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Originally Posted by wyndhy
i've (obviously) been reading this thread and i feel the need to add something.
i believe in freedom of speech, wholeheartedly, but you can not now nor will you ever be able to convince me that when our founding fathers ensured our rights to free speech they envisioned that a most important debate to be held some 200-odd years hence would be focused upon whether or whether not someone can say ass-fuck on the public radio waves. they meant the right ot disagree with your govn't, the right to proclaim your faith for all to hear.
i also firmly stand by the notion that a nation can not have total equality and total freedom…they do not meet in the middle. someone will always be “more free”. do i not have the freedom to not be accosted with things i do not wish to see or hear but are beyond my control? does another person not have the freedom to say things i do not wish to hear? who’s freedoms are more important…who is more equal?
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I wholeheartedly agree with you wyndhy...about our forefather's having NO intention to assure us the right to speak in a vulgar or indecent (which, btw...can be argued for interpretation of what one person finds vulgar and indecent and another doesn't...but I digress) manner in a public venue, 200+ years after the inception...I swear I agree with you! I can visualize them flipping in their graves as a matter of fact!
This bill isn't about Howard wanting to say "fuck, ass, suck, dick, shit, tit, clit" (or whatever those 7 words are) on his show and the FCC putting their foot down, once and for all, and making him stop! It's NOT about that at all...it's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more! I fear I can barely explain in a semi-midsized post just exactly what the FCC is taking away from [us]...not just Howard and his "fellow" broadcasters...but us as a nation!
I'm gonna try though...you know I am...lol!
Without a formal guideline of EXACTLY what can and can't be said on the airwaves, through the years Howard (and many, many other broadcasters of all venues) have "self-censored" their shows to be air worthy. This means that Howard has NEVER uttered the entire word "fuck", but has said it as "the F word" or "friggin" or "ffffffffffffffffffffff"...and so the same goes with all the other words that [we] would be shocked to hear on the airwaves. His show's content has not changed in all the years he's been on air!! I cannot state that fact enough...his persona and show content has always been what it is to this day!
That said (again and again...I know...You don't have to say it so loud! I'm a pain in the ass sometime...lol!), let me just tell you about the Howard Stern show...and YOUR right NOT to listen if you don't like it's content...which is well in your control...JUST TURN THE DIAL OR TURN OFF THE RADIO!
I'm only speaking of Howard's show here because that is what [I] listen to...but many other shows have been/are/will be effected by this law!
Howard's show is filled with sex, politics, sex, local and national news, sex, pretty girls getting naked for money, sex, fart jokes GALORE, sex, queefs (pussy farts), sex, retarded people, sex, midgets, sex, dwarfs, sex, drunks, sex, drug jokes, sex, bizarre contests, sex, real intelligence contests, sex, money prizes, sex, big time show biz people, sex, Congressman, sex, Senators, sex, Governors, sex...oh, I could go on and on...and that's just in one jam-packed 4-5 hour show, per day, per week, day in and day out for over 20 years! He has been the top morning show in nearly (if not all) of his markets in syndication (nationwide) in the "male, 18-35 age group" every stinkin single one of the years he's been broadcasting with his current regular show staff (ie: Robin (Ophelia...lmao!) Quivers, Fred (Eric) Norris, Gary (Bababooey) DelAbate, Scott (Scotttttttttttttttttttttttttt!) Salem...and now, replacing Jackie (The Jokeman) Martling is Arty Lange (one of the most spontaneous comedians...and drunken ones too...that I have ever heard!
Howard has surrounded himself with oddities...which he handles with TLC in his own way, over the years. Many have taken offense to his calling a black man "King of all Blacks"...but those who know Howard, know he is not a racist and we wait to hear where this title will take the "King". It usually takes him to the height of his own personal "15 minutes of fame" and the realization that Howard loves [most] all people if you are real and not an asshole...as most people would assume if they met you in person. He listens to plights and helps those he can. He weeds out the grubbers and truely takes interest in a sad situation. He's actually talked a man down from throwing himself off a bridge (even though it's been said that it was staged...it's been proved to be true). He's exposed, and then had them show their true selves for what they are in front of America on the air, the more seedy side of the human race in...KKK leaders, crooked politicians, lying newspaper journalists, phony, bilking psychics...etc., etc.
