When Did America Become the World’s Most Wussified Nation?

This is the disclaimer that opens every segment of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, among other cable TV programs. I’m not sure to what content they’re referring. There’s no nudity. No violence. And every potentially FCC-defying naughty word is bleeped. Have we really become this politically correct? This wussified?

Tuning in to Much Music – Canada’s answer to MTV – in Montreal at any time of day reveals VJs shouting four letter words at one another in jest. And I found plenty of boobies and bottoms revealed in all their fleshy glory on early evening TV in Dublin. But I also noticed distinctly less violence on international television than on prime time U.S. TV shows (Law & Order and CSI:DavidCarusoTown come to mind).

It’s odd that showing bullet-riddled bodies soaked in blood and describing child rape in vivid detail is perfectly acceptable prime time TV here in the States, but uttering “shit” or showing a naked butt somehow offends our sensibilities. When did our priorities become so screwed up?

To what countries have you traveled? What are the trends you’ve noticed in their TV programming? Are violence, language, and nudity just as taboo as they are here in the States? Or are they perfectly acceptable?