The indecency rules are so ambiguous, and people are so gun shy, it's not a huge surprise. Of course, groups like the PTC (parentstv.org) are saying that they won't complain and "context is everything".
Right now, the FCC can't say if it's indecent or not until they get complaints and review. You could show them something ahead of time, and they can't say if you'd be in trouble or not.
I don't like the double standard that exists. The PTC says that "the content is not meant to shock" in Private Ryan, but I'd argue just the opposite. The content IS meant to shock and show the horrors of war.
The Religious Right is now going to complain about not honoring Veterans when not showing the movie...
I am not holding my breath on the mea culpas when these are the people that complained in the first place...
The Left, the base of the Democratic Party, hail the virtues of tolerance and consider themselves to be the tolerant citizens of America. In their touting of tolerance they express their obvious disdain for those whose views run contrary to that of enlightened Liberalism.
Dare to make a statement of conviction of any kind, and one of these Leftists will set down his cheese and wine, pause his lecture on the virtues of plurality and the absurdity of the belief in absolute Truth, and tell you your convictions -- everything you believe and hold dear -- are absolutely wrong. Where does he get his understanding that what you claim is "right" is actually not? Against what standard is this wrongness measured? He can't say. All he knows is that you're a bigot, you're intolerant, you're not worthy of being an American. In fact, you're not smart enough to understand what it means to be an American.
And not only are you dumb, you're dangerous. Fanatics like you don't belong in a "tolerant" culture like ours. You and your beliefs and the people who share them should not be allowed in our civilized society . . . or, at the very least, you should be denied the right to vote. Because when you vote, when you're politically active, you screw everything up. -Chris Field, Human Events, 11/5/04
Originally posted by SimbaHere's a statement from the Boston ABC affiliate on their decision not to air it.
The fact it specifically mentions Janet Jackson and Bono just makes me sad. Or Angry. Definitely Sangry.
It's friggin' Massachusetts. Are people really gonna complain? And... should we care?
Ridiculous. Just show it at 9 or 10. Put the kids to bed. Unlike boobgate, we know it's coming this time. No one's going to be surprised.
Originally posted by A FanYes, the land of the free, indeed.
Yeah, as in, they're free not to show the film. Free, but pretty damn cowardly.
"You know what I'm happiest for? I'm happiest for Bill Buckner, Calvin Schiraldi, Bob Stanley, Johnny Pesky, Ted Williams, all of the Red Sox that played before us will now be remembered for the great players and great people they were instead of all the other crap." Curt Schilling
I was pretty shocked when I turned on my local ABC affiliate WVEC Norfolk and they werent showing it either. This is pretty much the biggest military community in the US.
"I could be wrong, but I doubt it"---Charles Barkley
The odd thing about that was that the FCC ruled it as DECENT due to the context. He wasn't talking about fucking, in the sexual context, just as fucking in the expletive context.
Later they ruled it indecent and that "Fucking" is not decent in any context.
And now, for a limited time only, it rhymes with "door hinge!"
Originally posted by PalpatineWRidiculous. Just show it at 9 or 10. Put the kids to bed. Unlike boobgate, we know it's coming this time. No one's going to be surprised.
ABC wouldn't allow the affiliates to put it on at a later time. 8PM or nothing, apparently.
While I am certainly against the hard-core stance the FCC has taken over the past year, I am not that riled up about this.
I mean - it is just a movie, but people seem to be acting like it is patriotic doctrine. I suppose it it were a documentary showing film from the actual battle, an in depth look at what our soldiers go through in war, then perhaps I would be in agreement if someone tried to call it indecent.
But this? It is a fictional work - and not a very good one at that. I know it got tons of awards and acclaim, but I think that had more to do with the subject matter and the parties involved than the merits of the film. And it certainly isn't important enough to qualify as something it is your patriotic duty to watch.
As long as we allow the FCC to set guidelines for the broadcast stations, then we have to live with their judgment. But the film can still be found in your local video store and I am sure it will be on cable. If anyone needs to watch it that bad, it is still there.
Yeah - FCC censorship is bad. But it isn't an affront to Veterans Day, or anything against our soldiers. If indeed it is deemed indecent by the FCC, it will still be indecent tomorrow, when it isn't Veteran's Day. This just isn't a "support our troops" issue.
Here in Tampa, where good ol' Tommy Franks and CENTCOM holed up, the movie was not broadcast. I thought it odd that local Tampa stations spent months celebrating Tampa's committment to WAR -- "The celebrity General is here!" -- but blanched in the face of showing a movie that unflinchingly exposes the horrors of, well, war. There's a further predictable irony in the fact that the leading stories on the local news tonight involved people being shot or threatened with being shot. Huzzay for moral or ethical consistency!
It's gotta open some kind of a bad can or worms. If they regulate and fine, they offend a bunch of people. If they ignore it, it offends a bunch of other people.
Thank God I don't live in this technological backwater! Here where I live, we have this thing calle the remote control...it's pretty cool. When I don't like what's on TV, I just change teh channell. But then again, I can understand why someone would wanna bitch and complain that they almost heard the F-word.
Bloom County. 1988. Steve Dallas and his parents: Mom: That's the most adorable little colored girl playing outside. Steve: "Colored"? You're saying "colored people" in 1988? You know better, Ma. Mom: