Today, guest dad Joe Burris talks about the volatile mixture of kids, guns and drugs: I am a strong believer in freedom of expression, but as a father of two young daughters I believe in drawing the line between what should be deemed appropriate and inappropriate for children. In many ways our society has done an admirable job in drawing that line, but it's amazing how often some folks come along to erase it.
I say that after watching a video that recently appreared on the social Web site, Myspace. It was a clip that showed child actors performing scenes from the popular gangster drama, "Scarface."
The clip had me shaking my head as if I were at a tennis match.
For those not familiar with "Scarface," it is a 1983 film about a Cuban immigrant (played by actor Al Pacino) who rises up from Miami 's slums to become a drug kingpin. The movie is famous for violent gunplay, vile language and scenes where the lead character piles mounds of cocaine on a desktop then buries his nose in it.
In the children's version, the characters are dressed to look like those in the film, but the F-bomb is replaced with the word, "fudge." Toy guns that sound like the real thing are brandished.
And mounds of popcorn takes the place of cocaine.
I sent this clip to several of my friends and acquaintances, and I kept hearing the same refrain: "Where are the parents?"
I had to ask that too, but what about the adults who not only signed off on this but made it possible? Do you really need children's parents around to say that something is inappropriate? Why wouldn't any grownup do?
Free expression aside, more adults need to step in and lower the curtain on such activity. The next thing you know, kids will be allowed to re-enact, "Last Tango In Paris."