War over words: F-bombs with no explosion
Remember when moms washed their children’s mouths out with soap for saying a dirty word. Remember when using God’s name in vain was wrong. Remember when using the f-word was unthinkable. Well, those days are gone—welcome to the 21st century where, unfortunately, anything goes.
Take, for example, the January 15th edition of Good Morning America. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, actress Diane Keaton dropped the f-bomb on Sawyer. Causing no mushroom cloud, ABC chose not to censor Keaton’s expletive, instead allowing viewers across the country to hear a highly offensive term. At 9AM in the morning! ABC never apologized for their lack of censorship, offering no excuse for their slip-up.
Keaton: “Those lips, I love them. I would like to have lips like that. Then I wouldn’t have worked on my f***ing personality. Excuse me, my personality. If I had lips like yours, I’d be better off. My life would be better. I would be married. I have these thin lips.”
Sawyer: “My mother is going to work on your personality with soap in your mouth.”
Again, on January 11th, ESPN anchorwoman Dana Jacobson went into a tirade at a celebrity event in New Jersey, using the f-word three times in a single speech. Worse than that, she placed the name of Jesus Christ following the expletive. “F*** Jesus,” she exclaimed. The Huffington Post reports that ESPN suspended Jacobson for one week following the incident—more of a slap on the hand than a whippin’ on the butt.
Both of these examples show a decline in the morals of America. By broadcasting the obscene language, ABC is essentially telling the world that it is acceptable to use the f-word—even on television. By taking no action against the ESPN anchor, ABC shows no respect for their morally upright audience. But, what’s new?
Believe it or not, most of America still finds the f-word highly offensive. So why would ABC allow it? Why not censor it?
Some would claim that censoring cursive language on TV is an infringement on their First Amendment right. However, nothing is farther from the truth. With a moderate percentage of the American public claiming themselves to be Christian, is it not highly more offensive to curse the name of Jesus? As Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times pointed out, “When it comes to content, some would argue that films [and television programming] do not reinforce culture, they reflect it, no matter what the issue at hand.” If it is indeed a reflection of our culture, our culture is in bad shape.
I would have never read about these two events if it were not for the American Family Association, an organization that advocates for families. Along with their informative email, AFA sent a link to email the Federal Communication Commission. Please take time to email the FCC. Take a stand for your children. Take a stand for decency. Take a stand for America.
paul Said,
January 29, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
iThink…wow i had no idea about these two incidents. I am the same as you–appalled. I am going to email the FCC immediately because of your post here, using the link you provided; thank you.
You are obviously firmly against this use of language. Why do you think it is so abundant and prolific today? Could it be because most of us, even Christians, don’t say anything about it?
Let me ask you this so you see the same perspective I’m looking from: Do you, like I, say that this is completely unacceptable while at the same time viewing movies or listening to music that contains the same awful language? If the answer is yes, as it is with me, should we ask ourselves “do I have the right to speak against this if I also, at the same time, support it?” Should we, to honestly make our statement against it, stop supporting those films or musical artists?
Just a question to see what you think.
ithink Said,
January 30, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
Paul:
I sincerely try to censor what I hear and what I see. So, the answer to your question is yes, I think I do have that right.
Thanks for commenting.
paul Said,
January 31, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
I only asked because I think if I am honest with myself and have an honest reflection on the issue I’m not sure I can say I have the right. That is, until I change and stop supporting what I am, here, speaking against. Much the same as in politics - as the saying goes, if you didn’t vote you can’t complain. If I’m going to say here that I don’t like the use of this language and it should be stopped then I cannot go to the theater and give my money in support of a movie that uses that same language as that is going against my beliefs that I expressed here. Interesting thought. Thank you, iThink!
Jay Said,
January 31, 2008 @ 9:31 pm
@iThink: Amazing. Our morals truly are declining.
@Paul: does going to see a movie with bad language mean that we cannot rally against bad language, or does it just further reinforce the notion that one cannot even see a movie without being bombarded by the language? If you could only be against things you never did, well, most people couldn’t be against anything. It’s like saying that if one sins–as everyone does–that they cannot be against sin. Which is absurd if you think about it. I, like iThink, try to censor what I listen or watch–but sometimes it is unavoidable in our current society and we should not use this as a crutch to keep from standing firmly against it.
thetriangle Said,
February 1, 2008 @ 8:17 am
I wholly agree with your position 100 percent. It is almost comical that ABC-supposedly known for their family connections-would overlook such an offensive expletive, even when families with children could have been watching. Perhaps you could have added a bit more about how “offensive blurting” affects our society. Possibly our culture has fallen so far that a curse word-which used to be taken so seriously-is now falling on numbed ears.
paul Said,
February 1, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
Of course it is sometimes unavoidable! But it is certainly avoidable when we have the choice, as we do with media (movies, music, books, tv). For me to say “I do not support the use of that language” and then go to the theater, for example, and support it by purchasing a ticket to view a movie that contains dialog with this language is clear hypocrisy. We have become numb to it and, at the same time, try to justify it when it caters to our desires regardless of what is right and wrong. thetriangle is right.
Jay Said,
February 2, 2008 @ 10:08 am
I think part of the point of this blog was to illustrate how it is becoming unavoidable in our media. It is not being censored in our early morning television! If you are aware that the movie, book, music will have profane language and choose to listen to it anyways, then there is hypocrisy there, but even some of our reading required to read for school contains profane language. You’re right, we should not knowingly support such media, but we all support it in some way and this should not keep us from speaking out against it.
paul Said,
February 2, 2008 @ 8:29 pm
Certainly, Jay…you are correct. Obviously there was a misunderstanding regarding the meaning of what was said. It is sad we are being bombarded with this filth and it is beyond our control (unless we take the action suggested by iThink). But as I was speaking for myself, I do go to movies that have foul language in the dialog and, therefore, must examine my own actions before I can point fingers. That is all I was trying to get across in my post. When we are trying to avoid such filth and are still bombarded with it then we should definitely make some noise and take a stand against it.