In the United States, at least, parents have all manner of tools at their disposal, but fewer use them than you would, to hear all the uproar about sex and violence in media, expect.
Personally, I don't worry about what's on the radio. On the one hand, when I listen to the radio around my daughter, it's usually
one of
two NPR stations in town, or else our listener-supported, world-renowned
independent music station. The worst she hears on those would be a heavy dose of blues, or maybe some punk. Given her druthers, she would rather listen to The Flaming Lips or Peter Gabriel. Whatever horrid pop music her mother subjects her to is none of my business. Not that I'm indifferent, but her mother will do whatever the hell she wants.
As to movies and television, well, I think some of the PBS kids' fare is pretty repugnant. Not that I'm worried about sex or violence, but have you ever seen
Dragon Tales? That shit will turn your brain to pabulum.
But I've taken the attitude that it's best to get certain things out of the way. Hard comedy? Funny story, there: When she was two and learning to speak, one of her first complete sentences was, "I need a Jew". As in that ridiculous song that Peter sings in the "banned" episode of
Family Guy. And she laughs her ass off to Bart's skateboarding streak in
The Simpsons' Movie. Violence? I can't say she's into action films, but she did eventually find my GTA disc, and you should see her go on a shooting spree, or go gonzo in a big-assed roadster. Mostly, though, she liked the fact that you can change the character's clothes. That will keep her amused for hours. Indeed, with
SSX (snowboarding) she just does the same run over and over again, and has figured out how to get to the lodge in order to change clothes. She adores kicking the shit out of bad guys in
Oni, and played
Max Payne as long as I left it accessible in the dock.
Believe it or not, some of that seems to make certain things easier. If she sees war footage on the news, she understands that people are hurt, and is sad that some of them aren't going home again.
Still, though, let her run loose as Chewbacca in
Star Wars Lego II and she'll laugh maniacally as she tears people's arms off.
I can't shield her from these things forever, so I'd rather take the time I have before other influences challenge my primacy in her perspective to shape her response to things. Lois and Peter dressed in S&M gear; Porco Rosso punching it out with Donald Curtis; Derek Wildstar shooting it out with Gamilons; Starbuck fragging Cylons. The thing is that if she asks what's going on, or why something happens, and you actually take the time to explain it to her, answer her questions, and treat the moment like an adult conversation, she's in. She'll hang on your words, and keep pressing after each explanation until the issue is reduced to something she can understand. I don't think she's unique in this.
Then again, she adores
The Mark Steel Lectures. Can't say it's her absolute favorite, but it's right up there. Freud, Marx, Einstein, Mary Shelly, Darwin, Harriet Tubman, Rene Descartes ... it's hard to complain.
The only downside is that if I'm wrong—and I certainly will be, and the only question is
how wrong—I won't be able to blame it on Hollywood. And I think that's a persuasive factor for many Americans: it's easier to blame someone else.
I don't know anyone who locks their television. And I don't know anyone who sits down and reads the lyrics and liner notes of an album with their kids. Maybe that's not how it is in "middle America", or "the heartland", or whatever, but I really don't understand the widespread complaints in this country about media corrupting our kids. Seriously, in a couple of years, I'll be taking my daughter to see
Floater or
The Flaming Lips, and if the Phish reunion holds up, I'd like her to experience that, too. And if she absolutely
must get hooked on the skanque du jour, like a Britney or Girls Aloud, or whatever the fuck, I'll deal with it then.
Having said all that, I would ask what power you would hope to have.