Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

You Can't Say F-CC on TV

Jesse Walker | 1.14.2004 3:03 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

FCC chief Michael Powell wants to reverse last year's ruling that it's OK to say "fuck" on television. Or so reports Reuters.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: We May Be Poor, But We Pay More

Jesse Walker is books editor at Reason and the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (21)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Bruce   21 years ago

    Fuck him.

  2. Shultz   21 years ago

    Assuming the internet will soon be as ubiquitous as television, I suppose he’ll want authority over internet content soon.

    Until then, fuck Michael Powell.

  3. Franklin Harris   21 years ago

    I suspect he has fallen prey to the Religious Right’s campaign to keep “fuck” off the airwaves. Of all the fucking things to get worked up over: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_fcc_f_word.htm

  4. TWC   21 years ago

    Fuck! That fuckin’ fucker is fucked!

  5. fyodor   21 years ago

    I will not say fuck, I will not say fuck, I will not say AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  6. rst   21 years ago

    material that contains sexual or excretory references in a patently offensive manner.

    Whine all you like about decency, when fuck is used in an exclamatory manner that describes neither the act of fucking nor anything that may be excreted while fucking (I guess you might call it “fuck juice”), then it doesn’t belong in that category. Say what you mean, or have a nice warm glass of shut the fuck up.

    What really blows my mind is that they’re worried about the effect of this on kids watching broadcast TV, as if the kids can’t hit the clicker a few times and find a suitably bloody and curse-filled Quentin Tarantino flick a few channels up. Maybe some people should learn how to be parents instead of expecting the FCC to do it for them.

  7. richard   21 years ago

    rst…

    How dare you assert that parents raise their kids?

  8. Shultz   21 years ago

    Speaking of Tarantino…

    I used to think that media doesn’t affect people’s behavior, then, while I was watching Jackie Brown, I turned to my girlfriend and I said, “hey…pass the motherfucking popcorn.”

    Now, I don’t usually use foul language at all. But for about a week afterwards, it was motherfucker this and motherfucker that.

    Anyway, then I started to think, okay, so maybe media does effect people’s behaviour…SO WHAT?

    It’s kind of like a BF Skinner thing; you know, you don’t get to choose whether or not you’re influenced by your environment, but you get to choose your environment.

    And besides, it’s not like media is mind control or anything…watching Rambo doesn’t make me shoot police officers or anything, and, eventually, I stopped saying motherfucker all the time.

    You don’t loose your freewill by watching something on a television.

    P.S. You loose your freewill by giving away to your girlfried. It’s funny how all the rights I value, particularly as a libertarian, are completely ignored by my girlfriend. The right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure; forget about it. The right not to be forced to testify against myself; don’t make me laugh. I won’t even mention freedom of speech. Freedom of assembly went out the first time I had the guys over to watch a football game…Fuck!

  9. Russ   21 years ago

    material that contains sexual or excretory references in a patently offensive manner.

    I’m somehow inclined to believe that these folks would still object to sexual or excretory references even if they were presented in a non-offensive manner using the generally accepted medical terminology.

    When will they realize that, if they find something offensive, they are still allowed to change the channel?

  10. late for the boom   21 years ago

    I wish these people would just stop fucking, that should take care of the problem in a generation or two….

    If you take the power out of the word, then the word has no power….then it drops out of modern language.

    Kinda the same argument that educated ‘black’ people have been saying for years about the word nigger.

  11. Russ D   21 years ago

    A barren source of amusement, indeed.

  12. Gene   21 years ago

    The idea that it is OK to curse in normal conversation using a one word curse is downgrading the intelligence of all of us. Curses should left out of normal conversation and used only when appropriate or they should be short story curses. I understand that most used words said when a person falls off a cliff is not a prayer, but just these two words, said quite loudly. “Oh Shit,? I think they fit quite well in the situation. Words used too much lose their effectiveness.

  13. gene   21 years ago

    Interesting, Portland, Oregon has banned cops from using swear words when talking to a bad guy. Out good Mayor is quite liberal in every other way. Wonder what is going on???

  14. Ron Hardin   21 years ago

    The most common last words on cockpit voice recorders are “oh shit.”

  15. dj of raleigh   21 years ago

    > > material that contains sexual or excretory references in a patently offensive manner.

  16. Phil   21 years ago

    Boy, that “no law” thing really, really trips some people up, doesn’t it? Is there a way we can reduce the phrase to a single word to make it more clear?

  17. rst   21 years ago

    I am for the ban on the airways and public places, because I neither find the words amusing nor pleasing,

    Yes, but we don’t care what you find offensive. Nor should we have to.

  18. Eric Atkinson   21 years ago

    Joke them if they can’t take a fuck.

  19. Mr. Nice Guy   21 years ago

    I’m so glad we have our moral superiors here to protect us. I’m so glad they take it upon themselves to protect us from words that can hurt us.

    After watching the music awards I cried for two hours.. praying to Jesus to cleanse my ears of that filthy hooligan. I used to love U2 in my youth. Now I hate them. Fuck Bono.

  20. richard   21 years ago

    NO

  21. dj of raleigh   21 years ago

    > Yes, but we don’t care what you find offensive. Nor should we have to.

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

How Tariffs Are Breaking the Manufacturing Industries Trump Says He Wants To Protect

Eric Boehm | From the July 2025 issue

The Latest Escalation Between Russia and Ukraine Isn't Changing the Course of the War

Matthew Petti | 6.6.2025 4:28 PM

Marsha Blackburn Wants Secret Police

C.J. Ciaramella | 6.6.2025 3:55 PM

This Small Business Is in Limbo As Owner Sues To Stop Trump's Tariffs

Eric Boehm | 6.6.2025 3:30 PM

A Runner Was Prosecuted for Unapproved Trail Use After the Referring Agency Called It 'Overcriminalization'

Jacob Sullum | 6.6.2025 2:50 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!