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June 15, 2006
parenting 101, George W. style
"Unfortunately, in recent years, broadcast programming has too often pushed the bounds of decency...The language is becoming coarser during the times when it's more likely children will be watching television. It's a bad trend, a bad sign." -President Bush.
In president bush's fantasy land, Americans cannot be trusted to know what's right or wrong for their children. In fact, Americans do not know what's right or wrong for themselves! Mr. bush is so dearly concerned about our well being, that he's made some big decisions for us just like any good parent would do. On Thursday, June 15th, President Bush signed a legislation that increased the maximum fine for indecency on the airwave by tenfold. According to our stellar president, this will force the broadcast industry to "take seriousy their duty to keep the public airwaves free of obscene, profane and indecent material." Of course, the law does not clearly define what is deemed 'indecent' nor the definition of 'decency'. How clever and convenient for his future vendettas...
(According to the Webster Dictionary: Decency is 1: FITNESS b : ORDERLINESS
2 a : the quality or state of being decent : PROPRIETY b : conformity to standards of taste, propriety, or quality
3 : standard of propriety -- usually used in plural
damn it. this doesn't clarify anything for the general public but i know a few folks in DC who could benefit from adding a few lines to this definition.)
from a personal point of view, the media DOES wallow in too much excrement for its own good. no pun intended. i wish that the medium of television and radio would be used to promote the arts, not irrelevant celebrity gossip. however, when a higher power dictates what can or cannot be heard by the public, that clearly crosses the boundaries of free speech and choice. once these kinds of groundbreaking decisions are made, how far can it be taken and when does it stop? today we are punishing Howard Stern-copycats for joking about excrement. Years from now, it could be NPR discussing gay rights.
i choose to ignore the garbage on the radio. I don't own cable television. if i were a parent, my children would be reading a book, listening to NPR, or watching the Discovery channel. i want to make these decisions for myself, from my own free will, not because the president told me so.
Perhaps, at the very least, this law will make the media 'think' long and hard about their content. But i highly doubt it. i believe it will simply fuel their fire to push the censorship boundaries. Too bad our old friend Hunter S. Thompson, the renegade journalist, isn't around to spout off his thoughts. i know he would have a few choice words on this situation.
Posted by Kellie at June 15, 2006 07:31 PM