Senate Committee Passes FCC Indecency Bill 507
An anonymous reader writes "US Senate Commerce Committee today passed a bill that would allow the FCC to fine broadcasters for slip of the tongue expletives, negating a ruling by federal appeals court in New York that commission's policy on 'fleeting expletives' is arbitrary and capricious. 'A mandate by Congress that a "fleeting expletive" can now be found indecent will create a vast chilling effect on broadcast speech, the advocacy group Center for Democracy and Technology claims. CDT points out that prior to this bill and the FCC's policy change, the FCC exercised discretion in determining which utterances were indecent, and consistently found that one-time uses of curse words were not indecent.'"
Well, fuck (Score:3, Interesting)
Liability and A/V issues? (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36SLpqAymTE [youtube.com]
Who would be liable for this? Who SHOULD be liable?
Another issue is that even if it is bleeped out through human monitoring (with a 10 second delay or something), can mouthing of the word be considered as 'broadcasting' it? Communication is not only about sound, but given the weird laws regarding recording cops' audio/video output, it might be a similarly absurd law.
Or maybe I just don't understand TFA.
Cheers!
Re:The evil CDT (Score:3, Interesting)
I understand there are traditional societal expectations, but being upset about "cursing" is really just as arbitrary and useless as being upset about people that wear blue socks.
FCC (Score:4, Interesting)
Monty Python (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The evil CDT (Score:3, Interesting)
Indecency laws for broadcasting is one thing, but a kid making references to genitals or masturbation to a teacher is way out of line in my book. In school, it's okay to ask someone to go away, if not rude. It's not at all appropriate to just throw around genitals, masturbation, etc. between a teacher and a student, unless when talking about sex ed.
Re:The evil CDT (Score:4, Interesting)
My grandmother, another (English) teacher in the building, got to meet me at the principal's office with my teacher. She asked about the situation, and stated, in no uncertain terms, that I'd used the (sic) appropriate language for the situation and she'd have told my teacher the same thing. Though she said that she'd prefer that language wasn't used in school, it at least had not been for pure folly. The principal agreed.
Gotta love us some English teachers
Re:Well, fuck (Score:1, Interesting)
Sales of delay units (see www.eventide.com for the most popular) have been very high since the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" thing.
We even delay ballgames now. It's a pain in the neck for the listener who wants to take a portable with them to the game. But we've had cases where a drunken fan screamed an "f-bomb" near an open mike. Yes, the FCC will fine us for THAT, too.
It's a beautiful thing.
Re:We Teach our Child When It's Okay to Swear (Score:3, Interesting)
In one way, it is shear stupidity that we need to have this kind of rule. There's a race to the bottom in most entertainment. Keeping swear words out of bottom feeding entertainment (Jackass anyone?) is a good idea. I would be most concerned if more resources were given to the FCC to enforce this kind of thing.
A counterpoint here (Score:3, Interesting)
Okay, I know it isn't popular opinion around here, but I'm wondering exactly what the problem is with this.
The airwaves are a public medium. As in, they belong to the public, not to a private entity (in spite of the fact that many private interests behave as if they did own the airwaves... - but that's a different topic). Our democratically elected Congress passed this bill. This is what the public wants.
I understand if your definition of what is appropriate is different from mine. However, there are already alternatives available for those whose tastes lean toward the tawdry side. This isn't an issue of free speech, but rather, of how the public thinks its airwaves should be used. They belong to the public, and the people have spoken - through Congress - about what they want to hear on radio and see on tv. It's not censorship, but censureship - that is, the removal of something the people don't want to see or hear.
It's as simple as that.
You can call it absurd, fine. But there are things which, while they may be acceptable to certain individuals in society, are not appropriate for the public at large. And because the public owns the airwaves, they get to decide what's appropriate for them.
Re:The evil CDT (Score:3, Interesting)
Swear words are always one of these subjects:
- Deities, either evil or good: "Jesus Christ" in English, "Perkele" or Devil in Finnish.
- Sex or genitals: "Voi vittu" or "Oh, cunt" in Finnish, or Fuck in English.
- 'Dirty' bodily functions, such as farting, defecating, and urinating. 'Merde' in French or 'Shit' in English. Now these are not dirty because they are dirty. Poop isn't dirty just because we say it's dirty; it's dirty because it smells bad and makes you sick.
