something inherently disturbing when Paris Hilton becomes the voice of reason in America. I’m not entirely sold on it, but her energy policy makes more sense than anything I’ve heard out of either the Republican or Democratic parties. I think the part that I appreciate the most is that she’s willing to take from both sides.

Which is something to think about when you’re trying to help your kids process all the vitriol and other nonsense that gets spread around during an election. Point one – your job as a parent is to pass on your values to your children. It is not, however, your job to shove your values down their throats. So during an election, you need to talk to your kids about what you think is important and why, but you also have to listen to what they think is important and why.

Point two – elections are a great opportunity to help your kids analyze what commercials are and what they’re trying to do. For example, Senator McCain wanted to portray his presumed opponent, Senator Obama, as a young, vapid celebrity. You can ask your kids why. (Maybe because age and experience are Senator McCain’s greatest assets?) And you can do this no matter which candidate you support. In fact, you probably should. Both candidates have their good sides and not so good sides and if you really give each of them a fair hearing, you might find that you actually agree with the other guy.

Ultimately, this is an issue of respect. If we model respect for other people and their differing points of view, our kids will, too. And maybe by the time they get old enough to vote, elections will be a far more civil enterprise than they have been so far.

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