Brent Bozell's culture column this week delved into the ditch that is Fox Entertainment. Although
many find Fox News to be a breath of fresh air in news, Fox Entertainment often seems lewd, crude, and even coming unglued. Armed with plenty of cash to defend the right of Hollywood lame-brains like Nicole Richie and Cher to swear on awards shows in front of the Supreme Court, Fox's lawyer, Carter Phillips, proceeded to make a complete buffoon of himself:
When Justice Stevens asked if there were changes in community standards over the last thirty years, if society had grown more tolerant of curse words, Carter Phillips, the profanity-favoring attorney for Fox, proclaimed: “I believe that society is significantly more tolerant of these words today than it was 30 years ago.” Justice Scalia replied: “Do you think your clients have had anything to do with that?”
The answer is, of course, self-evident. There is no greater cultural influence on impressionable youth than the entertainment industry. Both a bucket of scientific studies and plain common sense validate this, but Phillips, being the kind of clever lawyer who can seem plausible as he expresses the completely ridiculous, rejected any responsibility: “In the scheme of things, probably very, very little to do with that compared to the way the language is used. Go to a baseball game, Justice Scalia. You hear these words every time you go to a ball game.”
Really? It’s less ridiculous to argue that profanity at a ball game in front of children might also be caused by Hollywood’s bleep-tastic example. Phillips surely knows that anyone who’s rude enough to smoke at the ball park will be seen by good liberals as the fault of the tobacco industry. Back to Brent:
Justice Scalia sensibly argued to the senseless Mr. Phillips that there is a great difference between broadcast television and a comparatively private utterance to people within earshot at a stadium. Scalia said he doesn’t agree that the public is more tolerant of profanity, just more resigned to it. He was idealistic enough to say that television should have a higher aim, of living up to a linguistic standard of what is “normal in polite company.”
The whole notion of “polite company” seems completely archaic (and even anti-competitive) in the arena of today’s manufacturers of “entertainment.” Scalia declared TV shows were producing a “coarsening of manners,” but obviously, Hollywood’s hired legal guns see the simple idea of manners as a red herring. They believe the real principle to be revered in law and in custom is the constitutional right to curse on the public airwaves, even if the public, overwhelmingly, objects to it....
Hollywood’s lawyers are also arguing against the FCC’s legalistic definition of profanity (and common sense) when they suggest that when people use the F-word, it doesn’t always have a sexual connotation. When Chief Justice John Roberts argued that the sexual charge of the F-word is what gives the word its shock value, Phillips bizarrely claimed: “I suppose you can say it, but I don't understand on what basis. There is no empirical support for that.” This caused Scalia to tickle the audience again, saying people “don’t use ‘gollywoggles’ instead of the F-word.”
This whole argument may have been ended up being politically unnecessary, but it was nonetheless culturally instructive. It demonstrated that Hollywood’s legal hired guns could perform even more shamelessly than Hollywood itself.
Right on. How can people assert with a straight face that the F-bomb isn't a sex term? And does it matter? Anyone with common sense would acknowledge that if someone walked onto a grade-school playground and started dropping the F-bomb in ways that don’t clearly connote sex, the wordis every bit as shocking and impolite as if every utterance referred to intercourse.
Back in a 1970s profanity case, Justice John Harlan famously wrote "one man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric." That certainly sounded an alarm of moral relativism. But in today’s world, it takes on added meaning. People actually love the sound of profanity, and profanity is often a very healthy percentage of the lyrics in rap music. But like many things that are considered "adult" in nature, it would be more mature not to employ them in front of children as what SpongeBob (in typical cluelessness) described as "sentence enhancers."
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.





















Editor at Large
Comments Policy
congrats to cher!
November 22, 2008 - 16:05 ET by i was just thinkingShe finally got a president who is as fake as she and her boobs are!
thinking
November 22, 2008 - 18:50 ET by nathanbforrestshe may be 'experienced', but i'd hit that .. i'd wear protection, but i'd still hit it ...
never look a gift skunk in the tail
→ nathan
November 22, 2008 - 18:57 ET by Cool ArrowYou're certainly welcome to my ticket on that ride.
ticket to ride
November 22, 2008 - 19:13 ET by nathanbforrestfrom my gen, she was really hot .. still have my fantasy .. i'll take that ticket .. she's got a ticket to ride .. don't remember that, do you ..
never look a gift skunk in the tail
LMAO Nathan
November 23, 2008 - 10:44 ET by PopularTechCher has held up well for her age. But she is getting on in years. I have no problem with her 20 years ago.
Censored Global Warming Videos
Help I'm Melting
November 22, 2008 - 21:04 ET by Old VetCher needs to stay away from those hot stage lights. I suspect some day her face and/or boobs are going to melt and fall right into her lap.
