Ars Technica says that a bill to give the FCC power over even”fleeting” swear words has passed a Senate committee and now moves on to the full Senate.
What’s a “fleeting” swear word? Well, say Bono says, “Hey this is f*cking great!” on live TV, or a girl wears a shirt that says, “F*ck” a certain sports team and they show her on TV. A recent court decision said that the network could not be fined if they let it slip by accidentally.
Now this new bill is aimed at closing this “loophole.”
The bill, called the “Protecting Children From Indecent Programming Act,” seeks to assert that even “a single word or image may be considered indecent.”
Ladies and gentlemen, this is how your representatives spend their time. Good thing, too. We hear that 13 children who were watching that football game killed their parents after seeing that shirt. Not really.
S. 1780 (PDF) [via Ars Technica]
(Photo:Deadspin)
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“Take away the right to say ‘fuck’, and you take away the right to say ‘fuck the government’.”
Lenny Bruce
That being said, I do agree with Frogman31680, swear words are a crutch for the ignorant and those with a weak vocabulary.
I think this bill is bullshit and all, but do people really believe that Congress should do nothing else but deal with the biggest issues? If they had to wait until the war was over, poverty was eradicated and the criminal justice system was completely reformed before tackling anything else, that would be a big problem, no?
@HawkWolf:
I absolutely can. Most industrialized nations allow nudity and swearing on tv, and those nations have lower crime and violence rates, lower sex offences, and don’t have chilrdern running around swearing and playing doctor. You see, if we can teach our kids that swear words are for people too lazy to use the right words, and nudity is a natural body state not to be embarrassed by, then our kids will be fine in the end.
@HawkWolf:
n/m misread your question grrr.
Bunch of asshats. No wonder they’re polling at 14%. This batch is even worse than the last ones, and we thought those were the worst ever.
Even though I can’t afford health insurance for my kid…
Even though I had to take half of my vacation days last year because his school closed for a week after it was discovered that the drinking water wasn’t safe…
I can finally sleep at night knowing that he won’t hear anyone say “fuck” on a tv show that airs 2 hours after his bedtime.
Thank you purveyors of common sense, thank you!
Fuck Da Elephants!
@HawkWolf: As a general thing, to protect children from some of the coarseness of the adult world until they’re old enough to process it. And it’s very much about context — bare breasts on a nude beach is very different from “naked boobies” on a billboard or whatever. A brief profanity when hitting one’s thumb with a hammer is very different from knowing only one fucking adjective for all fucking uses.
(As a secondary thing, because any 3-year-old exposed to the word “shit” is ABSOLUTELY going to go repeat that in front of your in-laws. It’s just the way the universe works.)
But, you know, turn off the TV and otherwise control your child’s exposure to coarseness. It’s one thing to expect people not to spout screaming profanities on a public thoroughfare, TVs can be TURNED OFF. (And nobody’s MAKING you go to Hooters, dude with the 4-year-old who wants the guys at the next table to stop talking about chicks in a vulgar fashion!)
insert “but” between “thoroughfare,” and “TVs” in that last paragraph.
I don’t think stopping on “fleeting” swear word is going to make any difference. To make a difference, they need to stop all swear words on tv, including hell, damn, and bitch which are still heard regularly on any station. In addition, why not work on the ubiquitous sexual innuendos and sex scenes? It is ridiculous to have to change the channel during the Simpsons due to language. I guess that is what America calls “entertainment.”
@CBragg: Network TV is going down the same path as terrestrial radio. This small group of losers goes on about how they want their kids protected, however uncensored shows on premium channels and satellite radio are gaining popularity each passing day. It seems that senators are listening to a very tiny minority that just keeps going on about swear words.
Jesus christ on a pogo-ball, I sleep in a couple hours and look how much there is to catch up on…
@Kaien: VERY true, censorship can actually be funnier than having the swear, but it’s all about tease. Fuck is funnier than ****, F*** is funnier still, and F**K the best of em all. And for people who think I’ve lost it, F**k is when you hear them start with the Fh, and you definitely hear the Kh at the end, with a short beep. Much funnier than just a long beep.
