| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
16 Nov 2004 07:49:46 PM |
| Object: |
OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
http://www.sundayherald.com/45957
Right-wing moralists launch censor war
America’s freedom of speech is under attack. Mickey Mouse and Private
Ryan had better watch out, says Ros Davidson in Los Angeles
WHAT do Tom Hanks, sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, U2’s Bono, Janet
Jackson’s boobs and Mickey Mouse have in common? They’re all targets
in an attack on American popular culture, which is accelerating
following George Bush’s re-election.
E-mail complaints from angry right-wing viewers are flooding federal
regulators this weekend following the unedited broadcast on
Remembrance Day of the film Saving Private Ryan.
In fact, one third of the local TV stations affiliated with national
network ABC, owned by Disney, refused to air the critically acclaimed
second world war blockbuster because it contains swear words. The
Oscar-winning film about D-Day, directed by Steven Spielberg, also
includes graphic, realistic violence.
The 66 stations, from Boston to Detroit and Honolulu, said they feared
sanctions from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for airing
“profanity” during prime evening hours. That was despite the fact that
ABC had promised to cover any fine by the commission, whose members
are appointed by its president.
“ABC crossed the line by airing at least 20 ‘f’ words and 12 ‘s’ words
during prime-time viewing hours!,” says the evangelical group American
Family Association, which claims it has 2.3 million members and is one
of the groups leading the revamped charge against “immorality”. “We
believe ABC should have aired their salute to heroes without violating
broadcast decency laws,” it said.
Each TV station could face a fine of £18,000 if found to have aired
“indecent” material. Under long-standing guide lines, profanity is
banned from 6am to 10pm on America’s publicly owned broadcast
channels, but not on cable channels.
“It would clearly have been our preference to run the movie,” says Ray
Cole, president of Citadel Communications, which owns three of the
stations. “We think it is a patriotic, artistic tribute to our
fighting forces.”
Senator John McCain, a one-time POW in Vietnam, introduced Saving
Private Ryan on Thursday. A maverick Republican and a former
presidential candidate, he spent much of Thursday trying to stem the
desertions. The film is nowhere near indecent, he says angrily.
Initially, only 20 stations were expected to opt out. The 1998 movie
has been shown twice before on ABC, to some complaints from viewers
but without TV stations baling.
Previously, regulators have permitted some programmes with swearing to
be aired when the language is justified artistically by the context.
According to an agreement between Spielberg and the television network
ABC, the film could not be edited for artistic reasons.
Thursday’s widespread reaction worries cultural observers because of
America’s constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and because
ownership of TV and radio outlets has become dramatically consolidated
in recent years.
“It’s self-censorship,” says BJ Bullert, a communications scholar at
the University of Washington. “There’s a climate of intimidation,
especially in response to the election. It’s a new kind of cold war,
and it comes from the top, from George Bush and Karl Rove.”
The national mood is different now, and not just because of the
election results. “Moral values” were cited by 22% of Americans as the
top issue in the November 2 vote, according to pollsters.
In September, regulators fined CBS £299,000 for the live broadcast in
January in which singer Janet Jackson’s breast was bared briefly
during half-time at the Super Bowl . Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”
prompted accusations of immorality from conservative activists, some
viewers, members of Congress and commentators.
Rove, Bush’s top political adviser, says: “I think people are
concerned about the coarseness of our culture, about what they see on
TV and in movies.”
Former Richard Nixon speechwriter William Safire, a columnist with The
New York Times, describes it as the “social political event of the
past year”. Conservative Christian groups, including the American
Family Association, are also rallying against the new film Kinsey,
released this weekend to critical acclaim, and starring Liam Neeson
and Laura Linney.
The ideas in the film, directed by Oscar-winner Bill Condon who also
made Gods And Monsters, promote pre-marital sex, which leads to
abortion and Aids, claims the group Catholic Exchange.
Kinsey is a gripping and “brutally honest, uncompromising and
non-judgemental” look at the controversial university researcher who
revolutionised cultural attitudes towards sex in the 1940s and 1950s,
said a CNN reviewer.
Robert Knight, of the curiously named Concerned Women for America,
told Associated Press recently that Kinsey was akin to the notorious
Nazi pseudo- scientist Dr Josef Mengele.
Knight backtracked on the comparison on Friday, but his reaction
indicates the seriousness of America’s culture wars.
The American Family Association also calls for a general boycott of
Disney, because the company has encouraged gays to visit its theme
parks, and of food giant Procter & Gamble for hiring gays.
Two months after the Janet Jackson incident, which also involved
singer Justin Timberlake, NBC ran up against the FCC. Rock star Bono,
from the band U2, said “f***” during the live broadcast of the Golden
Globe Awards.
Recalled less often, say critics of the culture wars, is the record
fine of £652,000 for Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network for the heterosexual
reality programme, Married By America. At issue were prime-time scenes
in which “party-goers lick whipped cream from strippers’ bodies” and
two female strippers spanked a man on all fours wearing only his
underwear, said the commission complaint.
