Fuckin' Brilliant

Federal appeals court strikes down FCC’s ridiculous rules on cussing. And about damn time.

You know, we have become astonishingly prudish over the past few decades. I don’t get it. Anyone who spends any time at all reading old magazines, watching old movies or listening to music from 30 years ago is confronted with evidence of what was permissible in the 70s and 80s, and the difference is astonishing.

Have any of you ever really paid attention to the lyrics to “Afternoon Delight”? This was a number one hit in 1976, for crying out loud! By a pop group with the words “vocal band” in its name, no less! I hadn't paid much attention to it until I was listening to the 70s station on XM one day and heard the lyric, "...and the thought of rubbing you getting so exciting." Oh, my. Meanwhile, today they bleep out the word “shit” in the line "funky shit going down in the city" from Steve Miller's 1977 hit “Jet Airliner.” Weird. Context, people. Context.

Words like “damn,” “shit” and even “fuck” were regularly reprinted in the pages of Rolling Stone; today the publication must use a discrete “f**k”. When did this happen? It’s silly.

One piece of conventional wisdom holds that the culture has become more permissive over the years. That's true in some respects, but not universally so. We’re not in general as easily shocked as we once were; nothing surprises us. But our institutions have become far more timid. I blame the ruckus over Titty-Gate, which seems to have chilled broadcasters. I find this bizarre, considering the violence on prime time television.

Of course, it’s all just a reflection of the corporatization of our media, which tends to play it safe and value image and profits, whereas the arts is about pushing boundaries and challenging authority. So it's an awkward dance between the two, always has been.

Then again, the suit was filed by Fox Television, after it was fined by the FCC over Bono’s “fucking brilliant” exclamation. This particular case was an example of government overreach at the behest of the scolds at the Parents Television Council. Heh. What was I just saying about you folks having lost the culture wars?

So score another win for progress in the culture wars. People talk in expletives, and it’s ridiculous to argue that when Bono says it’s “really fucking brilliant” to win a Golden Globe that anyone would claim he’s talking about actual sexual intercourse. Just like when one hears the name “Dick Armey” they aren’t necessarily thinking of a platoon of a naked male soldiers.

I never understood some folks’ obsession with sex and their disconnect from violence. Years ago I was at Blockbuster and overheard a mom ask the clerk if the movie “Open Range” was “okay for young kids.” I had seen the film and knew it was extremely violent, so when the clerk hesitated I understood why. But all the mom wanted to know is if there was graphic sex in the movie. “Well, no...,” the clerk said, “but it’s really bloody.” “Oh, I don’t care about that,” the woman said.

Unbelievable. And we wonder why we’re fucked up as a country.

Personally I find images of graphic violence more psychically wounding to young minds than images of sex or profanity. Clearly, other people are okay with violence but not okay with the other stuff. I’m going to have to spend some time thinking about what that says about me and what that says about everyone else.

But in the meantime, I raise my glass in a “fuck yeah” to the federal appeals court. And I raise my middle finger to Brent Bozell and the Parents Television Council. Lost another one, suckaz.