The Twisted Rantings of the Dantelope

Today marks another sad chapter in the spiraling fall of public media. The already ridiculous fine of $32,500 for saying "FUCK" or doing anything "indecent" on the radio or on a public television channel was raised to a mindboggling $325,000 per incident, with a cap of $3 million.

While they (the religious right and the parents with a habit of overanalyzing the impact of a child hearing or seeing something that mommy and daddy will have difficulty explaining) continue to push the government to regulate and restrict our public media, they are unwittingly causing it to fold over and die.

You see, "indecency" is not something easily defined. It is not an absolute and it never will be. While that's easy to undertand when comparing cultures across different countries -- say Japan vs. France vs. the USA -- it's harder for people to comprehend within the confines of their own country.

"Indecency" is typically defined by local communities, which makes the definition more accepted among those who use it. Don't like it... move! But when the FCC gets involved on a more general level and says that if NBC were to air Curb Your Enthusiasm they'd have to pony up $3 million just to get past the censors... well, that's applying one small community's "indecency" to a much larger group of folks, with clearly disturbing results.

So what will happen?

Who wants to risk it? Move everything to cable / satellite. Abandon the public airwaves and leave it up for the religious right and parents who read "Parenting for Dummies" to broadcast shows which so few people will watch that even advertising will also abandon the public airwaves. Then you'll turn to Channel 4 to hear the massive sucking sound and brilliant visuals of history trying to play back the Dark Ages in HDTV.

All the good jockeys and all the good shows and all the good movies will be on satellite radio, cable, or satellite TV. Or the internet on some for-pay-service.

I could wax on about how this would be bad for the nation's poor, but hey, that's the least of your troubles. See... once you're on a private channel... there are no restrictions.

So what do you think that means? MORE SWEARING! MORE NUDITY! MORE SEX! MORE VIOLENCE!

So I raise my glass to you, my peeps, and say "Fuck! It! All!" Way to go. We're going to accomplish what Howard Stern has wet dreams about every single night. And I think it serves us right.

--- Dantelope @ left-left-left-right-left