Prolife has a history of expressing superiority over those of another race/religion/nationality.
What a crock, are you in full blown nitwit phase today?
According to Muraldo, he has been in USA a ogg while making a good living, yet is not a citizen, but still whines like a liberal Demoncat. It is you liberals that wish to destroy America, then you screech when we say we are not going to let you.
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Into the sewer we go -- led by Bono
Mona Charen
October 14, 2003
If you caught the Golden Globe Awards last January and you live on the
East Coast where the program was aired live, then you heard Irish rock
star Bono express his thanks in the following words, "This is really,
really (f---ing) brilliant."
The Federal Communications Commission received hundreds of complaints --
mostly from those affiliated with the Parents Television Council. As
George Carlin reminded us, there are supposedly seven words you cannot
say on television, and the f-word tops the list.
Now, after months of deliberation, the FCC has issued its ruling. David
Solomon, chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau, declared, according to
The Associated Press, that while "the word may be crude and offensive
... in the context presented here, (the f-word) did not describe sexual
or excretory organs and activities." Oh, well that's all right then. The
"use of specific words," Solomon explained, "including expletives or
other 'four-letter words' does not render material obscene."
Using the f-word as an intensifier served to domesticate it, according
to the FCC. So its use -- and that of the other crude words -- can now
be expected to increase on television, as it has in the movies.
Or perhaps I should say continue to increase, because the Parents
Television Council has already documented the rise in vulgarity on
television. Since 1998, use of profanity expanded by 95 percent during
the "family hour" from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the three major networks, as
well as Fox, WB and UPN. The vulgarity rose by 109 percent in the 9 p.m.
to 10 p.m. slot.
The Parents Television Council also reported news that might at first
seem positive -- sexual references have declined in frequency. But,
sigh, it's not as good as it seems, since the sexual talk has become
more explicit when it does crop up.
The next time the matter is brought before the FCC, the agency will
doubtless find other grounds to overlook profanity on television. It is,
after all, so much easier to let standards slip than to uphold them.
And few seem to have any grasp of what's at stake in policing the
language. Are we not guaranteed "free speech" by the First Amendment? In
a discussion on C-SPAN last week, the subject of government dictating
speech was explored. Should the FCC, whose commissioners are appointed
by presidents, have the power to decide which words Americans can
pronounce on broadcast television? It seems a classic violation of the
First Amendment.
The FCC's power to regulate television goes back to the early days of
radio, when spectrum space was a limited resource. Since very few
broadcasters would enjoy the immense power of the airwaves, Congress
decreed in the Radio Act of 1927 that licensees would have to agree to
broadcast in the "public interest, convenience and necessity." The
Federal Communications Commission regulates the licensees.
Today, in a world of cable and satellite, with hundreds of channels, the
licensee model -- based on the premise of scarcity -- has largely become
obsolete. Cable television channels broadcast whatever they please. But
33 percent of homes are still without cable. To get down to first
principles, the First Amendment was meant, first and foremost, to
protect political speech. By no stretch of the imagination can use of
the f-word be said to represent a core American value.
Some protest that it's "just a word." Are they denying the power of
words? There used to be something called "polite society." Refined and
courteous people policed their language so as not to give offense. Such
a simple, quaint idea. Just the other day, my children and I were
bombarded, as we waited at a traffic light, by someone in a jeep who
insisted upon blasting his vulgar music to the world. Maybe it was
Bono's music. I wouldn't know. Even if the driver had been blasting
Mozart, he would have been stepping on our toes. But the obscenity
compounded the offense.
Courtesy, consideration, self-control. Memo to FCC: They make life more
civilized.
C2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. |
