F.C.C. Indecency Ruling Round-up

Back in the days when the F.B.I. investigated LOUIE LOUIE, Richard Berry was told by government agents that he could go to jail for writing an obscene song. Around the same time, Lenny Bruce was having a lot of problems over the language that he used in his stage performances. As we all know, Richard Berry did NOT write an obscene song, but merely a song that was reinterpreted with obscene innuendos. Lenny Bruce, of course, killed himself after many years of prosecution regarding his controversial performances.

In the land of the free, there’s stil a lot of gray areas when it comes to free speech.

Because Janet Jackson’s pastie-covered nipple was exposed for 19/32 (or 9/16) of a second at the 2004 Super Bowl, there’s been a wave of hysteria regarding nudity, street language, or anything that dares to deal with human sexuality. For Janet’s little flash of flesh, CBS was fined $550,000.00 by the F.C.C. Nevermind that a mother’s nipple is the first thing that a newborn baby will see, as the F.C.C. has determined that such things shall be defined as indecent.

The WFMU blog has a superb Indecency Ruling Round-Up that discusses the various fees that the F.C.C. has handed out to different television programs. Did you know that certain language used in “Saving Private Ryan” is OK, but absolutely forbidden in a PBS documentary about the blues? The difference is $15,000.00, which is what one non-commercial station was forced by pay.

Hypocrisy and double-standards are alive and well in 2006! Get used to it!