The statist-dominated U.S. Supreme Court will formally review a case against the FCC for its profanity rules. Interestingly enough, Fox Broadcasting was the company that brought the case against the government agency, which is heading its way to the courthouse.
Obviously, this is all done in the wake of U2 front man Bono's utterance of a vulgarity when he accepted his Golden Globes award for Best Original Song in 2003 and, of course, Janet Jackson's uproarious right breast exposure (even though her nipple was covered with a pasty) during her half-time performance with Justin Timberlake at the 2004 Super Bowl game. (Yes, I'm referring to the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" incident all right.)
If these rules are upheld by the Court, then it will most likely pave the way for all radio stations to employ "dump boxes," a measure that will be mandated by the state.
Moreover, this is lunacy at the highest. No government agency -- no matter how coercive it will be -- will be able to stop every performer on television or every caller or talk show host on the radio from dropping the F bomb. It just won't happen. People will find more ways around the regulations, creating perverse incentives along the way. Does anyone really think that this will just solve anything at all?
Plus, the atmosphere of regulating speech on the public "government" airwaves is revolting. It paints this erroneous yet idyllic, white-picket-fenced view of what America is, especially since that idea was installed at the time of the 1950s. Americans during that period were swearing back in those days (although in less numbers than they are today), and today's generation is using them more so in record numbers than ever. This is in large part of the federal government and conservative movement's imposition of morality on the American public, injection of puritanism into our society, and creation of the forbidden fruit paradigm that has come to reign in the U.S.
This is all the more reason to abolish the FCC and let TV stations and their viewers and AM and FM radio stations and their viewers decide what content is objectionable and what content isn't. Let them take personal responsibility for what they say and do. By allowing the free market to come back into existenc, it's a win-win scenario for everyone, because, after all, everyone gets what they want in the realm of social cooperation and voluntaryism, not coercion and control by the diabolical state.
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