In October, the FCC ruled that Bono’s use of the phrase “this is really, really fucking brilliant” during the Golden Globe awards did not violate federal laws prohibiting indecent programming.
The FCC’s reasoning was that Bono’s remarks were “fleeting and isolated” and did not “describe or depict sexual or excretory actitivities and organs.”
According to this ruling, the FCC has previously allowed the use of such words, used as insults, to stand, which I suppose means that under the current FCC regime, one could get away with calling the president a “cocksucker” on national television.
Even a cursory Google search will turn up page after page by conservative and religious groups incensed by this ruling. Perhaps in response, California Republican Doug Ose and Texas Republican Lamar Smith introduced a
bill in the House banning the use of such words.
It’ll be interesting to see where this goes. I’m sure the debate on this bill will be the very first time ever that any Congressperson has uttered the words cunt or asshole, so I’m happy to have them guiding the ship of American morality.
[via Metafilter]
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