Saturday, November 15, 2003
Well, I never would have thought that the day would come. I'm talking about our terrestrial broadcasting stations (those you receive by antenna and are mostly network affiliated) being able to allow the use of those "seven-words" that George Carlin made famous on television and perhaps by association, radio.
How did this happen? Remember the Golden Globe Awards last January when Bono, of U2 fame and an admitted Christian, used the f-word during the ceremony and it wasn't bleeped? Well surprise, surprise, when the FCC investigated the incident, it decided that Bono didn't violate federal indecency rules when he used the f-word during an acceptance speech at the awards show. Further, the FCC seemed to capitulate on what is federally indecent, as David H. Solomon, chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau, said the word "may be crude and offensive, but, in the context presented here, did not describe sexual or excretory organs and activities." FCC staffers interpreted that as the f-word could be used as an adjective or an exclamation, as Bono did, and be allowed. Hogwash! (whoops, will that be bleeped now? I doubt it.)
The FCC ignored the complaints of 234 people, all but 17 members of the Parents Resource Council, which is a group that monitors broadcast content and is non-profit. Did the FCC react in knee-jerk response to this group, who lobbies for responsible television content that is safe for everone to watch? It makes me liable to add the local broadcast channels to my V-Chip "disable" list.
I am not a prude, and I know that my son hears words like that in his middle school, and will probably not stop hearing it as he grows older. Those words are offensive to me, and I can only hope that with what ever context these words are used that they are not permitted on airwaves that many views have as their only broadcast resource. Under the FCC's intrepretation, then, will the phrase F-you be treated as an emphasis to an exclamation?
Where could this all lead? A popular song, containing these words, could be playing on the radio as you drive your children to school and your children could be singing along with it! (The words previously-known as gutter words) could be on every daytime and nighttime television show. No longer will Hollywood have to edit movies for viewing on TV or even in an airplane! I'm sorry, this reeks of the end of civilization as we know it. That's civil- ization. Civility has left the building, and what is left of the moral society.
I am saddened, greatly.
News stories at the Washington Times and on every entertainment site on the internet. Do a search on f-word and FCC, and you'll see the rejoicing.
Je vous adresse mon très amical souvenir.
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How did this happen? Remember the Golden Globe Awards last January when Bono, of U2 fame and an admitted Christian, used the f-word during the ceremony and it wasn't bleeped? Well surprise, surprise, when the FCC investigated the incident, it decided that Bono didn't violate federal indecency rules when he used the f-word during an acceptance speech at the awards show. Further, the FCC seemed to capitulate on what is federally indecent, as David H. Solomon, chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau, said the word "may be crude and offensive, but, in the context presented here, did not describe sexual or excretory organs and activities." FCC staffers interpreted that as the f-word could be used as an adjective or an exclamation, as Bono did, and be allowed. Hogwash! (whoops, will that be bleeped now? I doubt it.)
The FCC ignored the complaints of 234 people, all but 17 members of the Parents Resource Council, which is a group that monitors broadcast content and is non-profit. Did the FCC react in knee-jerk response to this group, who lobbies for responsible television content that is safe for everone to watch? It makes me liable to add the local broadcast channels to my V-Chip "disable" list.
I am not a prude, and I know that my son hears words like that in his middle school, and will probably not stop hearing it as he grows older. Those words are offensive to me, and I can only hope that with what ever context these words are used that they are not permitted on airwaves that many views have as their only broadcast resource. Under the FCC's intrepretation, then, will the phrase F-you be treated as an emphasis to an exclamation?
Where could this all lead? A popular song, containing these words, could be playing on the radio as you drive your children to school and your children could be singing along with it! (The words previously-known as gutter words) could be on every daytime and nighttime television show. No longer will Hollywood have to edit movies for viewing on TV or even in an airplane! I'm sorry, this reeks of the end of civilization as we know it. That's civil- ization. Civility has left the building, and what is left of the moral society.
I am saddened, greatly.
News stories at the Washington Times and on every entertainment site on the internet. Do a search on f-word and FCC, and you'll see the rejoicing.
Je vous adresse mon très amical souvenir.
|