@TechnoDestructo: You better be joking/sarcastic about Moral Decay, because the Christian/Catholic/Judaic ideology of morals is an out-dated bad joke which they’d better stop cramming down everyone’s throat. All organized religion must be abolished because religion is freedom’s antithesis, and I for one choose Freedom over the concept of an imperfect god who cannot be pleased.
@frogman31680: There are many, MANY reasons people wear crude shirts. Some people like to get a rise out of others, some live to offend, some are just crazy or stupid. More often, it is to rebel against an authority, express themselves, to fit in, or to stand out. Personally, I’d wear a really offensive shirt because I personally find something about it funny, and if someone else doesn’t like my sense of humor I don’t care. You can’t narrow it down to someone’s upbringing because for every one person that IS the reason for, there is another who wears it AGAINST their upbringing, and five million others with totally unrelated reasons.
@rocnrule: America is in the state it’s in because Americans as a whole, have become pussies. I’m not trying to slander the US (at least, not right now), Canada is the same for the most part. We are all a bunch of whiny, sniveling pussies who can’t stand up for ourselves. People say el Presidente’ Bush is the problem, but the president is ONE MAN. Even as retarded as GW Shrub is, he can’t be the source of all problems because he’s one person, one stupid redneck Texan hick retard. The problem is that the American people haven’t stood up for their rights, and the less they defend them, the more those rights get stomped on. You can’t defend your rights by doing nothing. Get vocal, get violent, I don’t care, but do SOMETHING. If the government passes a law that is against the interests of the people, it is the duty OF the people force them to appeal the law, or remove the government.
Now as many of you mentioned, the censorship of vulgarity on TV does not fall to the government, it’s civilian run. What you the people need to do is oust the religious FUCKTARDS who are forcing their moral viewpoints on TV. Organizations like the MPAA, ERSB, etc have always forced the pro-christian pro-catholic ideology on the entire USA through comics, movies, TV. These are the fuckers you need to deal with. Why do they even still exist since you supposedly have freedom to choose your own religeons.
@Thrust: I think TechnoDestructo was being sarcastic in that post.
@Thrust:
You make a good point, one that I hadn’t thought of. But here is what I meant by that point. The times that I ran into it was from people between the ages of 10 to 18. That time where every other word is four letters and begins with F. I’m not against saying it. Not in the least. If your at a sporting event and the ref makes a bad call, by all means. But just hanging out at the mall and saying it 5 times in one sentence to make you look cool, makes people look like an idiot.
As for T-Shirts, I aimed my comments for the people that have walked up to me and HAD to make sure my attention was on their shirt. If I notice, good for you. If I don’t, I HATE when people feel like I should have.
I also feel like there are good times to be offensive and times where it makes one look like the idiot in the crowd.
Guess I’ll have to start wearing my, “Thank F__king God for Senator Durbin” t-shirt under my Sox jersey, and take off my Sox jersey once I make it to my 8th row seat.
Typical of Republicans. They’re a far greater threat to our freedoms than a bunch of Saudis with box cutters. And they should be dealt with accordingly.
Why are we so prude? Why, why, why, why, why? It just stinks that our government has this notion that these things matter. It’s a few loud uptight people who make the government thing that they do.
Score:
Department of Morality: +12
American Citizens : -4
Amerika the prude!
@BadDolphin:
Typical of Republicans. They’re a far greater threat to our freedoms than a bunch of Saudis with box cutters. And they should be dealt with accordingly.
–
Great, another partisan bonehead who thinks there is a difference between the idiots with (D) or (R) before their name.
You are even more of a partisan bonehead because if you had actually read the article, you would have seen what letter was before the idiot who sponsored this bill.
I don’t understand why the FCC insists on giving these words so much power. Prohibition raises the value of the prohibited and vilifies the margins of the culture, no matter which idea or substance is banned.