Rated R for Smoking

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I came across this interesting little news snippet over at IMDB. Apparently films could soon receive age restrictions simply for showing smoking onscreen... I'm not a smoker, but really, how pathetically soft and scared are we becoming as a species that we censor/slap warnings on essentially all depictions of "unpolitically correct" things? Hollywood, by doing this you're supporting the all those 'monkey-see monkey-do' theorists who blame people's actions on their media consumption.

Smoke in Movies -- Get an "R"

In a rare alteration of its movie ratings system, the MPAA said on Thursday that the panel that assesses Hollywood movies will begin considering "depictions that glamorize smoking or movies that feature pervasive smoking outside of a historic or other mitigating context." Until now, the subjects that movie raters have primarily considered are violence, language, nudity, and drugs. In a statement, MPAA CEO Dan Glickman said, "There is broad awareness of smoking as a unique public health concern due to nicotine's highly addictive nature, and no parent wants their child to take up the habit. ... The appropriate response of the rating system is to give more information to parents on this issue."

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