Stern Taken Off Radio in Six Cities

[Guest SP-1]

Frigid just nailed it.

[Slayer 0]

Phil Hendrie just went off on the FCC and radio execs tonight (well, actually it was a replay from last night's show, since we don't get it live, but still)

 

He said that unlike TV and movie highups who will, for the most part, go to bat for their players, radio execs just roll over when the FCC brings the hammer down because they're spineless and sacless, essentially

[Vyce 0]

You know its funny that in other countries, such as England, children can watch stuff such as this and it does not ruin them. In america it turns children into monsters, must be something in the water.

Probably all of that fluoride.

[AndrewTS 0]

I agree with a lot of what Frigid said. However, I didn't need my ass beat as a kid all that much. However, I'll admit that when I realized my mother yelled over everything and any situation, the effect of her screaming kinda lost its effect. Then I just tuned that out. However, I didn't disobey and I had good values instilled in me. I couldn't even swipe a magazine or anything without feeling guilty about it.

 

However, garbage like Stern being removed from the airwaves doesn't scream "OH NO, FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS AT STAKE!" as far as I'm concerned.

 

There's nothing to substantiate that argument. I fail to see how vulgar content qualifies as constitutionally-protectable speech. We aren't talking about shows discussing volatile issues in a slightly controversial manner, or even discussing sex in an intelligent, constructive manner. Nope, blunt, prurient content is what we're describing here. This content is available on public airwaves...during hours which kids don't listen? Kids stay up late a lot and others get up early. It's there and very likely to be encountered by them.

 

Yes, I'm of the opinion that we need to "protect the children" but my standards for censorship aren't really that strict. A highly sexualized culture can adversely affect a growing child. However, the same is true of over-censorship. Being too sheltered will cause kids to be very unprepared for the situations and issues when they come up. That's why a parental role is highly necessary. The parents can't be there 24 hours a day, though. The public sector has a responsibility to keep themselves reasonably clean, but neither the parents alone nor censorship alone is going to cut it.

 

Another example: the GTA games. Who is at fault when kids get their hands on it, the parents who let their kids play it or the game makers who make it? Both. An adult should be able to purchase an allegedly "mature" game if he or she wants, regardless of how lousy it is and how much it panders to the lowest common denominator. However, the creators of the content should bear some responsibility. No, I'm not saying award the shitty parents with millions. I'm talking about preventing them from so blatantly marketing to everyone. They market it during shows that air at all hours of the day. Magazines hype it up as something so great and rebellious and nasty that kids have to have it. Parents will let little Johnny pick up the box, reach up and hand it to the parent, and *I* have to tell the parent that maybe that game isn't appropriate.

 

If the parent thinks it's okay--nothing can be done. It isn't even necessarily that the game causes little Johnny to be an irresponsible little punk. What I feel is that this irresponsible parent letting little Johnny do whatever the hell he want is one of the underlying problems. Buying the game and letting him watch violent, adult TV is a symptom of being a shitty parent.

 

However, if you think that kids raised on a steady diet of violent TV, overly-sexual content, and little or no parental supervision is going to turn out to be fantastic, I would highly disagree.

 

However, there are very few adequate, let along perfect, parents out there. Very few parents will sit down with their child, explain to them about sex and violence in a constructive manner, shield them from it as much as possible, and raise them with solid values. Parents increasingly don't give a damn.

 

I won't blame this on the decrease of religion or the breakdown of the nuclear family, because frankly I would be guessing and taking stabs in the dark. However, I see little reason for Britney Spears to be writhing around on TV moaning IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON singing about sex, and I don't consider her an "artist" for doing it, either.

 

The sort of content that becomes acceptable gets more and more risque. I won't say that in the 50's or 60's people didn't overreact. They did then and they do now a lot. That's because the standards of acceptable behavior and content varies wildly. Organizations try to adopt a reasonable standard for that period of time, but often the standard is way too lax or way too strict--sometimes at the same time.

 

That being said, this particular incident with Stern, involving a CALLER contributing that content...well, it isn't Stern's fault. If I had my choice he'd have been taken off air a looong time ago for stuff that he, you know, actually did allow to air.

 

If you're a bit older and set in your ways, there isn't much sense protecting you from yourself. You can listen, watch, play, etc any tasteless garbage you want. However, if you're airing content that is objectionable, you have a certain responsibility to keep yourself clean.

 

I also oppose a lot of this content on an intellectual basis. Back when the standards were stricter, producers of films, etc had to be more clever with getting their message across. Open, explicit sexual language had to be replaced with innuendos that adults would get and kids usually wouldn't. Violence wasn't as overused and commonplace, so it had more effect when it was used.

 

Now? Everything's overdone. Sexuality is open and used instead of something more clever and tasteful. Violence is used to mask crappy films and TV. No, not all the time, but a good bit of the time. "Edgy" content is a crutch for hack writers.

 

A good bit of this could be applied to the WWE/F, incidentally.