For example, as a verb it could mean to release themselves, and as a noun, “shit” can mean feces, an act of defecation, nonsense, foolishness, crap, and something of little value, according to the webster dictionary. In all fairness, the regulations are in place to prevent virgin ears from being exposed to adult language.įor example, the word “shit,” can be offensive and obscene to some people. Ultimately, the FCC won the suit, but when a lower court investigated the vagueness of the regulations, the court determined the FCC did not give media companies like Fox enough time to conform to the regulations. In fact, the FCC revised its regulations in the early 2000s, when the rise of the internet paved the way for more indecent material to be made available to the public.įox News Network filed a lawsuit against the FCC for the revisions, as the television networks were under high scrutiny. Justice William Brenner slammed the misappropriation of the first amendment principals, saying, “another of the dominant culture’s inevitable efforts to force those groups who do not share its mores to conform to its way of thinking, acting, and speaking.”
Justice John Paul Stevens cited a need for such regulations due to broadcast media’s “Uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of all Americans.” The Supreme Court decision resulted in a decision that favored the FCC, saying the federal agency has the power to regulate airwaves that are listened to by the public. The courts ruled in favor of Pacifica, saying the FCC overreached, at which point it was sent to the Supreme Court. The FCC filed charges against Pacifica, the company that owned the radio station that aired the bit, and the case would become the standard when it came to the FCC’s regulatory powers. The two listened to the bit, then the father filed a complaint with the FCC.
His mentor, Lenny Bruce, had been arrested in the 60s for saying two of the seven words (Ott, 2020), and just a few months after premiering the bit, Carlin was arrested in Milwaukee for saying all seven words in a public performance.Īccording to an article about how Carlin’s comedy sketch impacted the legality of the Federal Communications Commission for punishing those who say any of the seven words on the air (Ott, 2020), Carlin’s bit was played on the radio, when a CBS executive was with his son. In the bit, Carlin addresses the issue with pulling out seven words – shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits – of the 400,000-plus English lexicon and labelling the words as indecent and obscene.Ĭarlin poked fun at words that could have made the list, like the word “bitch.” He said that one minute a person could be talking about a female dog, which would be an acceptable use of the word, and the next refer to an angry woman as a “bitch,” making the word obscene to some. When George Carlin presented his “Seven Words” comedy bit to an audience in Monterey, CA back in 1972, he opened the eyes of many people.
0 kommentar(er)
