When I was a teen I bought George Carlin's album Class Clown because it contained a brilliant satire on obscenity titled "The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television". (And yes, I can still recite those words from memory from Carlin's routine.) My mom heard it when I was playing it and promptly threw out my album in an attempt for parental censoring. I promptly bought another copy. So there's the first lesson on trying to clearly define and outlaw obscenity--humans will be humans!
This morning in the news I read that:
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On "Good Morning America" to promote her new film "Mad Money," Keaton told host Diane Sawyer that she admired her beauty, especially Sawyer's lips, saying that if she had lips like that she wouldn't have had to work on her "f---ing personality" and would be married by now.
After she spoke the word, Keaton made an offhand apology, and Sawyer warned that her mother was going to wash her mouth out with soap.
ABC News senior vp Jeffrey Schneider said the network bleeped the word for the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zone feeds and regretted the incident.
"It was obviously unfortunate, and we were quick to correct it for subsequent feeds," he said.
Last year, a federal appeals court in New York threw out the FCC's rule that said a fleeting reference gets broadcasters a fine for indecency. In its decision, the court told the commission that it failed to give a good reason for its decision and likely couldn't find a good reason if it had to.
The Bush administration is appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Congress has also taken action. Briefs are due in the appeal next month.
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At the time Carlin was developing his Seven Words routine, we were entrenched in Vietnam. Today we are up to our necks in Iraq and Afganistan. It's sad to see that the U.S. government leaders have not learned to better order their priorities over the past 35 year
I think I will go dig out my old 33 1/3 lp of Class Clown and give it a spin now. I need a good laugh to keep me from crying--or cursing!
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