The show has had sponsors (Steven Singer Jewelers...off the top of my head) for over 20 years. This tells me that someone beside me knows the impact he has on this country.
Now...don't get me wrong here! There are things I HATE about the man. I have to take my headphones off at times during the show and go ugggggh! But all in all, I find Howard to be one of the most honest and open and fast thinking/forward thinking people I have NEVER met. And as is with almost anything/anybody...you either love him or you hate him. There is no middle ground with him and his show. All I need to convey here is that he's never overstepped the line in content. Meaning...he's "cleaned up the language" of as many indecent things he could think to stop before it went to air. If, on any given day, in any given moment, it is suggested that something is not air worthy, he has "cleaned it up" to the satisfaction of the producers and censors and the FCC. When it is stated CLEARLY that suddenly something isn't air worthy...with a LOT of bitching for what one finds indecent and another doesn't...he'll STILL clean it up to make his show a go! Every single day that passes...no, make that hour...his show is chopped and chopped to bleeps personified!
I don't care if you like the man or his show. I mean...I REALLY DON'T CARE! I'm NOT trying to "sell" him to this forum! I'm trying to let you all know that his show, in all the years I have been listening (going on 15 now) has always been about what it is about today. Except today...we get less and less and less and less of a show that WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE TUNING IN TO WHEN WE TURN HIM ON...AND IF I DON'T LIKE IT...I TURN HIM OFF!
You cannot tell me that it doesn't scare you that a Federal agency of non-elected officials (yeah...I know...our elected officials appointed them to their jobs...but I say those elected were not elected by everyone!) has the authority to fine an individual $500,000.00 per incident for an "indecent" remark that on another day before was not deemed indecent and on another day in the future could be...but we don't know because it's an "I'll know it when I hear it" situation...left to the discretion of a handful of puritan thinkers who want to clean up the morals of this entire country???????
Who's to say what is indecent? Is this site indecent? Some think it is...and we, as members of this family, would be up the asses of those who tried to shut us down...wouldn't we? Why in the world aren't we as outraged at what this new law might do as we would be if someone tried to say that they arbitrarily decided that this site should no longer exist because of it's content? They think it's indecent and they are in charge of our morals now...and they are shutting us down! Wouldn't that piss you off to the highest power? Just who the fuck do they think they are to correct my morals to be in line with theirs? I am a human being with a mind and a soul and a will of my own...and I will decide what is indecent and decent for ME and MINE...not them!
Sorry wyndhy...but your statement "I believe in freedom of speech, wholeheartedly" doesn't hold true to me when you can differentiate on the basis of assumed (and false) insinuation that Howard IS what his critics claim he is all about! It's not the case at all. And if content is his Achilles heel...it should have been that all along...not just now in this new administration!
Oh...and one more MAJOR example of just what the FCC is up to...
DISCLAIMER: Don't read on if you are easily offended...
Knowing that in all the years Howard has been on air and knowing the content of his show...one has to know that he is a man, and men are tickled to death with fart noises. Am I right? Yep...I know I am! LOL! Well, get this...
Howard has had guys (and a few girls who queef) on his show, year in and year out, who can fart on demand for as long as 2-3 hours (some maybe more). Recently, he's been notified that the FCC will fine the show if a fart noise "lasts too long or is too wet". CAN YOU FUCKIN BELIEVE THAT? It's as true as true can be, people! This is what it's all coming to! I mean...farts, for crying out loud! We can't even laugh at a long, wet fart anymore!
Just wanted to show you how miniscule they'll go to show their power. I swear...it isn't as simple as a fart noise!
*hugs to you all for reading my ramblings!*