“Saw 3D,” which hit theaters last week, earned the designation for innumerable scenes of violence, torture and depravity; “The King’s Speech,” which will be released at Thanksgiving, got it for one brief scene where the future king of England, encouraged by his therapist, utters a volley of swear words to cure his stutter.

To call the decision crazy and unhinged would be to let the MPAA off too lightly. Its ratings decisions, which frown on almost any sort of sex, frontal nudity or bad language but have allowed increasing amounts of violence over the years, are horribly out of touch with mainstream America, where families everywhere are disturbed by the amount of violence freely portrayed in movies, video games and hip-hop music.

Sexual situations, nudity, and language should not be treated the exact same way as watching someone get their jaw pulled out of their face.

The article goes on to complain that the standard for violence is getting lower–more and more violent scenes are making their way into PG-13 films. Which–to my mind–makes the R rated films even more grotesque to stand out.

And, to be clear, it’s not that I’m arguing against grotesque movies. I often like them (though not the torture porn of the Saw movies). But treating a few profanities or a flash of nudity as being equivalent doesn’t make sense to me.