More Form-Generated Outrage From the PTC

Peter Suderman | September 11, 2009

Ever hear about outpourings of indecency complaints to the FCC? Hundreds of thousands of offended moms writing in to complain about bare breasts, bad words, or (less often) blood and guts? More than likely, they're the result of a single organization, Brent Bozell's Parents Television Council, which regularly floods FCC complaint boxes with form-generated outrage. Ars Technica's Matthew Lasar examines the PTC's most recent effort, a campaign against the Fox cartoon sitcom, Family Guy:

Every three months the Federal Communications Commission comes up with its Quarterly Report on indecency complaints, and we sit around scratching our heads. How come the latest stats, in this instance for the first quarter of this year, show the viewers relatively calm at 578 complaints in January, then 505 in February, followed by 179,997 in March?

179,997? Um, did we miss something? Did television really get that much more indecent in March? No worries. In these situations, we know what to do. We go over and check out the Parents Television Council's website.

...As is usually the case with these campaigns, PTC gave its readers the chance to "take action now" by filling out a pre-scripted FCC Web complaint with details about the show, enabling a potentially limitless number of champions of decency to file objections with the Commission. And as we've noted in the past, it's easy to pile the gripes on, because the FCC does not require complainers to certify that they've actually seen the program in question. And that, Ars readers, could very well be how we got the horses' share of 179,997 indecency complaints in March.

Over at TechLiberation, Adam Theirer has more. 

Here's Jacob Sullum on the PTC and complaint fraud and words you can't say on TV, Greg Beato on decency in Hollywood, and Jesse Walker on the FCC's war on indecency.

Comments

kilroy|9.11.09 @ 3:11PM|#

Suderman, you tool!

B|9.11.09 @ 3:13PM|#

"Should a Sunday night cartoon show YOUR children bestiality, gay orgies and babies eating sperm?"

Beats the hell out of teaching them about those things myself!

|9.11.09 @ 3:15PM|#

*jerking off motion*

|9.11.09 @ 3:17PM|#

The retarded horse in that Family Guy episode was really creepy.

Brian Lockwood|9.11.09 @ 3:46PM|#

I find it bizarre that these people can find a website and fill out an electronic form, but somehow can't work the television remote.

24AheadDotCom|9.11.09 @ 4:11PM|#

Not just sperm, but horse sperm.

MegOrHailey = tough choice.

Say, fun fact for frat boy libs: w/o any countervailing influence, TV shows - andNewsBroadcasts - are dragging us TowardsIdiocracy. It's not just FamilyGuy, it's the fact that no one is pushing in the other direction.

Craig|9.11.09 @ 4:28PM|#

...578 complaints in January, then 505 in February, followed by 179,997 in March?

Doesn't this just prove that the PTC is really a botnet? They can't have that many supporters.

Rich|9.11.09 @ 4:36PM|#

I find it bizarre that these people can find a website ... but somehow can't work the television remote.

Wait'll they find out there are worse things than Family Guy on the internet -- like this!

|9.11.09 @ 4:51PM|#

And if you want some real fun, bait PTC types about the v-chip. Drives 'em crazy.

|9.11.09 @ 5:21PM|#

Yo, Fuck Brent Bozell.
And the PTC he rode in on.

Mike Laursen|9.11.09 @ 6:55PM|#

I don't have time to do it right now, but I'm sure some loyal Hit & Run reader could easily submit orders of magnitude more than 179,997 script-generated complaints to the FCC.

|9.12.09 @ 2:49AM|#

Bozell is the kind of tool who would complain that his neighbor was out working in his front yard whistling dirty songs...

|9.12.09 @ 10:35AM|#

Bozell is the kind of tool who would complain that his neighbor was out working in his front yard whistling dirty songs...

I once had a neighbor complain to the onwner of the house I was living in and to the housing association that I was working on my car in the garage.

Lord Jubjub|9.14.09 @ 3:56PM|#

So they find three more people to get a nice round 180,000 complaints?

adad|10.31.09 @ 8:00PM|#

les dejo mi blog
http://www.ptc-que-si-pagan.blogspot.com

aqui esta una lista con las ptc que si pagan actualizado a noviembre de 2009
ami ya me pagaron se las recomiendo son nuevas con pocos usuarios y de 7 a 8 ads diarios
las mejores:

http://www.75centinstantbux.com/?ref=discontinuo1