{"id":1082,"date":"2009-04-28T14:57:41","date_gmt":"2009-04-28T19:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2009-04-29T03:56:04","modified_gmt":"2009-04-29T08:56:04","slug":"the-sacred-the-inane-supreme-court-fcc-ruling-on-obscenity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2009\/04\/28\/the-sacred-the-inane-supreme-court-fcc-ruling-on-obscenity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sacred & the Inane:: Supreme Court FCC Ruling on Obscenity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Supreme court just ruled on a case {5-4}, upholding the FCC citing of the network for violating decency rules. \u00a0The incidents stemmed from live broadcasts and involved Cher and Nicole Ritchie blurting out expletives during Billboard Music Awards in the early 200s. \u00a0Here’s the Cher “incident,”<\/a><\/strong> where she’s receiving an award and responding to her critics. \u00a0Nicole Ritchie’s transgressions involved banter with then-BFF Paris Hilton::<\/p>\n

\n

“Paris Hilton: Now Nicole, remember, this is a live show, watch the bad language.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicole Richie: Okay, God.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paris Hilton: It feels so good to be standing here tonight.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicole Richie: Yeah, instead of standing in mud and . Why do they even call it \u201cThe Simple Life?\u201d Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It’s not so fucking simple.” <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

–“FCC v. Fox Television Stations,”\u00a0Bill Long<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Those really interested can view the oral arguments in Fox Television v. FCC in the 3rd. Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the George W. Bush administration, the FCC made it a point to uphold decency rules. \u00a0Some critics argued that the FCC wasn’t applying standards uniformly. \u00a0Broadcast TV airings of Saving Private Ryan, full of “f-bombs” managed to make it through without scrutiny. \u00a0The FCC has been a target for years on the topic of censorship and their “oversight” on the public airwaves. \u00a0Comedian, George Carlin, made a name for himself with his “7 Words<\/a><\/strong>” schtick that’s a commentary on the FCC.<\/p>\n

The Power of the Word in the Age of YouTube<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this case, Justice Scalia stated, “Even when used as an expletive, the F-word’s power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning.” \u00a0On the dissenting side, Justice Stevens countered with,\u00a0“The FCC’s shifting and impermissibly vague indecency policy only imperils these broadcasters and muddles the regulatory landscape.” \u00a0Stevens noted with more than a bit of irony that the FCC polices for words with loose, at best, associations with sex and excrement, but has no issue with commercials for erectile dysfunction or going to the bathroom.<\/p>\n

Bill Long<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0makes a valid point, in my opinion, by bringing up the Internet and YouTube. \u00a0Indecent content abounds online, with easy access and largely unfettered by regulatory bodies. What is the point of the FCC upholding decency standards? \u00a0What exactly are they? \u00a0Apparently, you cannot say expletives, but you can sell all the sexual innuendo<\/span> sex you want::
\n<\/object><\/p>\n

Warning::<\/span> content may be offensive & idiotic<\/p>\n

I’ve been up in Canada all week, a land far more lenient than the US<\/a><\/strong> in terms of content restriction. \u00a0The FCC equivalent, the CRTC<\/a><\/strong>, tends to only intervene in serious or controversial matters. \u00a0So, in Canada, you can drop an F-bomb, but not between\u00a06:00 AM to 9:00 PM. \u00a0So, when the Trailer Park Boys<\/a><\/strong> comes on at 6:00PM, it’s bleeped, but not at midnight. \u00a0Those unfamiliar with the TBP…enjoy. \u00a0This one goes out to Justice Scalia::<\/object><\/p>\n

Warning::<\/span> \u00a0content may be offensive & idiotic, but funny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Supreme court just ruled on a case {5-4}, upholding the FCC citing of the network for violating decency rules. \u00a0The incidents stemmed from live broadcasts and involved Cher and Nicole Ritchie blurting out expletives during Billboard Music Awards in the early 200s. \u00a0Here’s the Cher “incident,” where she’s receiving an award and responding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1403,1405,1402,1408,1406,1407,1404,1409],"class_list":["post-1082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cher","tag-decency","tag-fcc","tag-fox","tag-justice-scalia","tag-justice-stevens","tag-nicole-ritchie","tag-us-supreme-court"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1092,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions\/1092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}