Drudge splashed this Variety.com article, which underscores what I’ve been harping on (off and on) on this blog. And that is that as parents, we have the responsibility to act like parents.

“It’s PG-13, my kids is 14, I’m sure it’s fine.”

Right.

The MPAA has just rated “Gunner Palace” PG-13, and it includes numerous instances of expletives (in a war zone), including FU**, SH** and A**HOLE. If that’s what you want burning into the permanent recording devices known as a child’s brain, fine, but at least pay attention to what they’re watching and doing.

And don’t trust any external regulatory or pseudo-self-regulating voluntary body with the welfare of your children.

The arguments in favor of the PG-13 rating are basically that it’s a reality-based documentary. The Daily Brief says:

To me, profanity in a documentary, particularly one about the military, is akin to full frontal nudity in National Geographic. Should we also be taking that out of children’s reach?

The problem is, it’s not that an R rating is a punishment, it’s supposed to give you an accurate representation of the content of the film. And while folks, such as WindOfChange, think it is absurd to rate this film R, the fact remains that if ratings are simply political, they may as well be thrown out.

MPAA says that an R rating means:

In the opinion of the Rating Board, this film definitely contains some adult material. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about this film before they allow their children to accompany them.

An R-rated film may include hard language, or tough violence, or nudity within sensual scenes, or drug abuse or other elements, or a combination of some of the above, so that parents are counseled, in advance, to take this advisory rating very seriously. Parents must find out more about an R-rated movie before they allow their teenagers to view it.

And a war film with lots of expletives surely falls into the category of “parents, you want to find out more about this movie before you allow your teenagers to view it.” And it may well be that the decision you make is that it is appropriate for your child. But the MPAA should not be making that decision for you.

UPDATE: On an almost related note, a school in the UK has banned kids from playing tag becuase it’s too dangerous:

A SCHOOL has banned children from playing tag — claiming it is too DANGEROUS.

Shocked parents were told pupils — aged from five to nine — must drop the centuries-old chase game.

The parents are up in arms, er, upset about it.