Not surprisingly, in the wake of yesterday’s decision by a New York court to scrap the ridiculous FCC rule against on-air profanity, the not-at-all-overprotective folks at the Parents Television Council are raising their hands in the air and asking, “What about the children?”
In a statement posted on the PTC’s site, president Tim Winter writes:
Let’s be clear about what has happened here today: A three-judge panel in New York once again has authorized the broadcast networks unbridled use of the ‘f-word’ at any time of the day, even in front of children. The Court substituted its own opinion for that of the Supreme Court, the Congress of the United States, and the overwhelming majority of the American people. For parents and families around the country, this ruling is nothing less than a slap in their face. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and the Obama administration must immediately appeal.
Today’s ruling comes as absolutely no surprise, given the hostile tenor of the judges during oral arguments. Members of the Second Circuit panel entered the courtroom that day wearing their intentions clearly on their sleeves. What does come as a surprise is the rationale of the opinion, which is devoid of reality. The Court’s illogical analysis would require the overturning of virtually every law on our nation’s books for lack of clarity.
The broadcast decency law, which our nation’s Highest Court has upheld, is clear: broadcasters must refrain from violating community standards of decency during hours when children are likely to be in the audience. The indecency law doesn’t prohibit broadcasters from airing indecent material; it only requires that indecent material air outside the hours when children are likely to be in the audience.
The PTC will vigorously work to defend the FCC’s legal authority to preserve the public airwaves as the last bastion of safety for children and families.
You might remember that the PTC is part of the coalition of so-called family oriented groups who recently demanded that Comcast reveal how much money they make from broadcasting porn.
So listen up, Supreme Court. Or else the PTC might seek advisory board members Michael Medved or Billy Ray Cyrus on you.
PTC Attacks Court Ruling Allowing Unedited Profanity to Air at Any Time of Day [PTC press release]
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“The PTC will vigorously work to defend the FCC’s legal authority to preserve the public airwaves as the last bastion of safety for children and families.”
Because profanity is so f%#king unsafe!
As much as I enjoy a choice swear, this ruling caused me to recall a scene from the film Idiocracy.
“Fuddruckers” had devolved into “Buttfuckers” in the (deteriorating) future and little children could be seen having a happy birthday party within the restaurant.
Hey. Your television has a V-chip. F***ing use it.
Best title ever!
What planet does this Tim Winter character live on ? The article doesn’t make it clear.
If the “vast majority of Americans” oppose this ruling, why do the vast majority of complaints received by the FCC come from the PTC? (As in 99.8% of all complaints in 2003, and similar numbers the following years.)
Source: http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/pops/pop12.22indecencyenforcement.pdf
So can I say FUCK on consumerist now, since it’s so anti PTC
Fuck the PTC. I pray they all contract savage cancer of the asshole and die long slow deaths. Fuck the FCC too, the whole operation should be scuttled. Ridiculous, useless dinosaur of bureaucracy that it is.
What the fuck are the community standards of decency in your community? MERDE!
It is now required by law that ever TV have a Vchip. I think it’s time that they figure out how to use it. As long as the shows are rated properly so these parents can go on banning sprees, I’m ok with them F’ing around.
Wow, such displays of linguistic prowess here … all you kiddies running around swinging your …. adverbs … around now that you feel free to show them off. I’m very, very impressed.
This is precisely what sitting around watching television gets you … the mentality that instead of striving for some sort of higher common denominator, we should instead race to the bottom and force everyone who wants to enjoy any public amenity to accept whatever licentiousness the lowest loser feels entitled to dole out in the name of free speech, art or commerce.
I’m no prude and there aren’t many days that pass that some sort of profanity doesn’t cross my lips. But I use the words sparingly, in context, and with deference. I don’t toss them around when I’m in public or when I’m around children or those who I don’t know to be unoffended by salty language.
All of your parents must have been too busy watching TV to teach you that lesson.
Not everyone lives a lifestyle identical to yours.
“Or else the PTC might seek advisory board members Michael Medved or Billy Ray Cyrus on you.”
Um, that should be sic not seek.
The first time I ran across this wackjob group was about 11 years ago, when Mrs. Partridge (Shirley Jones)’s husband Marty Ingles was on the Howard Stern show, pissing on Stern over his then syndicated TV show being so naughty and bad for children (despite the fact stations that aired it did so at about 1am on a Saturday night, and then back in the age before Tivos, BitTorrent, and other assorted PVRs, I’m guessing most kids weren’t watching it.) Which brought about a shitstorm of fans going on to the PTC’s website forums giving them hidden messages “praising” them. Man, that was fun.
I think it’s high time that the parents monitor what their kids are watching and become responsible instead of forcing the television networks to do that for them…
When I was 4, I said fuck in front of my mom. Did I hear it from TV? Nope. I heard it from the very person I said it to, and she kicked my ass for saying it. When I asked why she can say it but I can’t, she said “Cause I’m an adult and you’re a kid”. I grew up learning that adulthood came with certain priveleges- like cussing.
Why can’t parents teach their kids not to imitate everything they see? Why does everything have to be made “safe” just so some dumbass kid won’t put his eye out or- god forbid- hear a bad word? Life is no fun anymore, everything fun is outlawed to protect the children.
What a whiner! I’d hardly say everything fun is outlawed because of children. Porn, for instance, is freely available and I’m perfectly fine with that.
But, as one of these wretched people who were supposedly somehow tricked into having children and now live a life filled with lollipop-colored drudgery and devotion only to sniveling children, my concern is not about the use of profanity in television. It has its place. For instance, the dustup mentioned elsewhere here about tv stations being concerned about airing Saving Private Ryan because of the profanities? Stupid because I’m pretty sure that just about anyone who waded onto the beaches of Normandy that day used up a lifetime’s worth of profanities, and for good reason, too.
