MetaFilter posts tagged with Indecency

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness..."

amyms — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 23:39:22 -0800

Too Hot To Hear. Fifty years ago today, a San Francisco Municipal Court judge ruled that Allen Ginsberg's Beat-era poem "Howl" was not obscene. Yet today, a New York public broadcasting station decided not to air the poem, fearing that the Federal Communications Commission will find it indecent and crush the network with crippling fines. More on Allen Ginsberg here. Via.

Swingers Clubs ruled legal in Canada

stinkycheese — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:20:30 -0800

Newsfilter: Sex Clubs OK in Canada ruled the Supreme Court yesterday in a 7-2 decision that drastically alters the definition of indecency in this country. What will be the results of this far-reaching change? Will gay bathhouses and marijuana growing be affected? Will there be anti-social behaviour? "Now harm, rather than community standards, is the key yardstick that will be used to measure the point at which constitutional freedoms can be limited".

The best of the worst of the week on television.

insomnia_lj — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 10:05:41 -0800

The best of the worst of the week on television. The Parents Television Council, a U.S.-based watchdog organization trying to stamp out indecency on the airwaves, is doing their part in the war against moral turpitude. How? By creating a website where they host videos of the most offensive scenes on television... inadvertently creating some of the most amusing content on the internet!

PTC won't let the FCC be?

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 07:54:02 -0800

The mice that roar. "According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003—99.8 percent—were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group." We already know what a few people can do to your television viewing... is this man effectively in charge of the FCC's indecency monitoring?

Chilling Private Ryan

jpoulos — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 11:46:32 -0800

The Chilling Effect. Some ABC affiliates have opted not to broadcast a scheduled airing of Saving Private Ryan, due to concerns over new FCC indecency regulations. They don't want to get fined. The FCC won't say in advance whether the film is indecent ("that would be censorship"). But don't worry, the Parents Televsion Council says the "context" makes it OK. Which is fine, but who utlimately gets to judge the context?

Stern versus Powell.

realityblurred — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 17:24:22 -0800

Howard Stern faces off against Michael Powell. Earlier today, Howard Stern finally got to confront his nemesis, FCC chair Michael Powell. This occurred, naturally, on the radio, when Howard called in to another talk show. Powell was a guest of KGO's Ronn Owens and Howard called in, asking Powell, "Does it make you nervous to talk to me?" He accuses Powell of getting his position due to nepotism; Stern also asks about Oprah's indecency, and Powell says Stern "personalizes" the debate and says "I don't think we have made any particular crusade of the Howard Stern Show or you." Howard disagrees, saying, "I hope there's no sort of retribution as a result of my phone call which I believe Michael's capable of." After Howard hangs up, Michael admits, sort of, that "Howard has an argument." KGO has audio of the show for Windows Media or RealPlayer (skip ahead to 32:05 to hear Howard's call).

Pink Floyd and Indecency

tgrundke — Sat, 13 Mar 2004 07:01:43 -0800

Crap - now they FCC Thought Police are going after Pink Floyd. Is nothing sacred?! WNCX, a local Cleveland "Classic rock" station (who just happens to be the same station that airs The Howard Stern Show in the area) is unable to play Pink Floyd's "Money" because of the use of the word "bullshit" within the song. To be honest, until this was brought to my attention, I had completely overlooked that lyric in the song. But thanks to the FCC War Against Indency, I'm now fully aware of it! What other cases of 'indecency' would you have overlooked had the authorities not brought it to your attention?

FCC commissioner Michael Copps seeks indecency definition overhaul.

mikrophon — Thu, 21 Nov 2002 12:05:12 -0800

FCC commissioner Michael Copps seeks indecency definition overhaul.
The current definition of indecency to me should be capturing for enforcement purposes some of these programs and it is not. We are only having a paucity of enforcement actions against programming that is palpably and demonstrably indecent.
Is it really time to redefine indecency, or to reexamine why exactly it is we are defining indecency to begin with?

owillis — Mon, 14 Oct 2002 17:00:48 -0800

A New Milestone for Video Games? "Three of the nation's top retailers, including Wal Mart, on Monday said they had refused to carry a new video game billed as the first major release to feature full-action nudity and with prostitutes and pimps as major characters." I enjoyed their "banned ads" myself.

topolino — Mon, 11 Jun 2001 02:32:09 -0800

The Morality Police. "Our hysterical attempts to shield kids from images of sex and violence are stunting young lives -- and trapping us all in a Big Lie." A well-argued piece, more of an op-ed than a straight-up book review. As a scientist I only quibble with the author's musing that "if there really were a cause-and-effect link between real violence and media violence, then it would have been proven by now."

da5id — Sat, 07 Apr 2001 05:43:31 -0800

Feds post indecent material. In a move sure to be challenged, the FCC released a report which offfers examples of what they consider to be indecent, and not indecent.

In typical government style, anything that is referred to "sexual" is deemed indecent. But use of the word such as "motherF****r" isn't. This just makes things even more confusing... at least to me.

Examples:

Indecent: "Well, it was a nice big fart. I'm feeling very gaseous at this point."

Not indecent: "The hell I did, I drove motherF****r, oh. Oh."

Indecent: "Sit on my face and tell me that you love me. I'll sit on your face and tell you I love you too." - Montey Python

pracowity — Sat, 10 Mar 2001 06:19:38 -0800

Scotland Yard raids Saatchi Gallery over complaints of child pornography in Tierney Gearon show - Why? Gearon, a former fashion model turned art photographer, has included in the show a couple of pictures of her children naked. "In one the two children are wearing theatrical masks while in the other her son is urinating in the snow." Gearon sees nothing wrong with her pictures, but apparently they make some people a little nervous.