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| Good life… | Party pooper… |
Let’s talk about stupidity, [[wp:puritans]] and the atmosphere of repression that is sweeping the country.
While the immediate cause would seem to be the Janet Jackson breast flash during the recent Super Bowl, the real roots go deeper. There is a new wave of repression in the air, and it started as I feared with the [[wp:Patriot_act|Patriot Act]]. The fears and paranoia that has swept into law some of the most destructive blows to civil liberties since the late [[wp:Joseph_McCarthy|McCarthy]] era. For those that don’t remember this was a time of fear, witch hunts and an almost total misuse of governmental powers in the name of national security.
The response to all this pressure has been a wave of panic in the media. MTV, under intense pressure from the [[wp:FCC]] pulled videos to late night in a frenzy, then brought them right back after 10 days. Couple this with a recent trend attempting to stem the inevitable acceptance of homosexual marriage rights and you can see the pattern emerging. A quote:
“This is widely seen as a reaction to increased political attack. FCC chairman Michael Powell announced on January 13th that he would seek to reverse an FCC decision that let Bono off the hook for swearing at the 2003 Golden Globes. Three pieces of federal legislation aimed at media content quickly followed. The halftime show essentially waltzed into a war zone.” – quote in context
In all this the strings have remained somewhat hidden… then a overt act of stupidity set it all ablaze. ClearChannel pulled Howard Stern (1) for some violations of it’s one day old zero tolerance policy while rival network Infinity Broadcasting has stood firm for now and kept Stern on the air.. About time you think? No. See the real issue is that Jon Hogan the CEO of ClearChannel is in the hot seat for the Super Bowl incident at the current round of trials witch hunts Congressional hearings on “decency”. The message so far from Congress through its FCC lap dog is strong – play ball with the current puritanical views from the top or we will slap you down.
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| Bite me FCC |
Of course, we cannot ignore the whacko left in all this. The gals over at Ms. Magazine’s forums were all aglow with the news. This is no shock, they have a ruthless policy of censorship over there and have long advocated the idea that free speech and free expression are too dangerous to be left to all of us idiots controlled by the [[wp:patriarchy]].
“I understand the concerns but if this is the only way to rein in this ugly, racist misogynist who has huge influence on sick minds so be it.” – quote in context
It’s amazing to me that a in so short a time the country I love is going to hell so fast. The [[wp:FBI]] is free to trample your rights, a movie with more violence than any in recent memory is released without any governmental protest because of its pro-Christian views but a beautiful thing like the Lingerie Bowl and a semi-naked [[Britney]] is anathema to our sensitive ears.
America, where did you go?
e.d. note: here is the Metafilter thread