Public Service Announcements

A commercial comes on, and after a few seconds, it becomes obvious this commercial isn't selling anything. It's called a public service announcement, and you've probably seen different breeds of this specimen on your television set. They're 30 second spots that don't seem to have a purpose other than to remind you to "mind your P's and Q's".

The latest one that's playing now shows two teenage girls shopping in a clothing store. When one of them uses the word gay to mean something other than homosexual, a do-gooder peer comes along and speaks to the girls. She tells them "Hey! Don't use 'gay' that way. That'd be like me saying to you 'Ugh! That's so.... girl in a skirt and blouse. That's an insult!" Then they all saw the logic and agreed that they should never say "gay" when they really mean "lame". But what the PSA doesn't tell us is whether it's still okay to allow "gay" to mean "happy", the original meaning of the word. The PSA never judges the gay community for taking such a wholesome word and redefining it as the magnetic charge of your genitals. Maybe that's not a change from positive to negative, but it certainly IS a change from wholesome to something....errr, less than.

Now, are you going to stop using the word "gay" after seeing that commercial? Or are you going to appreciate your own uniqueness more after seeing an actress playing her own triplet, telling you to "be different"? I don't know what stance the PSAs would take on gambling, but if it's my money on the table, I would bet not!

What I really want to know is, who makes these bizarre commercials? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? And why do they want to turn me into a Sesame Street character? Tell me this isn't some kind of public service requirement for corrupt Hollywood execs. Somebody is spending good money on these spots, or at the very least, the networks are forgoing the chance to have a paid advertisement run in that spot. What greedy Jew in his right mind would do that? Oops! Did I just put two halves of a word next to each other that look something like this "greedy........Jew"? They're not separated by a roomful of linear air, like when Burt and Ernie teach us a new word.... they must be two separate words. Wait a minute! Did I fail to learn something from the PSA about "never judging a book by it's cover"? Well, actually no. I'm just making a peripheral point. Hollywood is a business, and Jews have always been expert businessmen, hence the stereotype of there being an abundance of Jews in the business of making money.

So why would rational businessmen make PSAs? There are only two ways to look at it - either they do them voluntarily, without prompting, or someone is "encouraging" them to do it. I don't know who that special someone is, but I do know that these bits of touchy-feely television fluff are about selling the idea of political correctness. Now who would ultimately stand to benefit from a favorable public opinion about political correctness? Hmmm, let me think here. Hmmm, what would Bert & Ernie do? "Political. Politic.......al. Politish.....huh? Politicians!!!"