The silence over Fox’s fine, from those who tout “moral values”, is
hypocritical, says a column by Frank Rich in today’s New York Times.
Fox News has become controversial for its right-wing commentary and
popularity in “red” or pro-Bush America.
Another indication of the red culture scare is the action of one of
the US’s newly elected politicians, Tom Coburn, a senator from
Oklahoma, says Rich. As a state-elected politician, he attacked NBC in
1997 for encouraging “irresponsible sexual behaviour” and for taking
“network TV to an all-time low with full-frontal nudity, violence and
profanity”. His anger was prompted by the prime-time airing of another
Spielberg film, Schindler’s List, about the Holocaust.
14 November 2004
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
.
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| User: "Daniel Kolle" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
17 Nov 2004 08:20:32 PM |
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On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:49:46 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> thought
hard and said:
http://www.sundayherald.com/45957
Right-wing moralists launch censor war
America’s freedom of speech is under attack. Mickey Mouse and Private
Ryan had better watch out, says Ros Davidson in Los Angeles
<snip rest>
This is one reason why we need to abolish the FCC. I can decide what I
can and cannot watch, thank you very much!~
--
-Daniel "Mr. Brevity" Kolle; 16 A.A. #2035
Koji Kondo, Yo-Yo Ma, Gustav Mahler, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Geirr Tveitt are my Gods.
Head of EAC Denial Department and Madly Insane Scientist.
.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
18 Nov 2004 04:01:16 PM |
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On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 20:20:32 -0600, Daniel Kolle <DKolle@hotmail.com>
wrote:
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:49:46 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> thought
hard and said:
http://www.sundayherald.com/45957
Right-wing moralists launch censor war
America’s freedom of speech is under attack. Mickey Mouse and Private
Ryan had better watch out, says Ros Davidson in Los Angeles
<snip rest>
This is one reason why we need to abolish the FCC.
I don't know about abolish, but remove the political ***** from
what's broadcast on the tube.
I can decide what I can and cannot watch, thank you very much!~
Exactly.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
.
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| User: "duke" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
19 Nov 2004 05:04:33 PM |
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On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:49:46 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
WHAT do Tom Hanks, sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, U2’s Bono, Janet
Jackson’s boobs and Mickey Mouse have in common? They’re all targets
in an attack on American popular culture, which is accelerating
following George Bush’s re-election.
Well, the aclu is suing to drive the military away from the boy scouts.
Something is going to have to give sooner or later.
duke
*****
Matthew 22
14"For many are invited, but few are chosen."
*****
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| User: "Roger Andrews" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
17 Nov 2004 12:39:16 PM |
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stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote in message news:<6bblp0p71ms8e1qibhoccj8nv4hh9pcjj5@4ax.com>...
http://www.sundayherald.com/45957
Right-wing moralists launch censor war
America?s freedom of speech is under attack. Mickey Mouse and Private
Ryan had better watch out, says Ros Davidson in Los Angeles
WHAT do Tom Hanks, sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, U2?s Bono, Janet
Jackson?s boobs and Mickey Mouse have in common? They?re all targets
in an attack on American popular culture, which is accelerating
following George Bush?s re-election.
E-mail complaints from angry right-wing viewers are flooding federal
regulators this weekend following the unedited broadcast on
Remembrance Day of the film Saving Private Ryan.
I keep saying the only way we can successfully fight these theocrats
and neocons is to use the same tactics they use. We need to lobby,
write letters, and get fucking organized.
I know, I know, trying to organize atheists and free thinkers is like
trying to herd cats. Difficult if not impossible, but to continue
bitching and moaning is not going to accomplish anything but make us
look like whiners and crybabies.
Roger
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| User: "L. Raymond" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
17 Nov 2004 05:28:02 PM |
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On 17 Nov 2004 10:39:16 -0800, Roger Andrews wrote:
I keep saying the only way we can successfully fight these theocrats
and neocons is to use the same tactics they use. We need to lobby,
write letters, and get fucking organized.
What have you done already?
I know, I know, trying to organize atheists and free thinkers is like
trying to herd cats. Difficult if not impossible, but to continue
bitching and moaning is not going to accomplish anything but make us
look like whiners and crybabies.
Our local group sponsored a state wide conference for atheists and
agnostics last month. It was our first try, and everyone had to learn
as we went, but it turned out OK, people made contacts, and we're
setting up a centralized virtual office to help keep people in touch so
we know what exactly is going on and how we can best deal with it.
We've agreed to sponsor the next year or two as well, then we hope
it'll be passed around the state, gathering more steam and getting more
people involved. I'm sure we'll never equal the neo-cons for sheer
number, but we expect to match their organization at least.
This is something any group, or a really determined individual, can
do.
--
L. Raymond
.
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| User: "Roger Andrews" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
18 Nov 2004 09:55:02 AM |
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"L. Raymond" <badaddress@mylinuxisp.com> wrote in message news:<1qaatc58xts0y$.hlxj212p9kb6$.dlg@40tude.net>...
