Reality TV and Porn Wars (no relation)

[newnumber6]

I've found a reality TV show I must admit I really quite like. Sure, there are a couple that I may, if pressed, shamefully admit that I like, but this one I don't have a problem with it.
It's called Spymaster and here in Canada plays on TLC, Tuesdays at 10pm (and other times) but may be different in the states (I believe our TLC is slightly different than the US one).
Basically it's putting the 'contestants' through a condensed version of real CIA training at the Farm. I just get a kick out the training scenarios, what they go through, what the instructors are looking for, etc. The instructors are all real Special Ops type people. I hope they get more intensive as time goes on, I really want to see how these people behave in training scenarios. Y'know, not just 'here's how you fire a gun', but things like, 'Okay, there's a hostage in this room and you have to get him out'. I think I'm a sucker for those kind of things, because they're like RPGs, but more intense, for higher stakes.

Also, because the War on Terror is apparently wrapped up, they've decided to move on to the next more pressing issue:
The War On Porn
No, not child porn, which is IMHO a perfectly legitimate target, but general over the counter porn. It's a threat to the American way of life, y'know. Good thing I'm in Canada and therefore safe from its evil influence.

Comments

[woot.livejournal.com]

You'd think they would have something better to focus on instead of porn.

Besides, what's wrong with a little porn now and then ;)

What's Wrong With Porn?

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

I think there's a lot that's tasteless (no matter how much I lick the screen! .. err, I mean, yeah, not my thing), but so long as it involves only consenting adults, nothing that I think should be _illegal_.
But then that's just me.

[occamsnailfile.livejournal.com]

The show actually sounds kinda cool. Something I'd consider watching- challenges that are actually interesting, yay!

The porn thing just pisses me off and I think it's a political red herring- "You found no WMD in Iraq!" "Yeah well...hey look, PORN! On teh INTARWEB!"

Sadly, gay marriage is a bit the same.

Pornmaster!

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It is pretty interesting, though they haven't gotten to the really cool stuff yet, mostly it's been vehicle training (defensive and offensive driving), gun training (with a heavy dose of safety), and unarmed combat (not martial arts), but they did have a nice little thing where they broke people up into two man teams with painball weapons and they had to go into a hot situationa nd get something while threats (and non-threats, like hostages or people running out with babies) could come out at any time). And they stressed following orders specifically, so at the beginning they were asked to strip off everything of their old lives, including clothes, as a group, and dress in their training clothes. Then later chewed out people who hadn't gotten rid of _everything_ (like one guy who kept his graduation ring, and it was pointed out that if he was undercover anyone instantly knows how old he is because of that).

As to the porn... yeah, I just get really irritated by such things, and Ashcroft in particular. It angers and depressses me to see the US which ideally stands for so much good, in practice being turned into this horrible repressive near-theocracy, where the only rights and freedoms you have are the ones They decide you should have.
The thing is... I can, sadly, see the gay marriage issue working for them. But cracking down on legitimate porn, even 'soft core' ones on TV? That strikes me as a recipe for backfiring on them.

Ah well, at least my country's pretty safe. Allegedly in the Junos (Canadian awards show, I've never seen it), Alanis Morrisette came on in a nude body-suit with private parts painted on as a mocking of the whole Janet Jackson censorship debacle, and being all thankful that she was back in Canada (apparently she had to change one of the words of her song in the US)