Fighting about Fuck

[kpete]

Fighting about Fuck
By: emptywheel Tuesday March 18, 2008 6:41 am

SCOTUS is going to decide whether you and I can hear the words fuck and shit be uttered on the telly.

The court will review the Federal Communications Commission's policy that even a one-time utterance of an obscene word on radio and television broadcasts during daytime and early evening hours is subject to punishment.

The lawsuit by Fox Broadcasting arose after the commission reprimanded the broadcaster for incidents in 2002 and 2003, when singer Cher and celebrity Nicole Richie, during live award shows, used variations of a vulgar four-letter word.

The reprimand came after the FCC in 2004 reversed its position and said even "fleeting" expletives exposed the network to sanctions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031700842.html?sid=ST2008031702809

If Cheney can tell Leahy to go fuck himself on the floor of the Senate, then Bono ought to be able to use the term too.

But apparently Scalia and Alito want their chance to write fuck and shit in a court opinion, too.


http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/18/fighting-about-fuck/#more-1937

[margotb822]

1. I say them to the TV

why can't the tv say them back to me? Especially with the prices we're paying now, we should get the full spectrum of language!

[lpbk2713]

2. George Carlin revisited.

:shrug:


Ed: Added YouTube link (10 Minutes) :rofl:

{Click}

[rawtribe]

3. FCC Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4ajZ-5kTXk

[ruiner4u]

13. ahhh Eric Idle...

Love him..

thank you!


but ya cant forget about fccfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzaqXFcsH2U&feature=related

[elehhhhna]

4. kpete, don't forget GW's qoute on Iraq:

"Fuck 'em, let's take 'em out"

Of course, "Bring 'em on!" was the most obscene statement by a sitting President, ever.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

5. Personally, I feel there is way too much fucking shit

on teevee. It is a sewer of disgusting images, violent programming, sex, and propaganda.

How can rational people ask themselves why middle school children are having sex.
It's the culture being force fed into the mainstream of life.

:tv: }(

[navarth]

6. well that's much more important than breaking up the media monopolies

look out!! it's Janet Jackson's nipple!!

[Subdivisions]

7. Yea because we wouldn't want our kids to

hear those vulgar words coming out of our TV sets. :eyes:

Hear's how I see it: What difference does it make? There's no way to absolutely prevent fleeting instances of celebrities using profanity to exclamate a political or other message, especially during a live event. The same can be said for some J6P from pidgeon holler being interviewed by the local TV station about the three-VFD alarm down to Cousin Jo Bob's burning haybarn.

I hate this because it's unfortunate. Kids don't need TV to teach them these words as they do very well at a very young age picking them up themselves and using them liberally. Littler kids pick up these words too and test them out. Hopefully when children use these words around their parent(s) or guardian and are immediately reprimanded, they learn for a time not to use them - at least not around their guardians. But, as soon as they become teenagers, you can bet they're using them as normal vocabulary around their peers.

I used to think that the FCC restriction on the use of the http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7832434962670111396&q=forbidden+words+carlin&total=2&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0">seven forbidden words you can't say on television was silly. I thought TV Hollywood would remain conservative on the use of certain words even if they weren't restricted simply because they know there are segments of society that wouldn't approve and they would prefer not to deal with the backlash. That is until they tested the use of the word "ass". Then, all of a sudden, every single sitcom made had to follow the new rule that the word "ass" must be used in every single episode in every possible tv show as many times as possible, right up to the point where it stops short of actually being the entire script. I suspect that if there were to suddenly be no restrictions on the use of the words on broadcast TV, Hollywood would begin to rival prison dorms in the frequency of their use.

Disclaimer: I use these words myself all the time, but onlyas adjectives, verbs, and adverbs...oh, and also sometimes as nouns.

[whistle]

8. It is like General Kurtz said in the film "Apocalypse Now"

Kurtz: We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!

[TlalocW]

9. What's fascinating to me is...

What makes a word "obscene?" What magical combination of letters leads to word being obscene? Why is shit obscene, crap slightly offensive, and crud able to be used by children? I can understand people being upset over words that might take their religion and/or deity in vain, but when I really think about it, the only reason these words are obscene is because we've been told they're obscene.

TlalocW

[margotb822]

10. Wait, so you're saying that the meaning, not the words, are important?

Imagine that!

I used to work with a mormon who couldn't swear, but would say "Fuuuhhh" instead of fuck, and so on. I told him he might as well cuss because the intent is the same...

[TlalocW]

11. No, not even that... Beyond that

What makes a certain combination of letters obscene and others not? Why shit and not dog?

Anyway, on the subject of cursing around co-workers... I'm a magician/balloon twister on the side, and my boss' kids like to visit me in the office because I often have my balloon bag with me and will make them a sculpture or vanish a coin or something. Boss is a pretty conservative Baptist by the way. Anyway, he recently bought his five-year-old son a cheap magic prop which is essentially a small drawer that you put a dime in, close it, and open it back up to reveal the dime's disappeared, and he said his son was really wanting to show me his trick. I told him, "Sounds okay to me, and I promise to be suitably impressed. Here... let me practice in front of you. *Ahem* HOLY FUCKING SHIT ON A STICK, JACK! WHERE THE HELL DID THAT DIME GO? THAT'S FUCKING COOL, DAMN IT!" The boss tried not to laugh but then cracked up for over a minute and then said, "Maybe I won't be bringing him in to show you that trick after all."

TlalocW

[gatorboy]

12. A Father called me a p**sy when I was younger.

But he was Episcopalian so maybe they get some sort of leeway.

[margotb822]

14. Well, was it true?

Would it have been different if he had called you a wimp or sissy? I think as long as the intent is there, it doesn't matter what words one uses to express it.

As far as Episcopalians go, I dunno, I'm agnostic :shrug:

[gatorboy]

15. A Father calling a 10 year old a pussy instead of a wimp?

Yeah there might be a tad difference there :rofl:

But hey I couldn't swim so there's no way he was gonna get me to water ski. :P

[margotb822]

17. I guess I should have used the sarcasm icon in the question

But, a word is only "bad" because someone decreed that it was. I think that the intent is what drives the message. Maybe he shouldn't have degraded your confidence by using a negative term at all...but, that has the tendancy to get people moving.

[pitohui]

16. wow and i thought there was a war on

our courts have nothing better to do than worry their pretty heads about celebs saying "fuck" ???

[rosesaylavee]

18. No fucking way!

Are you shitting me?

[undeterred]

19. Fuck Scalia, Alito, Roberts, and Thomas- they are all full of shit.

That is my opinion.