lives. In that sense today's television is very like the movies of the Forties and Fifties. In a very real way those films were copied by the public as they set a high standard for family life, sexual morality and general conduct.

People copied the clothes they saw in films, dreamed of houses like those they saw in films and tried to live the lives they saw in films. Hollywood knew very well the influence it had. It still does.

Today's films have moved largely into fantasy worlds punctuated by open sex, raw violence and perversion. Television has followed suit only on a cheaper scale.

As an example, far too many people's emotions and lifestyles are influenced by the social chaos they watch every day on the soap operas. People begin to think that it is acceptable to live their lives like the soap characters.

Evening television is now not much better as slightly more sophisticated soaps move to prime time. Television has become the greatest educational tool in the world being squandered for dollars.

Sex and drugs and violence have become the prime messages. Hate is not far behind as it is spread in the name of freedom. Is it any wonder that President Clinton wants to clean up television? No one wants to take away the freedom to express ideas but it is time to remove damaging material.

Bermuda receives many benefits from its proximity to the United States. Being inundated with American television, radio and films is not one of them. There is a great deal that is good about the United States but far too often Bermuda adopt the bad.

The highly respected US News and World Report has screened the plots of 34 television shows debuting this fall and rates only five as "suitable for all ages''. They graded programmes for sexual content, violence, language, horror and age appropriateness. The magazine said that a poll it conducted of 373 parents with children younger than 18 years shows that 62 percent of families want a television rating system that sheds light on programme content. They want a system which will name programme content such as adult language or violence.

In our view the system should also identify drug use, implications of drug use and programmes which take drug use for granted.

Someone will now suggest that old solution, "You can turn TV off'', but that is not really true. With multiple household TV sets many people do not know what their children are watching and many households simply leave the sets on no matter what.

The result is that young people as well as adults are brutalised by what pours into their homes. Things like sex or violence and too often sex and violence combined, as well as guns and drugs become commonplace. What is commonplace is acceptable. The result is the violence, shootings and drug abuse which so many countries endure today.

We all look for ways to combat drugs, get rid of guns, stop violence, prevent sexual abuse. Then we turn around and invite them all into our homes on a regular basis. Television is a great teacher. Far too often it teaches our young people that it is acceptable to shoot people, hit people, knife people, slap women about and engage on profligate and violent sex.

It is amazing to us that Bermuda has not developed a watchdog.