The 90's saw a huge rise of political correctness and censorship started to rear its ugly head.  I think it was 1996 or so, I started noticing that TVs were labeled "TV-14" as such when it was labeled before in the past.  I can understand, since the decade trends at the time were edgy and 'Xtreme'.  In the late 90's, the FTC was on everyone's asses trying to regulate TV shows and such and I do remember hearing on the news about concerned parents about the raunchiness of the TV at the time.  Did Censorship from the 90's really influence what became of the 2000's culture? 

Did Censorship from the 90's really influence what became of the 2000's culture? 


Indirectly, yes.

A lot of people who thought they had the right never to be offended... ended up having kids, and thus was born the Helicopter Parent mentality, which took the concept to extremes.  Not only should one have the right never to be offended, the entire planet must somehow be remade in such a way as that no one should ever be put at risk - however miniscule - for anything.

It's sort of like how the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) crowd brought forth the BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) splinter movement.  It starts off with something annoying yet defensible - no, you shouldn't have to put up with your boss trying to cop a feel - but a few folks took it way too far; people got fired for using words like "niggardly", not because the word's root was racist, but because even though the people demanding the firing knew the word isn't racist, they argued that people who didn't know any better thought it was, and that those people had the "right" not to be offended either.

Combine that sort of whackjobbery with humans' generally-poor skills at risk assessment, and you've got the 2000s/2010s movement towards putting everyone in a rubber room, for their own safety.  Watch the evening news and count the number of times you hear something of the form "Something you have in your house may kill you.  More after the break."  The TV news does it because it keeps morons watching through the commercials.  (If it was really so dangerous, you'd think they'd tell you what it was instead of making you wait through the commercials and 10 minutes of commercials-disguised-as-news, wouldn't they?)

A billion dollars worth of real estate and 3000 dead people caused us to start two wars - costing upwards of a trillion dollars - to make sure that Iraq didn't get the bomb.  The only outcome was to give North Korea the wiggle room to build the bomb, and Iran will get it in a couple of years.  A few billion on infrastructure and emergency communications systems to cut down on the 40,000 civilians die in traffic accidents every year?  No way, but here's another trillion to save us from the terrists!  Cows and horses - because we go through millions of them every year - kill hundreds of farmers every year, but one shark attack makes national headlines an the entire summer.  Let's put up cameras and facial-identity tracking systems everywhere, on the miniscule chance that it might save just one person... we have to Think Of The Children, right?  Even though most of 'em are far more likely to be abused, kidnapped, or both by a parent or relative than by anyone else.

Humans suck at risk assessment.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."
  - Men in Black, 1997

Any journalist can tell you the news.  It takes a comedian to tell you the truth.

Indirectly, yes.

A lot of people who thought they had the right never to be offended... ended up having kids, and thus was born the Helicopter Parent mentality, which took the concept to extremes.  Not only should one have the right never to be offended, the entire planet must somehow be remade in such a way as that no one should ever be put at risk - however miniscule - for anything.

It's sort of like how the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) crowd brought forth the BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) splinter movement.  It starts off with something annoying yet defensible - no, you shouldn't have to put up with your boss trying to cop a feel - but a few folks took it way too far; people got fired for using words like "niggardly", not because the word's root was racist, but because even though the people demanding the firing knew the word isn't racist, they argued that people who didn't know any better thought it was, and that those people had the "right" not to be offended either.

Combine that sort of whackjobbery with humans' generally-poor skills at risk assessment, and you've got the 2000s/2010s movement towards putting everyone in a rubber room, for their own safety.  Watch the evening news and count the number of times you hear something of the form "Something you have in your house may kill you.  More after the break."  The TV news does it because it keeps morons watching through the commercials.  (If it was really so dangerous, you'd think they'd tell you what it was instead of making you wait through the commercials and 10 minutes of commercials-disguised-as-news, wouldn't they?)

A billion dollars worth of real estate and 3000 dead people caused us to start two wars - costing upwards of a trillion dollars - to make sure that Iraq didn't get the bomb.  The only outcome was to give North Korea the wiggle room to build the bomb, and Iran will get it in a couple of years.  A few billion on infrastructure and emergency communications systems to cut down on the 40,000 civilians die in traffic accidents every year?  No way, but here's another trillion to save us from the terrists!  Cows and horses - because we go through millions of them every year - kill hundreds of farmers every year, but one shark attack makes national headlines an the entire summer.  Let's put up cameras and facial-identity tracking systems everywhere, on the miniscule chance that it might save just one person... we have to Think Of The Children, right?  Even though most of 'em are far more likely to be abused, kidnapped, or both by a parent or relative than by anyone else.

Humans suck at risk assessment.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."
  - Men in Black, 1997

Any journalist can tell you the news.  It takes a comedian to tell you the truth.


Very good point.  Bill Clinton at the time was addressed on what to do with rap music, since it was allegedly turning teenagers into no good punks and murderers.  He didn't give out a reply, but it was obvious that he was dealing with a topic very sticky.  Parents also blamed the Columbine High School massacre on music, particularly Marilyn Manson.  Also, video games were targeted as being a bad influence towards kids.

Never understood the overprotection of parents in the 2000's, since I see that as less edgy and gritty than the 90's.  Yeah, shows like Maury were still popular, but it had more class than Jerry Springer.