The public airwaves are just that, "public", and as such anything broadcast publicly infers that the general public will be tuning in. The FCC has certain guidelines cast upon public airwaves in order to protect the "general public" from what they might otherwise deem as offensive material. When you purchase pay TV, you know what you are getting. With public TV, you do not. There in lies the difference. When you turn on that pubic station you assume you will get programming which a "general audience" would likely be safe to watch. By the time you find out that what you are watching is crap, it is too late to just tune it out. When I pay for HBO and turn on the "Sopranos", I know what I am getting, I know what to expect. Look, the indecency laws, and free speech (FCC et all) in America is extremely liberal compared to other parts of the world. Rock bands that tour in Germany have to give all their music/lyrics to Government Censors ahead of time so they can make sure that what they will play will not get them arrested. If they comply, they are fine. If they do not, they arrest everyone. That's just one small example. At least in America, FCC, or no FCC I can still go to a club, listen to a band scream and shout obscenities all day long. Not so in many other places. We've got it pretty good here. The FCC has some guidelines in place. All I am saying is they should stick to the program rather than going ape shit every-time some 40 year old nappy road worn hooter appears during a football game. If they had been doing their job in the first place, that incident never would have occurred. They've been lax and they know it. Now they are going overboard, again, to make it look like they are doing something. Ultimately, I agree with you. Just don't watch it. I do not watch network television (there is nothing but crap on anyway). Except of course, "Desperate Housewives". My guess is that show was run past HBO and they passed on it. It would be doing even better there IMHO. I pay for satellite so I can get what I want, when I want it. Given most of us have bizarre all nighter schedules, I'd rather be able to see movies, round the clock news/weather, etc., than some stupid infomercial for oxyclean and collAge girls!
I would start here. It's not just a group of "appointed over-lords". This is actually the result of public outrage. Prior to the JJ incident during the Super-Bowl the FCC had been pretty lax. They were taking it easy, and going with the flow. They were trusting networks to police themselves, which was both good and bad. Since that little stunt, public outrage is what has forced the FCC to actually enforce laws already on the books, and delve out fines they normally would not have. It's not something new. I mean it is not like the FCC cracked down one day and said we are going on a censorism bonanza. They just actually started enforce existing policy. Trouble is, when you get too lax, the second you actually crack the whip, everyone cries foul and begins to scream censorship. What they should be screaming is enforcement. Have you seen that blimp lately? I don't know too many people that would want to see that fat cow now. The question is not so much of taste, but when is it really appropriate to air things? Janet's skunky, used abused and wrinkly nipple was not appropriate during a football game (that's my opinion). When I'm watching a football game I want football. I don't even care for the dumb blondes they throw on the sidelines that interview has been players from yesteryear while a crucial play is going on(man I hate when that happens). If I am watching some soap opera, or one of those night time shows and nipple slips, in an appropriate context, so what. The trouble with that incident was more about timing and whether the venue was appropriate. As for breast feeding? To me it is a private thing. Even my wife when she breast fed did not just whip it out in public. The chicks that I have seen just whipping them out, or running around with a milky, milky coco puff staring out of a brawless cartagan, to me, are voyeurs. They do it on purpose. At least the ones I've seen. Again, I really do not need to see that anymore than I need to see someone scratching their ass. Sure it's a natural act, and it happens, I just don't care to see it. Thank you for sharing them. Now you've got mine too.
I censor what my kid watches. He's 8. I don't have a problem with language: he picks it up in school and knows it is not appropiate. He gets to watch 1 hour of cartoons a day. His choice; with the exception of a couple. Cartoons these days can be more violent than tv. But unfortunately, I can't censor the freakin commercials, which feature violence, language, a local strip club (mom can we go?) and Victoria Secret commercials (mom why don't you wear clothes like that?) that shouldn't be showing during daytime/prime time hours. I'm not a prude either. If they must show women prancing around in skimpy drawers, then by jove I wanna see men prancing around in their skimpy drawers.
Extremists don't believe in fun. Everything must be "educational" and have "family values"... otherwise it's liberal brainwashing