Public Health Nazis Strike Again

British censors plan to go through Tom And Jerry cartoons frame by frame to edit out all scenes in which any of the characters are smoking. I guess the Brits run a an extremely close second place to the United States when it comes to not seeing the forest from the trees. British broadcasting censors feel that children watching this program may be more inclined to use tobacco products after seeing their television friends do so, so in the name of public health Tom and Jerry will be going cold turkey. Violent scenes which include anything from intentional electrocution, to being cut into tiny pieces with a butcher knife, to deliberate pyrotechnical displays with the intent of inflicting bodily harm, to tricking someone to eat their own tail ... that content is perfectly acceptable for young viewers with developing brains and would never be tried or imitated. This type of censorship bothers me because smoking is one of the many choices adults make ... just like any other lifestyle choice we make like consuming alcohol, how we drive, or the language we pick to use in our vocabulary. Rather than raise children who demand the world to change for them, "brats", why not teach children to respect adults and the privileges of choice that adults earn with age? Don't get me wrong here, I'm all for teaching kids about living a healthy lifestyle ... but not if it comes with a price tag of putting yet another ignorant, self important, intolerant, close-minded box head in the world.