Culture Schlock -- Why Does Columnist Allow His Daughter To Watch So Much TV?

Editor, The Times:

Let's hope that most parents who want to save their children from culture schlock have more backbone than columnist Richard Reeves (The Times, July 2).

Reeves knew that "Batman Returns" was junk but took his 7-year-old daughter to see it anyway. Why? "McDonald's made me do it." Why had his daughter been clamoring to see the movie? Because he let her watch hour after hour of children's TV that is saturated with insidious commercials.

And why, despite his worry that she will be numbed by TV's ubiquitous violence, does Reeves let her rot her brain in front of the tube? Because he fears depriving her of "generational and cultural touchstones," thus making her an "elitist freak."

The columnist's message is this: You cannot choose the culture to which your children will be exposed. Their growing, impressionable brains belong to the poison purveyors. You must let these merchants feed your kids an endless diet of mental junk food, lest someday they fail to understand the underdeveloped conversation of their TV-tamed peers.

And if this state of affairs disturbs you, blame McDonald's, Time Warner and Dan Quayle? Sorry, Mr. Reeves, but even our eminently blame-worthy vice president doesn't deserve this rap.

That TV of your daughter's has a wonderful feature - an off switch - and it's your responsibility as a parent to use it. Better to risk that your child will be thought elitist by some boob-tube-raised philistine than to guarantee that she becomes such a lowbrow herself. - Creg Darby, Seattle