Decency, Schmecency

If you are of a certain age, you will remember how Justice Potter Stewart immortalized himself in a 1964 SCOTUS decision, when he wrote that while he could not define obscenity, he knew it when he saw it.

Such is the lather that the pecksniffs of the Parents Television Council and other allegedly faith-based lobbies have worked themselves into, and they have managed to pass the hysteria along not only to the FCC but to members of the US legislature, ever willing to ingratiate themselves to any puffed-up flock of loudmouths who spout off in the name of the Deity.

That cute bespectacled little fellow who runs the FCC (and who bears a striking resemblance to Harry Potter) heaved mightily and vomited forth a dictum that cited numberous occasions when the "f-word" or "s-word" were used on network TV. Mind you, he did not bother to define that the "f-word" might be fuck, leaving open the possibility that he was referring to faith, fruitcake, feces, french-kissing, or fanatacism. Likewise, it was unclear whether the "s-word" refers to shit, or whether it could equally be applied to concepts such as salvation, sacrifice, saliva, sacrament, security, or stupidity.

Ever eager (in an election year, at least) to pick up any fumbled ball, the legislative branch of government has drafted bills that would increase tenfold the fines that could be levied against those who broadcast indecent material. I have not read either bill in its entirety, but I can only presume that these laws contain a provision to contact the late Justice Stewart by seance or Ouija board for a reading on each particular offense in question.

The reason this is all so absurd is that regulating indecency--however it might be defined--in broadcast entertainment is a waste of time. (Incidentally, I think the salaries paid to Jay Leno and David Lettermen are indecent: does that count?) As I have been at pains to point out before, we do not yet live twenty minutes into the future, in the world of Max Headroom, where no TV set could be equipped with an "off" switch. And with the singular exception of medical waiting rooms, there are few places in the USA where you cannot simply change the channel if you are so horrified at what you're seeing.

Meanwhile, no law has been proposed to address the coarsening of life in the USA except in the world of broadcast entertainment. Oliver Stone and Michael Moore are free to do whatever pleases them. And our young people--The Promise of Tomorrow, remember--are free to wear tee shirts bearing legends like the one I saw yesterday in Home Depot: "The only job I need is a blow job."

Shame on this teenage brat for being so thoughtless, and double-shame on his mama for not smacking him across the mouth. But God help us if Congress ever gets wind of the fact that people are wearing indecent tee shirts.

tags: legislation  humor  religion  broadcasting  fcc  indecency  

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