I think one of the smartest things a parent can do is get rid of the TV if they have children.  TV land is a violently misogynistic place that perpetuates the current ugly set of cultural norms we have here in North America.   The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation shares some startling/depressing facts about what people are subjected to while they watch TV.

“Nearly 2 out of 3 TV programs contained some
violence,2 averaging about 6 violent acts per hour.3
• Fewer than 5% of these programs featured an
anti-violence theme or prosocial message emphasizing
alternatives to or consequences of violence.4
• Violence was found to be more prevalent in children’s
programming (69%) than in other types of
programming (57%). In a typical hour of programming,
children’s shows featured more than twice
as many violent incidents (14) than other types of
programming (6).5
• The average child who watches 2 hours of
cartoons a day may see nearly 10,000 violent incidents
each year, of which the researchers estimate
that at least 500 pose a high risk for learning and
imitating aggression and becoming desensitized to
violence.6
• The number of prime-time programs with violence
increased over the three years of the study, from
53% to 67% on broadcast television and from
54% to 64% on basic cable. Premium cable networks
have the highest percentage of shows with
violence, averaging 92% since 1994.7

With this sort of socialization base are we really surprised about the lack of empathy and caring in our society?