So Craig Kilborn showed a picture of Bush with a caption “Snipers Wanted”. I thought is was hilarious. Very funny stuff. Some people didn’t think so. Should CBS censor this. Should the government Censor this. The FCC is making noises about government action. Should this fall under protected speech?
Here is the story
What do you think about an actual call for an assasination?
Well. It wasn’t an actual call. It was a joke. Not to be taken anymore seriously than the one’s that state that Pat Buchanan made comments in German. It should also be taken less seriously than Jesse Helm’s threats against a standing president. Also I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for a man who mocked the death of Karla Fay Tucker.
Karla Fay Tucker? I’m a lot more concerned about what Bush is going to do to gays, non-Christians and women than what he says about a pick-ax murderess. I mean, boo-fucking-hoo.
That having been said, I think CBS should start censoring jokes that are poorly-written and not funny. The network would be on-air what, 20 minutes a day?
oldscratch,
Obviously it was a joke. I’m asking how far an anti-censorship stance can go.
If I recall the Jesse Helms incident correctly, he did not actually threaten Clinton - he suggested that by messing with the military Clinton was taking a risk if he travelled to a heavily military oriented state. Not his finest hour, to be sure. But not a threat that he would organize an assassination, or a call for one. Just a dire prediction about what the terrible outcome of Clinton’s policies could concievably be.
I think a more apt analogy would be the call by Alex Baldwin for the murder of Henry Hyde and the Republican House managers, along with their wives and children.
I take it that your last sentence is a personal aside. You surely don’t think policy regarding censorship should be directed by how much symphathy people feel towards a particular person.
Anyway, if I have to take a stand, I would say that CBS should definitely censor such “creative” outbursts. I’m unsure and doubtful about the government.
Unfortunately for those who are devoutly in favor of free speech, the Supreme Court ruled quite a while ago that the airwaves are a public resource and the government can regulate their use. This means that the government can impose some sanctions for improper speech.
While I don’t believe that the government (FCC) can use prior restraint, it does have the option of yanking CBS’s licenses to broadcast.
Jesse Helms can say pretty much whatever he wants on own time or in print and unless it falls under the guise of “fighting words”, he can get away with it.
Print: good
Spoken word not broadcast: good
Broadcasted word: Bad
I think it’s not censorship, but common sense.
I have heard of no less than two different radio stations who had their tapes taken by the Secret Service as they subsequently arrested people who called into the stations with “death threats” to the presidential candidates.
We’re not talking about well-trained assassins here. One guy claimed to be the “king of the United States,” for example. They and their bravado on radio were taken seriously enough to merit the above reaction from the Secret Service.
It’s not a good idea to call for the death of someone in politics. Even if it is an obvious lampoon.
He’s lucky that the Secret Service isn’t grilling him, frankly, and for all I know, they just might be.
Yer pal,
Satan
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CBS has a right to exercise poor taste, and bad judgment.
Satan’s “common sense” angle is spot on. I have the freedom to “joke” about a bomb in my bag at the airport, but I doubt security will double over in hysterics. Sometimes, jokes aren’t funny.
Nuts!
I thought this was going to be a thread about CBS failing to show us the tape of Colleen sitting naked by the campfire on Survivor.
I was thinking of this as an example, but nowadays (no doubt because of similar “pranksters”) is IS in fact against the law to even joke about it.
I don’t feel this is a violation of our freedom of speech either.
Yer pal,
Satan
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A teacher told us about his uncle who had tickets to the super bowl one year, only at the airport while going through the metal detector, he grinned and said, “Ooops, watch out for that gun.”
Needless to say, his uncle did NOT make it to the Super Bowl…
Some people may call “Snipers wanted” a joke. But I think I could make a pretty good argument that it’s… HATE SPEECH!
Do you doubt for a second that if Rush Limbaugh had put a picture of Jesse Jackson with that same caption on a TV screen, he’d be lambasted for inciting hatred and homicide?
Now, personally, I think it was just a dumb joke, a typical feeble attempt by Craig Kilborn to show how hip and cutting edge he is. In reality, he’s FAR from witty- he’s LOST without a script and a teleprompter, and (to quote Johnny Carson about Chevy Chase) Kilborn couldn’t improvise a fart after a baked bean dinner. ATTITUDE, he has aplenty. Talent? Not a lick.
The FCC and the Secret Service take threats like this seriously. I don’t blame them. If you start laughing at them, someone may take the chance and shoot at the President/whomever while you’re doubled over in hysterics.
realistically, they’ll probably just give CBS the dreaded “lecture*”, Kilborn will have his ass grilled, jokewriter will be fired, and that will be that.
*Lecture, wherein you’re given the choice between firing squad or “sitting down to talk about it” and you don’t think before asking for a bullet. Like your Mom might have given. My parents had a few like that.
From the story (emphasis mine):
Yeah. I was gonna go down to the 7-11 and get me some Cheetos, but then I saw this picture on the Craig Kilborn show of that there Bush fellow with a “snipers wanted” sign on it. Well! It was like a light came on in muh head. Of course! I could shoot Bush because he don’t have the same opinions as me and alla mah liberal Democrat gun-control friends. That’d teach 'im.
Get real. Has there ever been a political assassination in this country inspired by a joke? Was Wilkes a fan of the comedy burlesque? Was Guiteau a victim of vaudeville? Was Oswald brainwashed in Russia by the forerunners of Yakov Smirnov? Did Hinkley shoot Reagan for the love of Carol Burnett?
This is a classic example of busybodies with absolutely no sense of perspective.
In a time of hightened awareness on and alertness to potential acts of terrorism, a poster such as that has no place in society. The Secret Service should have taken Kliborn off the set that instant, while the show is on air. Threatening specific people as a joke, unless it is in the context of an agreed dozens fight, should not be allowed on air.