Should you watch The Simpsons?

One parent recently told me that they didn't let their child watch The Simpsons because it contained adult humour. I'm afraid that I let all my children watch this programme and I haven't found a problem with it. I suppose a new year is a time for re-evalutaing and I have thought again about this programme. The Simpsons is about a family that argue, they behave badly and are not good role models, except that is not my opinion. I think that they are good role models as the programmes always end with the family on good terms.

You could object to the humour of The Royle Family or any comedy programme. In fact I am watching Liverpool versus Reading and I can hear the chants from the fans. It seems that I can only watch football when there are better sound engineers. If you slip on a banana skin you might get hurt. Base a joke on ethnicity, disablility or nationality and the pain may be deeper. In these times of political correctness it is hard to think of a joke that may not be offensive to someone. In Ben Elton's early years I thought he was just giving political rants. I couldn't see why people were laughing.

So one person's political comment is another person's joke. One person's insult makes others laugh. Where do you draw the line? If an Irishman tells a joke about the Irish then you know that he is not being vindictive and this is how you draw the line. Tell any joke you like as long as you don't set out to hurt people. How you prove that is another matter.

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