This past summer marked the passage of the new “Defense of Decency” act by Congress, designed to protect our poor citizenry from the horrors of Janet Jackson’s breasts and Howard Stern’s irreverent commentary. The law imposed fines on media outlets which allowed such filth to grace the nation’s airwaves, and began a self-crackdown at many other businesses. The local radio station I listen to at home cracked down so much that hosts were not allowed to say “goddamn” and had to find ass-backwards ways to reference simple things like female orgasms on their show.
Congressional actions like this anger me to no end. There is a small minority in this country that wants to make sure that no one ever hears or sees anything that they deem unpleasant, no matter what other people think. The Federal Communications Commission, acting under authority granted to it by Congress, regulates broadcast media based upon what the average person believes would be offensive. I don’t know how they decide this, but based upon my own experience, they must not be trying very hard at finding out what the average person thinks. Take a walk around our campus and see how many people think the word “fuck” is offensive.
I hope I didn’t offend you too much by writing the word “fuck” in my editorial. Actually, I don’t give a shit whether you were upset by that, and that’s the point I want to make here: if I offended your delicate sensibilities just now, stop reading here and move on to one of the other features in the newspaper. I recommend the “Incident Blotter” or the comics page.
There is no need to write a letter to the FCC and have them slap companies with tens of thousands of dollars worth of fines just because one commentator or guest said one of Carlin’s seven dirty words. If you’re offended by something, just turn the page or change the channel. Millions of people have been unfairly impacted because a minority of Americans wrote letters complaining that they saw a nipple during a Super Bowl halftime show. If everyone who wasn’t offended had written a letter, this would be a non-issue, but those people didn’t have an axe to grind. Instead, the social reactionaries who want to return to the Victorian days where a bared ankle was tantamount to pornography are forcing their views on the rest of the populace.
People often invoke the “best interests of the children” when arguing this topic. I have to ask, how many people grow up to be serial killers or pedophiles just because they saw some porn when they were 12? I doubt there’s any legitimate data on the subject, but I don’t think anyone would be able to argue that there’s a correlation. Children live in the world just like everyone else, and you can’t try to keep them enclosed in a box where no perceived harm can possibly mar their innocence. Any parent who does this is just doing their child ten times more harm, by preventing them from being able to handle normal social situations.
Tolerance is a relatively simple concept, and one that everyone should learn and practice. Some people are entertained by some things, and others enjoy something entirely different. But we live in a society that should be able to see past the differences and just tolerate all types of pastimes. So, to reiterate, if you don’t like what you’re seeing or hearing, just move on, turn the page or change the channel, and just shut the fuck up.
