In a blow for families, a federal appeals court panel has struck down the government policy that allows for fines to stations and networks that broadcast obscene utterances.
The specific ruling concerns "fleeting expletives," specifically a vulgarity spoken by U2's Bono during a 2003 Golden Globes ceremony.
But the judges said vulgar words are just as often used out of frustration or excitement, and not to convey any broader obscene meaning. “In recent times even the top leaders of our government have used variants of these expletives in a manner that no reasonable person would believe referenced sexual or excretory organs or activities.”
Adopting an argument made by lawyers for NBC, the judges then cited examples in which Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney had used the same language that would be penalized under the policy. Mr. Bush was caught on videotape last July using a common vulgarity that the commission finds objectionable in a conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Three years ago, Mr. Cheney was widely reported to have muttered an angry obscene version of “get lost” to Senator Patrick Leahy on the floor of the United States Senate.
Of course, the difference is that neither the President nor the Vice President spoke on television during prime time into the microphone, knowingly using vulgarities that millions of people would see.
This is, frankly, an atrocious decision. The "everybody's doing it" argument didn't work with my mother, but I'll play Mom for a minute and explain. Just because "everybody does something" doesn't mean society doesn't have a right or an expectation that certain behavior is unacceptable. After all "everybody" doesn't wear seatbelts but we still have laws against it.
Personally, I liked the stricter standard for broadcast, even though I don't watch that much television. I don't particularly like having to explain to my small children why some jerk on TV gets to say words that they would get in trouble for.
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