So, the swear words refer to stuff you would never deal with in everyday life. You can't walk around naked or have sex in public, you can pull your pants down and pee in the street, you never see God or the Devil. Likewise, we it's impolite to bring these up in conversation.Re:Broken logic (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The evil CDT (Score:3, Interesting)
If you're worried your kid might accidentally see some uncut Sopranos episode, take the TV out of her room and give her a book or a LeapPad. Our kids get to watch about 2-hrs of TV a week plus a weekly family movie night. We control what they watch. When they go to a friends house we expect them to do other activities than watch TV, and we let the other parents know our expectations. I'll admit it's easier for us since we have a stay-at-home parent and that other's mileage may vary.
Re:The evil CDT (Score:5, Interesting)
We use 'fuck' extremely casually: 'ah fuck!' is often used when a native english speaker would say "Ah, geez!", and 'fuck it!' is used just as casually...
Just wanted to add another example to your argument that the actual word has nothing to do with it, rather it's the way people are used to hearing/saying it in their culture.
Re:Well, fuck (Score:3, Interesting)
Speaking as a radio engineer too, most of the smaller stations (non-commercial, college, etc.) don't have delays.
Re:The evil CDT (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:The evil CDT (Score:5, Interesting)
You're neglecting to consider the power of peer influence. None of my adult relatives swore in my presence, but I sure knew how to cuss by the time I was in 5th grade. This was solely because a lot of my friends did. I never swore in front of my adult relatives, but I'd cuss outside of their ear shot.
One time, when my son was in kindergarten, he was sitting at home with me, my wife and my parents. A series of jokes were told, and everyone was laughing. All of a sudden my son blurts out 'you can kiss my fuckin' pussy!' Everyone gets quiet and looks over at my son. He knew at that point that perhaps he had said something inappropriate. I calmly asked my son why he had just said what had said. He said that all the older girls on the school bus shouted that at each other and then laughed, and he thought as long as we were all being so jovial he'd contribute. I had made it a point of never swearing in my son's presence, and I know none of his other adult relatives did. He was evidently picking up quite the vocabulary outside of the house, though.
Re:The evil CDT (Score:3, Interesting)
Holy crap (shit?)! You have really hit this one right on the nose. It's soooo easy for people to bitch and moan about "society" turning their children into little monsters, when in fact it's their own damn fault for not establishing healthy boundaries (i.e. "parental guidance") and setting good examples.
I speak as the parent of a 4yo who has had plenty of time to observe lots of rugrats and munchkins. Without fail, the kids who are holy terrors are the ones whose parents give up on establishing authority in the relationship, and don't bother to model socially constructive behavior. Not that I'm perfect, but I do my best to teach empathy via the golden rule, and rudeness is not tolerated.
As an aside, I was a father for 3 years before getting a puppy. I think dealing with junior members of both species is pretty similar... It's all about establishing boundaries. Kids (and dogs) push boundaries in annoying ways because it's their way of understanding their place in the world. Once they've figured out how they fit into things, they're much easier to deal with (assuming you've given them appropriate boundaries). <sarcasm>Boy I can't wait for adolescence to roll around...</sarcasm>
Re:The evil CDT (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The evil CDT (Score:2, Interesting)
Bad words are hard to define.
Re:The evil CDT (Score:3, Interesting)
As someone who has absolutely no interest whatsoever in raising children and isn't gonna have any
I find it absolutely hilarious when someone's seven year old starts spouting profanity in public places. It bloody well amuses me to no end. It's like Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
It's all a matter of perspective.
Cheers
Boycott! Watch only fucking explicit stuff! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, there are. And every one of them is illegitimate. There is nothing to "interpret" about Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech. anyone who thinks there is has simply demonstrated they are unqualified to read, much less "interpret" basic English. And that includes partisan, special-interest sycophants who we have had the misfortune of having appointed to the supreme court.
You seem to be of the persuasion that if it is law, it is OK. The fact is, if the constitution forbids it, and it is done anyway, it is wrong and illegitimate and coercive, and no amount of "interpretation" can make it any better. There is no authority given to abridge the freedom of speech; congress is not allowed to make any such law. End of story as far as legitimacy goes, barring constitutional amendment.