by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

Why is it that the right side of the political spectrum pays lip tribute to the ideal of personal freedom, and then works so hard to set limits to that freedom? To put it another way, it would seem, in my humble opinion, that censorship and the freedoms enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and The Bill of Rights are inherently incompatible. However, that does not stop either the Congress or the FCC from enacting legislation (or "rulings") that abridge and limit our freedom of speech. To that end, I give you the latest ruling by the FCC in its valiant effort to keep America "decent": FCC to Broadcasters: F-Word Out of Bounds.

The thing is, the word "fuck" has become, at least in the popular vernacular, sort of an all purpose expletive. The problem is that it is just about the most perfectly euphonius expletive known to the English speaking world. Think about it: it is easy to say and it is emphatic without effort. For the most part, unless context specifically refers to the sex act, it is not thought of as a sexual term. It can be a superlative modifier (i.e. fucking great), it can mean something very, very bad happening to a person (i.e. I was fucked.), it can mean surprise (i.e. Fuck!!), or it can mean casual sex (i.e. Wanna fuck?).

I find a couple things very interesting about the word. First, it is interesting how a word which originally was a descriptor for the sex act has become so many other things as well. It is especially interesting (and indicative of a primary flaw in our culture) that a word which started out describing just about the best thing two humans can do together has come to have such a negative connotation. Perhaps (and second) that is because "fuck" is Anglo-Saxon in origin and, as such, was looked down upon by the Norman conquerors of England way back when. If one examines the etymology of many English words which are considered to be...tainted, or something like that, you'll find that they are of Anglo-Saxon origin while their more acceptable counterparts are of French derivation.

Getting back to the problem of censorship of the airwaves, I think that it is time we allowed the on air broadcasters the same freedom the "cable" broadcasters now have. Namely, label all shows. If there is "adult language" in a show, label it. Then it is up to the parents of children to monitor their kids' TV watching. TV manufacturers could install circuitry which could be programmed to block all broadcasts which have certain warnings (i.e. violence, adult content, adult language, explicit sex, etc..) The V-chip is a start except it has a Big Brother aspect which has to be removed. The censorship chip in TV's has to be totally private and only accessible by the users of that TV. Parents have a legitimate right to control what they feel is in their children's best interest to see/hear/read (even if I, or you, happen to disagree with the choices of some parents.) The government has no such right in a truly free society.

And thus endeth this rant for today...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005