WARNING, IF YOU CONTINUE TO READ THIS, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT YOU WILL BE TURNED INTO STONE, GO BLIND, OR PERHAPS BE BANNED FROM HEAVEN. I AM A HEATHEN AND A BLASPHEMER. BEWARE OF CONTINUING TO READ THIS VULGAR TRASH.
The seven dirty words were spoken by comedian George Carlin who created the "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television," used in his album Class Clown. Carlin's original seven are:
Shit. Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits
Are you still alive? Have you gone blind? Are you now "wounded" forever? Are you old enough to read these words?
In 1973 he did a similar routine simply entitled "Filthy Words", dealing with the same list. This version was broadcast by Pacifica radio station WBAI, which led to a Supreme Court case, F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) that helped define acceptable free speech limits on broadcast television and radio in the United States. Will we ever recover from this?
The primary reason for the self censoring of content is the draconian action threatened by the FCC. There are fearful advertisers as well who are worried about boycotts organized by conservative pressure groups that are religiously based.
The premise of contemporary censorship is sold to the public as "we must protect our children." I was "protected" from this stuff as a child and look at what became of me.
I am taking fingers to keyboard to point out the uselessness of media censorship in the 21st century. This will not be a didactic tirade replete with historical or biblical references, but rather a simple expression of what society might choose to do as we move into the limitless digital delivery of content to a variety of devices, known and not known, in the future, with many of these devices in the hands of and controlled by "children."
These titles appear in the table of contents of Banned in the U.S.A. by Herbert N. Foerstel. It shows some of the fifty books that were most frequently challenged in schools and public libraries in the United States between 1990 and 1992. These are ongoing examples of the power of the few who attempt to control content availability to the many.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.
My purpose here is not to be critical of those people who want to protect their own children from consuming content that they wish them not to consume. I would however like to deter these people from protecting everyone else's children from content that they do not find acceptable for their children.
Cable, Satellite, Wireless and Internet content delivery is not restricted. Over the air radio and television content is still restricted by the FCC.
The government is unable to interfere with the delivery of content by systems over which they have no regulatory authority.
The vocal "few" want to determine what the "many" can watch and hear. Not a good thing.
Proper use of the Vchip allows parents to prevent their children from seeing what they do not want them to see. That is what it was designed to do. Society should encourage concerned parent not to subscribe to delivery systems that deliver "unacceptable" content. All delivery devices have on and off switches and ways to change the station if a program is unacceptable to them.
Internet and cel phone content is available to children almost without parental controls, and additional digital 'delivery systems will arrive without "protective" devices in the future as well.
The FCC did a disservice to the creative community and the public following the Janet Jackson "event." They, as usual, responded to a very vocal few who were outraged at this bit of stupidity, and rather then dismissing it as a "dumb anomaly" they glommed onto it as though the future of our democracy was at risk. The FCC might have suggested to CBS that they pay a little more attention to the Super Bowl presentation, fine them, and leave it at that.
In retrospect is America better off now that the FCC has threatened the stations with license revocations for the inadvertent use of the word "fuck?" It is amazing to me that the nightly presentation of killing, wounding, and destruction is ok while inadvertent "bad" language is not.
Over the air television has become violent and sexual, and rather then enacting new rules and regulations to prevent this, the FCC might just suggest that parents be responsible for what their children watch and listen to.
The FCC should eliminate the draconian fines and threats to revoke licenses caused by what they consider inappropriate content being delivered. They should replace them with lesser fines that do not place a chilling effect on everything including drama, news and sports, and recognize that from time to time there will be a failure in the system.
Are the regulators able to present evidence of anyone being harmed by hearing a Carlin word? They should lighten up and understand if a word inadvertently broadcast, there might be fines, but not "stupid" ones.
I salute George Carlin and all of his words, and long may they be spoken.
I use almost all of them myself, but only six of the seven. The seventh, when spoken in mixed company, can result in my death, or severe injury.
Norman Horowitz