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Animal Planet has several programs worth watching, they are well written and the photography is wonderful. There are however two or three that should have never been allowed past the cutting room floor. All are based on reptiles, these animals have enough to worry about with out some moron swinging from a vine and landing on their backs. One show in particular is beyond belief. I think his name is Stevens, a wildlife photographer. I have watched a dozen of his programs and in all of them he has either dived upon, fell upon or tripped upon some poor animal. This guy is a danger in the woods. In one show he climbed a hollow tree and when he got to the top he fell inside the tree all the way to the bottom and landed on a cottonmouth. In another program, he used a vine to Tarzan himself into a pond that was only a foot deep to land upon a Gaboon viper, WHY? I ask you WHY. A Larry, Curly and Moe production would have been funny but this was shameful.

In 38 years of catching snakes, I feel programs like this teach nothing but danger to the young people that watch them. To some 12 year old boy who wants to impress some little girl, this might be the way to go but when he grabs a Copperhead or a rattlesnake the end will not be so pretty, I assure you. I still watch old B&W movies of thew 1950s and some have a seal stating they have passed the sensors rating scale. I always thought that was a bit much but at least all age groups could watch it and no one got embarrassed. Those days are gone forever I am afraid but it seems as though life today is very cheap and not worth what it was in the 50s. If this is true I am glad I at least got to see the tail end of the 50s for myself. It seems as though every one is screaming about their rights, what about the right to grow up as a normal kid to be happy and safe until you reached at least 13? Find me an 8 year old that believes in Santa, good luck.

In the 1960s, we were going to take over, we were going to change the world, REMEMBER? Well it is 2009, and we did change the world, that's for sure, but changed it into what? Maybe just maybe our parents were right and we were to stupid to listen. But as for the television shows we watch, the minute I see something that I feel a kid might try and imitate, I instantly become my father and switch the channel and listen to my Grandchildren tell me how old and out of touch I am with today's world. I smile and think of them 40 years from now doing the same thing. At least I hope they do.

Learn more about this author, Joel La Rocque.
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