BrianGarst.com

It’s taken me a bit to get around to this one, as several weeks have passed since the Super Bowl, but I want to comment on it. First, this excerpt from a press release by the Parents Television Council:

Today, the Parents Television Council is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to take action against CBS for the airing of an unedited f-word during last night’s Super Bowl broadcast. Following the defeat of the 49ers, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco exclaimed the f-word on a live broadcast and CBS failed to catch it.

“Despite empty assurance after empty assurance from the broadcast networks that they would never air indecent material, especially during the Super Bowl, it has happened again,” said PTC president Tim Winter.

“No one should be surprised that a jubilant quarterback might use profane language while celebrating a career-defining win, but that is precisely the reason why CBS should have taken precautions. Joe Flacco’s use of the f-word, while understandable, does not absolve CBS of its legal obligation to prevent profane language from being broadcast – especially during something as uniquely pervasive as the Super Bowl. The instance was aired live across the country, and before the FCC’s designated ‘Safe Harbor’ time everywhere but along the East Coast.

So here we have a supposedly conservative organization whining to the federal government that a company should be legally compelled to deliver to them a product in a specific way. That’s completely consistent with conservative principles, right? Perhaps they are “conservative” in the sense that their collective panties are tied into knots at the slightest provocation, but demanding activist government controls in this manner is anything but.

If you don’t want your precious, sensitive little ears to hear naughty words, but bitch and complain that you have gotten nothing but “empty assurance after empty assurance from the broadcast networks that they would never air indecent material,” then maybe you should take a hint and stop watching broadcast networks. You have no right to their content, and certainly not to their content specifically tailored to your wants and desires.

I hear multiple curse words in just about every baseball game I watch. It happens in live television, especially in sports. Either accept it or don’t watch. But using the law to burden others – at tremendous cost – to filter out whatever arbitrary list of words you happen to find unpleasant is ridiculous, and such nonsense undermines the work of those who actually care about limited government.

big government conservatives