On 17 Nov 2004 10:39:16 -0800, Roger Andrews wrote:
I keep saying the only way we can successfully fight these theocrats
and neocons is to use the same tactics they use. We need to lobby,
write letters, and get fucking organized.
What have you done already?
I know, I know, trying to organize atheists and free thinkers is like
trying to herd cats. Difficult if not impossible, but to continue
bitching and moaning is not going to accomplish anything but make us
look like whiners and crybabies.
Our local group sponsored a state wide conference for atheists and
agnostics last month. It was our first try, and everyone had to learn
as we went, but it turned out OK, people made contacts, and we're
setting up a centralized virtual office to help keep people in touch so
we know what exactly is going on and how we can best deal with it.
We've agreed to sponsor the next year or two as well, then we hope
it'll be passed around the state, gathering more steam and getting more
people involved. I'm sure we'll never equal the neo-cons for sheer
number, but we expect to match their organization at least.
This is something any group, or a really determined individual, can
do.
I've written letters to my representative and senators, plus letters
to the two largest regional newspapers. I've made contact with a
couple of other atheists in the area where I live, but I live in a
military town, not many here belong to the loyal opposition. =(
I should probably start looking in Seattle for a larger atheist group,
and I've been looking into volunteering to work for the DNP.
Roger
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| User: "L. Raymond" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
18 Nov 2004 01:19:54 PM |
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On 18 Nov 2004 07:55:02 -0800, Roger Andrews wrote:
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@mylinuxisp.com> wrote:
I know, I know, trying to organize atheists and free thinkers is like
trying to herd cats. Difficult if not impossible, but to continue
bitching and moaning is not going to accomplish anything but make us
look like whiners and crybabies.
Our local group sponsored a state wide conference for atheists and
agnostics last month. It was our first try, and everyone had to learn
as we went, but it turned out OK, people made contacts, and we're
setting up a centralized virtual office to help keep people in touch so
we know what exactly is going on and how we can best deal with it.
We've agreed to sponsor the next year or two as well, then we hope
it'll be passed around the state, gathering more steam and getting more
people involved. I'm sure we'll never equal the neo-cons for sheer
number, but we expect to match their organization at least.
This is something any group, or a really determined individual, can
do.
I've written letters to my representative and senators, plus letters
to the two largest regional newspapers. I've made contact with a
couple of other atheists in the area where I live, but I live in a
military town, not many here belong to the loyal opposition. =(
I should probably start looking in Seattle for a larger atheist group,
and I've been looking into volunteering to work for the DNP.
One of the founding members of the Atheist Community of Austin (our
local group) moved to Seattle and founded a group out there. I want to
say it is a chapter of Atheist Alliance, but it may be another
independent group like ours. Shall I get her contact info for you?
--
L. Raymond
.
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| User: "Roger Andrews" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
19 Nov 2004 09:35:15 AM |
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"L. Raymond" <badaddress@mylinuxisp.com> wrote in message news:<1grhe9672n0x8.wyf9pek61brr$.dlg@40tude.net>...
On 18 Nov 2004 07:55:02 -0800, Roger Andrews wrote:
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@mylinuxisp.com> wrote:
I know, I know, trying to organize atheists and free thinkers is like
trying to herd cats. Difficult if not impossible, but to continue
bitching and moaning is not going to accomplish anything but make us
look like whiners and crybabies.
Our local group sponsored a state wide conference for atheists and
agnostics last month. It was our first try, and everyone had to learn
as we went, but it turned out OK, people made contacts, and we're
setting up a centralized virtual office to help keep people in touch so
we know what exactly is going on and how we can best deal with it.
We've agreed to sponsor the next year or two as well, then we hope
it'll be passed around the state, gathering more steam and getting more
people involved. I'm sure we'll never equal the neo-cons for sheer
number, but we expect to match their organization at least.
This is something any group, or a really determined individual, can
do.
I've written letters to my representative and senators, plus letters
to the two largest regional newspapers. I've made contact with a
couple of other atheists in the area where I live, but I live in a
military town, not many here belong to the loyal opposition. =(
I should probably start looking in Seattle for a larger atheist group,
and I've been looking into volunteering to work for the DNP.
One of the founding members of the Atheist Community of Austin (our
local group) moved to Seattle and founded a group out there. I want to
say it is a chapter of Atheist Alliance, but it may be another
independent group like ours. Shall I get her contact info for you?
That would be great.
Roger
.
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| User: "L. Raymond" |
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| Title: Re: OT: So much for 'land of the free and home of the brave' |
28 Nov 2004 09:42:28 PM |
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On 19 Nov 2004 07:35:15 -0800, Roger Andrews wrote:
One of the founding members of the Atheist Community of Austin (our
local group) moved to Seattle and founded a group out there. I want to
say it is a chapter of Atheist Alliance, but it may be another
independent group like ours. Shall I get her contact info for you?
That would be great.
Sorry to have been so long, but the person with the info was out of
town. The group is Seattle Atheists, http://www.seattleatheists.org.
If you follow the board members link you can write for info.
--
L. Raymond
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