I recently wrote a blog titled “Freedom of Speech (Part Fucking One)”, that got a fairly decent response. I used a lot of quotes about freedom of speech from the pro and con sides. I like that it stirred up a lot of discussion and got people thinking. But I knew that there would be a Part Fucking Two. Mainly because there is a lot to be said about the topic. It’s another of those “hot button” topics that will always stir discussion. One thing I didn’t much address in the first was the blatant hypocrisy of the United States government, namely the Federal Communications Commission. The other is the specific word FUCK. We’ll deal with those two now.
I’m going to start with the word fuck. Because fuck is one of my favorite words, in fact, I don’t even use it as a word anymore, it’s simply punctuation. Many people think that fuck was originally an acronym, standing for “Fornicate Under Command of the King”. This is false, the origins of the word fuck are unknown. Fuck first appearing print in 1475, in a poem titled “Flen Flyys”. So what is the point of fuck? Simply, it’s the most flexibly defined word in the English language. Though I could be wrong, I did zero research on it. It’s used as a present participle or an intensifier, as in “She’s a fucking beauty.” It can be used as a noun, as in “You lucky fuck.” An adjective, as in “Fucking brilliant.” A verb, active present tense in “He fucks her.” Passive verb in the past tense, in “She was fucked by him.” Intransitive verb, as in “He fucked her all night.” Transitive verb, as in “He fucked her over.” As an interjection, as when expressing anger or discontent, in “FUCK!” But really, what’s the basis of the problem with the word? Lewis Black once said “If you go outside in Wisconsin, in the middle of the winter without the proper coat on, if your first thought isn’t ‘FUCK!’, you have anger issues.” Fuck is a word that can display emotion, both affection and hostility. It’s cathartic. Ice-T said it’s “a word that really translates the feeling.” And comedian Billy Connely added, “If you tell someone to fuck off, off they will fuck. Because it’s an international expression.” That’s not to say that I think it should be on national television during dinner time, it’s just that there is far too much government control on what is, and isn’t aired.
Where did it all start? When did the F.C.C. begin to exert its control over the airwaves? When the F.C.C. first got involved in levying fines against broadcasters was when a broadcaster in New York City, working for the Pacifica Corporation, aired a clip of George Carlins Seven Dirty Words, but only after warning that there were vulgarities. At that point, the F.C.C. began an investigation. Why? Because in New York City, a single complaint was made. At that point, the F.C.C. decided that radio and television are not protected by the freedom of speech. Which is a blatant disregard of my freedom of speech. The Pacifica Corporation wasn’t fined at the time, just warned. But people saw it had power. Now there are groups pushing the F.C.C. to monitor satellite television and radio, as well as the internet. Which doesn’t bother me one bit, it’ll be years before they get through all of the porn sites before they get to me. Think about these statistics. In 2000, there were 111 F.C.C. complaints. Because in case you didn’t know, the F.C.C. doesn’t monitor shit, it responds to complaints. Between 2001 and 2004, there were 1,068,802 complaints filed, 99.9 percent of these complaints coming from the Parents Television Council. What could mark such a leap in complaints? What happened in 2001? Oh yeah, we elected a new president. Janet Jackson flashes a tit and here we are. Dennis Prager, punching bag radio host from my first blog had the balls to actually say; “Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake hurt my society deeply. That liberals do not understand this is an indictment of liberalism, and not of conservatism.” What? How did a woman’s breast hurt society? And how does it, in any imaginable way, indict liberalism? Was there a political sticker on her breast? How can someone reasonably make the assumptions Mr. Prager is? Fortunately, I don’t think the F.C.C. has any sort of regulatory rights over space. So I’m assuming satellite radio is safe. But they do have F.C.C. punching bag Howard Stern on satellite radio. Stern is the F.C.C.’s favorite target for fines, especially after he got into a shouting match with former F.C.C. chairman, Michael Powell on live radio. In the Pacifica situation, the majority decision Justice John Paul Stevens wrote “The broadcast media have established a uniquely presence in the lives of all Americans. Patently offensive, indecent material presented over the airwaves confronts the citizen… in the privacy of their own home, where individuals right to be left alone patently outweigh the rights of an intruder.” Yeah, because you don’t have the right to change the fucking channel, right? That’s what I don’t get. If you find something offensive or indecent, why would you watch or listen to it? Justice William Brennan wrote the dissenting opinion in the Pacifica case. “In our land of cultural pluralism the are so many who think, act and talk differently from the members of the Court and who do not share their fragile sensibilities. It is only an acute ethnocentric myopia that enables the court to approve censorship of communications, solely because of the words they contain. The courts decision… is another of the dominant cultures efforts to force those groups who do not share it’s mores to conform to it’s only was of thinking, acting and speaking.” Seems like Justice Brennan gets it. Just because someone talks differently than you, doesn’t mean you can censor them. Because you’re not just banning words, you’re banning thinking, acting and communicating as well. And that’s not just a slippery slope, it’s a pit.
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