Реферат: Why Dirty Words Are Dirty Essay Research

piss, *censored*, cunt, cocksucker, mother*censored*er, and tits. Those are the ones

that will curve your spine, grow hair on your hands and maybe, even bring

us,

God help us, peace without honor, and a bourbon. (Carlin, 1977)

A man driving with his young son heard this broadcast and reported it to

the

Federal Communications Commission [FCC]. This broadcast of Carlin’s “Filthy

Words” monologue caused one of the greatest and most controversial cases in

the history of broadcasting. The case of the FCC v. Pacifica Foundation.

The outcome of this case has had a lasting effect on what we hear on the

radio.

This landmark case gave the FCC the “power to regulate radio broadcasts

that

are indecent but not obscene.” (Gunther, 1991) What does that mean,

exactly?

According to the government it means that the FCC can only regulate

broadcasts. They can not censor broadcasts, that is determine what is

offensive in the matters of speech.

Before this case occurred there were certain laws already in place that

prohibited obscenity over radio. One of these laws was the “law of

nuisance”. This law “generally speaks to channeling behavior more than

actually prohibiting it.”(Simones, 1995) The law in essence meant that

certain words depicting a sexual nature were limited to certain times of

the

day when children would not likely be exposed. Broadcasters were trusted to

regulate themselves and what they broadcast over the airwaves. There were

no

specific laws or surveillance by regulatory groups to assure that indecent

and obscene material would not be broadcast. Therefore, when the case of