If you've read this blog before, then you know how much I love the FCC, especially with Washington's renewed puritanical obsession over broadcast indecency standards. Keep in mind that there's no actual list of forbidden words or phrases, acts or images. Nothing is specifically forbidden, but it doesn't need to be when we'll willingly over-censor ourselves to avoid the increasingly obscene fines that the FCC now has the power to levy. Part of free speech is the freedom to push the limits of decency so that new ideas can find their way into the public discourse more readily.
Granted, requesting previously aired tapes of sporting events isn't exactly restricting the flow of new ideas, but who can tell the effect it will have when there is no more live television? What really gets me, though, is the fact that they're combing tapes long after they've aired. After the tenfold increase in indecency fines our friends in Washington just pushed through, it's going to be extremely hard to convince me that this isn't just a money-grabbing scheme. I'd be interested to learn where these fines go, as well; I mean where the money actually goes, too. I won't accept the official word any more.
On the opposite side of the censorship argument, I'm actually in support of the plug being pulled on high school valedictorian Brittany McComb's graduation speech on account of excessive religious content. The graduation and therefore the speech was sponsored by a public school, as such the school is obliged to adhere to the separation of church and state and cannot endorse religious proselytizing. I mean, really - the girl's speech was already edited and approved by the school before graduation, like any graduation speech, and she chose to deviate from her approved script. I happen to think that excessive religious references are obscene. Let's broadcast the speech and get the FCC involved!!
The reason that I bring this up now, and not earlier, is that I read comics every day as a part of my lunch break, and came across Mallard Fillmore this week, which I often enjoy. I say often because I think that Bruce Tinsley really missed this one.
It's really a clear-cut case of a public school knowing that it can't legally sponsor religious speech, and enforcing the rule that McComb tried to dodge. I guess if you call yourself a conservative, though, you're obliged to hate the ACLU and everything it does. Ah, I love independent thinkers.
2 comments:
Dude, you're a helluva ranter!
Let's burn 'em down.
Sometimes things bother me enough that I just have to fight back in the most futile manner possible. I'll stick it to the man whether he knows it or not!! Talk about impotence.
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