[Whoops. Ross is right, of course. I meant to type two of five commissioners. --Declan] ******** Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2001 13:32:49 -0400 To: declanat_private From: Ross Stapleton-Gray <amicusat_private> Subject: Re: FC: FCC's Tristani gains ally in campaign against radio "indecency" In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20010707125013.02122040at_private> At 12:50 PM 7/7/01 -0400, you wrote: >... >That means two of the FCC's three commissioners -- almost a majority -- >are pressing for a government crackdown on radio and TV shows. I'm presuming you mean two of five, unless the Congress has restructured the FCC, or Webster's has redefined "majority"... ******** Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2001 10:27:37 -0700 From: David Brownell <david-bat_private> Subject: Re: FCC's Tristani gains ally in campaign against radio "indecency" To: declanat_private, politechat_private > indecency regulation is appropriate because parents need help in > protecting their children from potentially harmful broadcast material and > because *broadcasting is uniquely accessible to children.*1 Ludicrous. Children are not radio or TV receivers, and surgery to turn them into such receivers isn't available (yet). ******** Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2001 16:05:23 -0700 To: declanat_private, politechat_private From: David Honig <honigat_private> Subject: Re: FC: FCC's Tristani gains ally in campaign against radio "indecency" At 12:50 PM 7/7/01 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote: >indecent material by WDCG (FM). Ms. Moller's complaint says that at 8 a.m. >on February 5, 2001, hosts of the *Bob and Madison Showgram* on WDCG were > >taking calls from people that had never masturbated (shaking hands with the >queen or something to that effect). * [T]hey told the listener in question >that they would give them ten minutes to put the phone down and try it. If >they did they would give them 'a bunch of prizes.' > Maybe they were proselytizing the recommendations of >1 surgeon general of the US? Oooh, the irony. ******** From: terry.sat_private To: declanat_private Date: Sat, 7 Jul 2001 15:04:51 -0400 Subject: Re: FC: FCC's Tristani gains ally in campaign against radio "indecency" This may not be the ideal time to pursue it with Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas on the high court, but Pacifica needs to be revisited, with legal tactics and strategy shaped to document how "indecency" is such a religiously and culturally biased concept that it fails legal definition for the same reasons Potter Stewart wrestled to define "pornography". The court simply cannot, despite any illusions to the contrary, adopt a concept borrowed from Judeo-christian religion (in different form than it exists for Muslims, absent in many other religions), and merely by writing out their thoughts in legalese make that concept "neutral" with respect to 1st Amendment criteria, never mind meet strict scrutiny criteria the present court's actions suggest key Justices may not respect or honor. Broadcast TV needs South Park, and other similar humor and entertainment crafted to also challenge people to think, inclusive of both political and sociological messages. Trey Parker and Matt Stone could revive the NAMBLA topic on which they've already touched, and with a comedic focus on the distinction between NAMBLA as a serious civil rights organization versus shield for pedophiles (both of which it appears to be in some mix) go well beyond any Mancow broadcast comments while staying carefully within strict scrutiny test areas of speech. Comedy Central has allowed those skillful producers to do an entire show on the silliness of "shit" as a Pacifica target, while censor bleeping "fuck", and including a side theme on core personal trait humor or thought police codes with respect to "faggot". Commissioner Tristani's demands for intolerance and censorship amount to a form of hate speech, which sends a message that anyone not sharing her prejudices over sexuality and language choices is to be outcast as a substandard human. The more diverse our culture becomes, the more important it is to protect against government picking and choosing religious and cultural favorites to the exclusion of others, regardless of popularity with some factions to use law to infringe civil and human rights of neighbors. This produces kids less able to cope with diversity, protecting an illusion of "proper" social order rather than teach respect for people of different beliefs and life paths. Such so-called "standards" of preventing "harm to minors" are in fact a cause of harm to people, minors and adults alike. Terry ******** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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