Tonight on the TV

I admit that I sometimes have an odd slant on things. Not always does my viewpoint align with the common man [or woman]. Tonight, I saw something on the TV that I hope a lot of other people saw, so you can tell me whether or not I'm way off base here. Ready? Then we'll begin.

I realize it's summer, and networks are either starved for programming or they just don't care because they figure people are on vacation or whatever and not watching. Well, include me out of that list. I don't stop enjoying television just because it's summer, and I think that it's a chicken or egg deal where ratings are off because people aren't watching, but people aren't watching because the programming stinks.

In that vein, NBC on Friday night presented the Miss Teen USA pageant, where young girls aged 16 to 19 paraded themselves in front of America wearing bikinis, skin-tight tops and shorts that required them to shave their pubic hair.

While I realize this isn't as bad as the International Total Miss Contest, where children are paraded around dressed up like Miss Teen USA contestants, this one at least has kids that are old enough to make their own life decisions.

I watched it for about ten minutes until I got this creepy feeling. I started to realize that not only was I watching girls in various forms of scanty clothing prance up and down the stage, these girls were 16 and 17 years old. I started to wonder what I was supposed to be thinking here. Am I supposed to see these girls as sex appeal, or am I supposed to view them as bright, attractive young women who happen to prance up and down the stage in various forms of scanty clothing?

In the world of pornography, the word "Teen" automatically implies one aged at least 18 years. At that point, you could make the argument that she is an adult, with voting rights and a driver's license. You could still feel creepy, but you could rest assured that the girl would be able to drive herself home after you had sex with her. In short, I would be arrested if I had sexual pictures of teenagers on my computer, but I can watch them for 2 hours on national television in the freedom of my living room - thinking the same things on both occasions.

To me, a 16-year old is still a child, regardless of one's generational thinking, and unless they are emancipated, they are still under the control of their parents, who may not be thinking along the same lines as me. What I pictured were a lot of deviants sitting alone in their darkened TV room, rubbing themselves to the Hi-Def images of the young women walking around looking pretty. That's when I started to feel really creepy.

Obviously, the parents didn't share my view, since they were in the audience, holding signs and screaming, "Yee-hah! My daughter is a hottie!" (One presumes)

Maybe you had to see the show to know what I'm talking about. I don't know. There are probably video clips on YouTube by now, so you can see for yourself and make a call.

If we are supposed to be helping protect young girls from predators, why then would we air a public display of exactly what the predators are looking for? For that matter, what's the point of a beauty pageant to begin with? What year is this?

That's when I put the baseball game back on.

If you have a viewpoint on this, and you don't normally comment, feel free to tell me that I'm either way off base or squarely on target.