TROUBL

Comedian, George Carlin will be remembered by the mainstream media for his “Seven Dirty Words” routine. Ironically, the point he was trying to make was that these words were not bad, and they were used in everyday conversation. Prior to Carlin’s routine, it was simply a cultural happenstance that these words, which were used every day by most people, were not used on television. He commented that it was silly that of all the words in the English language, only seven weren’t heard on TV.

On October 30, 1973, a DJ at Pacifica Radio, an experimental radio station in New York City, played the routine. A man by the name of John Douglas heard the routine on the radio with his son, and instead of changing the station, he complained to the Federal Government. The landmark case that followed, “The FCC Vs. Pacifica Radio,” ruled in favor of the FCC, stating that the Federal Government had the right to censor “indecent” material over the public airwaves. The case turned these seven words from unspoken words on television to “magic words” that could be spoken…but not heard. The “bleep censor” transformed these words from verbal shortcuts simply not taken, to words that were spoken, understood, and yet replaced with a 1000hz tone.

The Pacifica ruling has had a strange, almost surreal, effect on the content that is available to consumers: first, certain content that comes over the air is tightly restricted, basic cable is not regulated, and generally follows the lead of over-the-air content, and others, like HBO is not restricted at all; from that strange condition, the choice of what makes it to our screens can be a gymnast-like stretching over and under boundaries of taste and regulation: “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO, unrestricted) has adult language, but no scatological humor, while “Family Guy” (Fox, restricted) pushes the boundaries of scatological humor with no bad language; “South Park” (Comedy Central, partial restriction) has both adult language and scatological humor, while “NYPD Blue” (Fox, restricted) had to wrestle with the FCC over bare buttocks and the word “shit.” On the other side of the spectrum, shows like “Seinfield” and “Friends” did just fine without scatological humor or bad language. So, obviously, it takes more than just seven words to make a good show. On top of that, live TV gaffes and mistakes have been inconsistent.

Janet Jackson’s infamous wardrobe malfunction (which lasted .3 seconds) cost NBC over half a million, while Bono saying “fuck” on live TV resulted in no action, because he used “fuck” as an adjective, not a verb. Yet, the FCC would not give advanced waivers when ABC wanted to play an uncensored version of the popular war movie “Saving Private Ryan.” In other words, there is no consistency across the different media, whether it is transmitted over FM radio waves, new digital frequencies, underground through fiber-optic cables, or over wireless internet, and no consistency in rulings, nor even an agreed upon fine amount that a station perhaps might be willing to pay for using the certain words. Instead, a system of fear and inconsistency rules the airwaves.

The irony is that today’s media consumer is not concerned with where the media content originates, but is concerned with how they get it. Twenty-five years after Pacifica, we have all sorts of media, and only a small portion of it is actually over the airwaves. We’ve got iPods, Internet TV, and other ways for content to get to the consumer. Media moguls like Rupert Murdoch, when gobbling up more and more local media, make the case that the internet provides an alternative, and therefore, we shouldn’t constrain media conglomerates to get even more centralized. It’s time we apply that same logic to the content, which comes from many writers and many producers, to the content, and not the ownership. Today’s media consumer is smart and savvy, and while humor may be rude or offensive to some, we have more than enough options, and more than enough family-friendly fare that we need to stop looking out for the lowest common “moral” denominator, and instead pay attention to real problems.