V Is for Various
In the November issue, Nick Gillespie identified obvious problems with implementing so-called V-Chip technology ("Chip Off the Block"). Certainly a chip programmed by the networks, or worse yet, the government, is abhorrent to anyone who values freedom. And yet the combination of deregulated airwaves and First Amendment protection has resulted in a profusion of programming, much of it dreck and garbage. Libertarians must admit that the V-Chip initiative is responding to a real problem with the deplorable content of much TV, and that even the most conscientious parents are not able to monitor every minute of their child's viewing. Knee-jerk opposition to the V-Chip will only further confuse libertarians in many minds with libertines.
Gillespie asks the important question, "Who will program the chip?" But who says there has to be only one kind of chip, or that it must be installed in the factory?
Why not a technology that allows the consumer to insert the chip (or later, simply push a button), and why not a market for V-Chips, with offerings from any group with a point of view? Then we can have chips from the Christian Coalition, Roman Catholic Church, Southern Baptists, Orthodox Jews, Unitarian Universalists, or Hindus--not to mention People for the American Way, the National Rifle Association, or Reader's Digest (a premium for subscribing).
The second generation of chips could identify programs that are especially worthwhile or enable a person to fashion an individualized program with the proper instructions. I would appreciate the opportunity to eliminate all the daytime talk shows from my set in advance. Not to mention any show with Geraldo Rivera. A third-generation chip should be able to distinguish on the fly between Roots and Rambo, based on criteria that even a computer can recognize, without straining its memory or its intelligence.
Mike Roeder
Ft. Myers, FL
Nick Gillespie replies: I disagree with Mike Roeder regarding the "deplorable content of much TV," but yes, yes, yes to his suggestion of many and varied types of voluntarily enacted programming aids. Indeed, as I indicated in my editorial, dozens of those tools are already on the market in some form. Unfortunately, the proposed V-Chip legislation bears no resemblance to such filters.