Indecency
on 02.17.05, 07:44am in life • comments (3)
Rarely, if ever, do I discuss politics on Furrygoat, but I just have to say that this scares the crap out of me.
I don’t quite understand the following statement: "Under FCC rules and federal law, radio stations and over-the-air television channels cannot air obscene material at any time, and cannot air indecent material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The FCC defines obscene material as describing sexual conduct "in a patently offensive way" and lacking "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value." Indecent material is not as offensive but still contains references to sex or excretions."
Um, question: How can you define what’s indecent or obscene to an individual? I have a totally warped sense of humor, so I’m sure that I would almost certainly find something funny that would totally offend someone else.
Some days I think that politicians feel like they are speaking in a ‘voice from a higher power’ rather than really representing the ‘voice of the people’.
Anyways, enough of that rant - I just had to get it out of my system. Back to your regularly scheduled blogging.
CrookedBush.com Inc. (February 17, 2005 @ 11:00 am)
If Only We Would Follow
It seems our cultureís voracious appetite for extreme images isnít going to wane anytime soon. Whether itís dead bodies, multilation, or sexual activity, itís not making us a better, gentler, people. Itís fascinating to me how the US sometimes appears …
Alexander Grundner (February 18, 2005 @ 10:55 am)
I’m a single, straight, open-minded guy in my early 30’s and I don’t have a problem with the new measure. The public air waves should be geared towards family viewing and listening, which is the vast majority of audience — not single guys with perverted tendencies (that’s what cable is for - hahaha). But I have to agree that the FCC needs to define what indecency is because it is such a subjective term. There needs to be a list of what words, images, actions cannot be used and are considered indecent. The porn magazine industry in general has standards that they follow - i.e. no fisting, rape scenes, etc. (yes, I watched the porn documentary on PBS), so why not public broadcasting industry?
hurcane (February 18, 2005 @ 2:02 pm)
I believe that the standards for defining obscene and indecent have not been changed by this new bill. Congress simply raised the limit, although significantly. There were also some minor changes regarding which entities are liable to be fined. Under the old rules, the individual network-owned affiliates could be fined for the infamous “wardrobe malfunction.” Under the new rules, only the network can be fined. The network-owned affiliates can’t be fined now if they did not have advance knowledge.
Under the current rules, the wardrobe malfunction would only result in fines to the network, not to the affiliates. If an affiliate were to replay the event, they might be fined.