It's liberal
November 22, 2008 - 16:24 ET by motherbeltIt's liberal dogma:
Hearing swears on TV and in movies won't make kids swear.
But seeing sweetened cereal ads will turn them into sugar junkies.
Seeing sex everywhere won't make them more likely to have sex.
But seeing guns and killing will turn them violent.
Showing drug dealers and junkies won't make them want to try drugs.
But heaven forbid they should show anyone smoking a cigarette!
I must not be a liberal,
November 22, 2008 - 16:35 ET by balboaI must not be a liberal, then. I don't think cereal ads turn anyone into sugar junkies.
And I don't think showing guns and killing makes kids violent.
And I don't care who is shown smoking a cigarette.
As usual, bal, you come in
November 22, 2008 - 18:00 ET by motherbeltAs usual, bal, you come in on the other side (doesn't that ever get old???)
You know darn well I was talking about "liberalism" as opposed to each and every liberal.
Howdy mb... I really am
November 22, 2008 - 18:24 ET by bigtimerHowdy mb...
I really am laughing quietly here now....he just cannot help himself, it's his job, his purpose here, to just agree to disagree, no matter what the circumstance...I usually try to laugh it off, some days though, it really gets more than irratating.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
It is a problem, I know...
November 22, 2008 - 18:44 ET by balboaIt is a problem, I know...
Balboa: So what do you think
November 22, 2008 - 18:03 ET by choselife3xMakes kids violent?
In order to be pro-choice, one must first be born. Ah, the irony.
lest we forget...
November 23, 2008 - 01:25 ET by i was just thinkingLest we forget the fate of Joe Camel! As a cigarette smoking cartoon character he was branded as evil... he would cause kids to smoke, because he made it appear cool. We must do away with him! Get him out of the public eye! Go after Big Tobacco for targeting our children! Send Algore out to fight to his last breath against Big Tobacco!
But don't worry about the children who see two Hollyweird actors, screwing their brains out on the screen...
Wasn't it someone from the Left Coast Hollyweird world who once said that "Hollywood doesn't influence society, it simply mirrors it." What a load.
First we had the Drive-by Media, now we have Drive-by Actors.
Cher
November 22, 2008 - 17:20 ET by pitter43Like most democrat/liberals, Cher shows that she's a class act. What a bonehead.
I know this isn't a Cher
November 22, 2008 - 18:42 ET by Antisocial-ismI know this isn't a Cher thread...But,
Is this not the same genius that proclaimed that gays would be rounded up and put in concentration camps if George Bush were re-elected?
Why aren't mentally atrophied buffoons like this ever called on their spurious garbage?
Hollywood is...
November 22, 2008 - 19:44 ET by jackie3Hollywood in general is mentally handicapped. Why should Cher's choice of clothing be any different?
As my mother would say: "More money than brains." She also says: "The grass is always greener over the septic tank." Which is how I reason why America just voted a socialist liberal into office.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
Just one more reason why we
November 22, 2008 - 22:24 ET by Cape Conservativehave very limited use of our big screen HDTV - Discovery, History, Food, Travel, old movies and Fox News is about it.
I find the "F-bomb" totally uncalled for and when a movie has a propensity to use it over and over and over again, the channel is changed.
I was always told that people cursed because of ignorance...that it only took a little forethought to put your vocabulary to good use.
I certainly hope Justice Scalia prevails in this matter!
However, we may just get lucky - I see on Drudge that the Actors Guild is planning a strike - don't know how far the ripples will reach, but Hollywood just may be doing the country a big favor. The only movie we have seen in the past year is An American Carol. I don't believe the F-bomb was dropped once in it, either ;-)
Cursing has become a lot
November 23, 2008 - 04:46 ET by dodecahedronCursing has become a lot like smoking - it's something that young people do to make themselves think they're cool.
When (and in some cases 'if') the pre-frontal cortex finishes growing, you look back and see how cursing was a way of compensating for the inability to effectively communicate. If you don't have the vocabulary to say exactly what you mean, you throw in an 'f-bomb' to let the listener know that you succumb to your mental incapacity.
Well, golly-jeekers!
November 23, 2008 - 00:40 ET by UberconIt sure is tough when the President & Vice President use the F-Bomb as if they're thinking of bombing Iran & Iraq. Faux Conservatives like most of you think you are so prim & proper hiding behind code words eventhough most of you think of the profanity in your small minds...I wish you would just let it out & stop being so damned repressed. Remember, G-O-D can read your mind & all those naughty dirty words that reside in there...free yourselves, let it out!
Übercon
"Yes, We can!" President-Elect Barack Obama
Uh huh.
November 23, 2008 - 00:59 ET by KarmaUh huh.
No representation, without taxation!
