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When comedian George Carlin died last Sunday, most remembrances focused on his infamous “Seven Dirty Words” routine, which ran afoul of the FCC and engendered a landmark Supreme Court case. Miami Herald television critic Glenn Garvin says America is divided over indecency and past guests weigh in on the debate over broadcast obscenities.
Of course America is divided over expletives. It's divided over everything else. Why should expletives be any different?
I'm disappointed that you bleeped the podcast version of this report. I understand why the over the air version needs to be bleeped, but none of those rationale apply to the podcast version. Furthermore, it's prejudicial bleep out the very subject of the report.
Since the time of this court decision, the nature of the media consuming public has changed to more resemble the one Justice William Brennan posits in his dissent. We seem to have a younger generation that is quite willing to support a black man for President and cares little about the sexual orientation of a married couple.
I credit the “impactful” quality of the media that Tim Winters complains of for helping children overcoming the prejudices of their families and communities and coming to this more tolerant attitude. It is, I believe, a good thing.
Meanwhile, there is a huge irony to so much of the uplifting family material that has contributed to such a tolerant young population. We watch our child stars grow to become degraded objects of scorn and revel in their dissolution or, worse, die, so no wonder we are ambivalent about such tame stuff as some corny old comedy routine.
The media and the FCC are merely mirroring the public’s cognitive dissonance here.
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