Has the FCC gone too far?

[liberalogic]

Recently, the FCC has thrown fines around like there is no tomorrow. They condemned a fully-clothed orgy scene on CBS' "Without a Trace" and fined "NYPD Blue" for using the word "dickhead." Even PBS got fined because musicians in a blues documentary cursed.

The problem today is that everyone is offended by everything. How can we even censor anything anymore? You say something anti-religious, you get a million complaints. You say something anti-gay, you get a million complaints. There is even an italian group protesting the Sopranos not because of sex, violence, or profanity, but because they think that the show gives italians a bad name.

Censorship is a tricky issue, but that is why we have ratings and disclaimers. We can't cater to "decency" when there is no standard definition because everyone will get offended at some point. If parents are so concerned about this and they write letters to "protect their children," then they should be ashamed. Their concern is frivolous-- if they really cared, they would monitor instead of complain (South Park has made many episodes that show satirize this concept brilliantly if anyone is interested). Unless a show is directly hateful (meaning we are watching Hitler propaganda), we should not be censoring material. Disclaimers and ratings should be good enough...if you don't think it's appropriate, then turn it off.

 

[5stringJeff]

The key to your post is the second to last sentence:

"Unless a show is directly hateful (meaning we are watching Hitler propaganda), we should not be censoring material."

What you've done is replace the current standard of censoring shows on public TV (nudity, sex acts, and/or profanity) and replaced it with your own standards (hate). What makes hate any better or worse than nudity? Whose judgment are we to use?

IMO, the FCC should be able to set minimum standards for public airwaves (i.e. the ones you can get with rabbit-ear antennas), but not cable, which you have to pay for. And the standards the FCC has in place right now are pretty close to right on. As I understand it, late night television is censored less heavily.