Obama to the American people: smoke marijuana now!

Hugo Chavez apparently doesn’t understand the first amendment or the idea of “free speech”.  Tarek El Aissaimi, Venezuela’s Interior Minister, blasted the American government on state TV for influencing the American people through Family Guy. According to Venezuela, the US government controls the writers of Family Guy and is trying to get us all to smoke pot. In Venezuela’s warped version of the U.S., the government is trying to legalize marijuana and it’s the people who refuse.

Venezuelan state TV today broadcast an excerpt from “Family Guy” as an example of how the U.S. promotes drug use. “We can observe how [the U.S. government] promotes and incites the population to consume that drug there,” said Tarek El Aissaimi, Venezuela’s Interior Minister. “There’s no subliminal message. It’s an animated cartoon where you can observe perfectly how they promote consumption and moreover they foster the legalization of marijuana.”

via Stewie Griffin promotes drug use for the US government, says Venezuela | GlobalPost.

This profound misunderstanding of censorship and government control of media is revealing, even more so when you consider the following item:

Venezuelan authorities plan to impose fines on cable television companies that refuse to stop airing the animated television series “Family Guy.”

The government of President Hugo Chavez is preparing to impose new regulations on cable television. Among other rules, cable providers could be forced to carry Chavez’s frequent speeches.

via Associated Press

Seth MacFarlane, you know you’ve hit the big time when you start getting banned in other countries.

And here is the offensive Family Guy clip, from their 420 episode.