Uber--
November 23, 2008 - 01:05 ET by misterbillThanksgiving is close. It often reminds me that Ben Franklin thought that the turkey would have been a great choice for our national bird rather than the eagle.
Had you been around at the time, I wonder if he would have given the shitbird a single thought.
Yummm!
November 23, 2008 - 01:52 ET by UberconWild turkey, neat, tasty!
Ben Franklin? Great reference to one hell of REAL man! Profane, and love a good drink with many women!
Good work, mr. Bill!
Right back at cha'!
Übercon
"Yes, We can!" President-Elect Barack Obama
Anyone is allowed to smoke
November 23, 2008 - 01:32 ET by i was just thinkingAnyone is allowed to smoke if they want. Does that make it acceptable to promote smoking to children?
Anyone is allowed to have sex if they want. Does that make it right to promote sexuality to young children?
Bush and Cheney have just as much right to their choice of language as anyone else. What you DON'T see, however, is the inclusion of the f-word in the State of the Union address.
You are simply trying to divert the issue and place responsibility on someone else's shoulders. What is at issue is not whether or not people can curse, smoke, or have sex. It's that these lifestyles are foisted onto young children who do not yet have the maturity to decide for themselves if such behavior is correct, appropriate, or safe. As at teacher, I can't tell you how many times a day I hear "f---" and "shi---" in the school. But you can bet they didn't learn it from Bush or Cheney...
Try to focus on the issue at hand, please.
Me thinks they're gettin' it...
November 23, 2008 - 01:44 ET by Ubercon...from their repressed teacher!
Übercon
"Yes, We can!" President-Elect Barack Obama
interesting...
November 23, 2008 - 01:54 ET by i was just thinkingI find it interesting that you can call me repressed without knowing me... that's probably the last word friends (yes, liberal friends) would use to describe me.
So you think I should liberate myself and curse in front of my students? How about this: when I walk into class tomorrow, I'll tell my students to "sit the f--- down and shut their g-d mouths!" Will that make you happy? Is that what we should do?
I won't curse in front of the students, but I might use a "colorful" word in the teacher's lounge. That makes me repressed?
And please... "methinks they're getting it..." - don't presume to think. I haven't seen any evidence that it's working for you.
iwas.... ROFLMAO! Thank
November 23, 2008 - 02:00 ET by bigtimeriwas....
ROFLMAO!
Thank YOU!
What a shot you just zinged Ub with...doubt if it sank in...or ever will...you made my night.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Hmmm..".bigtimer"? Isn't that from...
November 23, 2008 - 02:11 ET by Ubercon...a Bush-Cheney conversation about a NYT reporter...I have always enjoyed calling you "bigtimer" with that news conference as a reference point! Gosh, isn't great how I can think of you without actually saying it, BigTimer?
Kisses,Übercon
"Yes, We can!" President-Elect Barack Obama
Golly-jeekers!
November 23, 2008 - 02:02 ET by UberconThey allow you teach?!?What other nasty little words would you like to say?!?Go get some help before you lash out on some unsuspecting child!Yeah...Repressed & Full of Anger! What are you teaching, PE?
Übercon
"Yes, We can!" President-Elect Barack Obama
Ub... You were, as BD
November 23, 2008 - 02:09 ET by bigtimerUb...
You were, as BD says...SHACKED...Big Time by iwjt!
....ain't nothing you can do about it either.
Live with it...and face the music.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
keep talking...
November 23, 2008 - 02:12 ET by i was just thinkingI present cogent points, you descend into childish name-calling and insults. This board is for adults. Reply to me when you can provide something that resembles a coherent thought or debating point. I have sixth grade students who can present better debating points. (No, I'm not being sarcastic... it's true.)
By the way... isn't it bad form for a liberal to stereotype people? No, I'm not a PE teacher. What would make you think that? Are you making disparaging remarks against PE teachers and coaches? Doesn't sound like a tolerant liberal to me.
Go ahead and hurl your next insult. I have better things to do. (I'm in Beirut now, and have the whole day ahead of me... a day that won't include anymore of you.)
IWJT -- seriously, don't
November 23, 2008 - 06:36 ET by Jack BauerIWJT -- seriously, don't waste your time making honest points with this lying creep.
He's a slimey cretin whose only intent is to wind you up, if you let him. He won't address any points you make to rebut his odd views, but just move on to another set of absurdities.
personally
November 23, 2008 - 02:31 ET by katainkentI get far more out of it by doing it rather than just saying it.
*cheers*
member of the Conservative Independant Witness Protection Program since Nov. 5, 2008
I had been an enormous fan
November 24, 2008 - 10:29 ET by marpelI had been an enormous fan of Cher's early on....until....she started opining on politics, which she knows nothing about. As Laura Ingraham has written: "Shut up and sing.."