“Heyheyheyhey. Did you hear about the FCC wacking on a TV show with $1mil fine based on complaints from what basically boiled down to three people? It was all over the news like wildfire. I read about it in the New York Times. Freedom of speech is under attack, why aren’t you all over this?”
Ah, the tyranny of the few? It isn’t all that new:
“The FCC, an appointed body, not elected, answerable only to the President, decided on its own that radio and television were the only two parts of American life not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Why did they decide that? Because they got a letter from a Minister in Mississippi.”
That’s George Carlin, speaking in reference to his tumult with the FCC and Supreme Court over “Filthy Words.” That particular fracas began 31 years ago and took five years to play out. As it did, disco flourished, so it’s not like indecency was on the run. WBAI and Pacifica weren’t even fined.
It would be interesting to know how much advertising dough Married by America cleared for FOX, and how much of a bite $1.2 million takes out of that. As for George? Well, he’s now a triple Grammy-winner and franchise on legs, selling a T-shirt and poster with a list of more than 2,000 “filthy words and phrases” printed on them.
Finally: this latest hype actually came as a surprise to Brent Bozell at the Parents Television Council, “[which], on its own, filed 4,073 complaints. He wants the way the FCC tallies these things changed.”
The moral of this story is: we’ve got bigger problems now. Jello Biafra thought the same thing 23 years ago. Even my cynicism’s not original.
Skip to content