No, my concern is the rising attitude in our culture that people who choose to be modest must submit to the whims of those who choose to be vulgar in word and deed because, “it’s my right,” and that every public amenity must tilt towards a modest attitude, but instead cater to the most debasing extreme.
Remember when seeing a bare butt on TV was titillating? When using the word hell, much less ass or god damn, were unheard of? That’s how it begins. You start with a little bare ass here and there, then you toss in a few “accidental or infrequent” profanities. Then, when everyone is desensitized to that, you work your way up the titillation ladder until it’s perfectly acceptable to bang strangers at the park in plain view of everybody because, well, they have a right to have sex, don’t they?
I’m fine with limited government regulation. In fact, I love it. I’d like to get rid of about 80 percent of what we have. And I, unlike so many people who vote for Democratic politicians, think it’s not right for the government to tell me what I and my children can and cannot read, do, etc.
But I do believe that we should strive as a society to rise up to a greater standard of conduct instead of slumping down to the lowest common standard we can possibly find, which is the direction we’re headed.
That’s not going to do anyone any good.
I’m sorry, but I just gotta get this off my chest- FUCK parents and FUCK their stupid wiener kids. I’m sick of all these self-righteous, child-obsessed, entitled yuppie parents demanding that the entire world change to protect their delicate little babies. Just because you decided to shit out a few twat-droppings doesn’t mean you have the right to say what I can watch & listen to. Do your goddamn job as a parent and protect your delicate little Cznowflaykes from the real world if you must, but do it on YOUR damn time, not mine. I am childless by choice, and I plan to stay that way. I have no desire for children in my life. I enjoy my freedom, and it really cheeses me off to have any of my freedoms impinged upon because OH MY GOD LITTLE BRATLEIGH MUST BE PROTECTED!!!
As the late, great George Carlin once said- “Think of the children? No- FUCK THE CHILDREN.”
Really, we are in the middle of an economic downturn and people find the time and money to work on this? How come I never get a cushy job that gives me enough time to rabble-rouse?
OMG!! God forbid that the parents actually you know watch there fuckin kids, I mean come on they will learn the words anyway it is the parents job to make sure they learn it correctly if they just going to let there kids watch anything, or you know the parents can be parents and make sure the programs the kids are watching are safe
Billy Ray Cyrus? He of the great parenting that allowed his underage daughter to do a suggestive dance move against a pole while showing off her jail-bait figure? All on TV on a show that was MEANT for kids to watch? I didn’t have too much of an issue with that, but it made me raise an eyebrow far more than even the Janet Jackson fiasco (legal-age accident vs underage on purpose).
Yeah, like I should be more worried that NBC won’t get a million-dollar fine if a jackass manages to get through the censors. The censors that the networks already have and are not getting rid of.
Letters like this one are fucking ridiculous and actually hurt their own cause. I know the FCC didn’t give “unbridled use of the ‘f-word’” and to suggest they did isn’t just wrong, it’s a downright lie. Yup, pole-dancing teens in short-shorts is great, lying is totally fine… but the word FUCK will do so much damage when those sound waves enter tiny ears. Oh no!
I would like to share a fact about MY parents, the ones who took me to church and sent me to private school… My father’s favorite thing to scream when he’s suddenly pissed: Goddamnmotherfuckingsonofabitch!
I turned out just fine
Life must be pretty good if this is the worst thing these people have to worry about.
The PTC already forces cable networks to censor broadcasts WITHOUT GOVERNMENT MANDATE. Seriously, Comedy Central, AMC, MTV, et al, aren’t required by any government agency to censor programming. They do it because the PTC shames not only the network but anyone advertising with the network.
Why these idiots think they need the government to do what they’re already doing is beyond me.
Damn anti-Union Republicans. Trying to eliminate the union bleeper’s job by advocating no censorship. Wait. What?
How about we just don’t let our children watch TV? Every shred of evidence ever produced says it’s bad for them, no matter what it is. Wouldn’t that be a more elegant solution than trying to abridge the First Amendment? I think my three-and-a-half year old has probably sees about 10 hours a year, and none of that broadcast. Every now and then we watch the NOVA on monitor lizards. You want to see a smart fucking cookie? Find a kid who doesn’t watch that shit.
Fuck those fucking PTC fucks, anyway. And oh year, I’m pretty sure my kid has seen a nipple before.
Am I the only weirdo that makes sure the programming my children are watching is age-appropriate? I’m pretty sure Sesame Street and Curious George aren’t going to be throwing around the f-bomb.
“even in front of children.” – Eff you and your sensitive widdle children.
“broadcasters must refrain from violating community standards of decency” – guess what? ‘community standards’ have evolved, unlike you pious fools that expect every ‘community’ is all white, christian, god-fearing, and Mayberry-esque.
If they really want to protect children from the evils of TV, it’s easy. Turn off the TV.
This only demonstrates just how out of touch with reality the PTC is.
So I can finally watch Hell’s Kitchen with no bleeps?
Can someone explain to me why a child hearing the occasional “fuck” uttered on adult-oriented tv programming (news, etc.) is a bad thing?
Obviously using it during Sesame Street would be inappropriate, but that’s not how it usually is used.
I managed to attract the attention of one of their employees on twitter xD heres a screenshot http://kttns.org/y3mjk
PTC: Either learn how to use the v-chip that is in your TV (thanks to Clinton) or here’s a novel idea, either monitor your children and educate yourself about the shows they are watching, or TURN THE TV OFF! The PTC are just proving just how bad their parenting skills are. I think they need to change their priorities.