Makes your head hurt, doesn’t it? I suppose that the fact that junior might accidently hear (and possibly even repeat!) a word that he’s undoubtedly heard a thousand times before is far worse than the glorification of driving 200 Mph and winding up in a heap of twisted wreckage.
Here is my handy-dandy General Outrage Scale For Activist Groups With The Word “Family” In Their Names (in order from horrifying to perfectly benign):
[ul]
[li]The naked human body that their God gave to them[/li][li]Discussion of what naked human bodies do together[/li][li]The mere concept of homosexuality[/li][li]Pixelated video game violence[/li][li]SHOCKING one-syllable words that have thrived for over 1,000 years with no apparent negative consequences[/li][li]People with properly functioning brains and accurate senses of both context and perspective[/li][li]Gory, realistic movie violence[/li][li]Marmalade and assorted jellies and jams[/li][li]Shrill, obnoxious simpletons who apparently suffer massive heart failure upon hearing the wrong combination of four letters[/li][/ul]
I know lots of people who don’t use profanity, ever. Most of them are not offended by hearing profanity, but they would prefer not to hear it. I’ve never met anyone who wanted to “stamp it out”, but I do know people who wish its use weren’t increasing on TV.
QED has something here. FPN is a perfectly legitimate lobbying group (though one I find to be not my kind of place, I admit). They have the right to complain so they do so. Whether anyone listens to them is another matter. If they can bring sufficient economic pressure on Fox or NASCAR things will change to their benefit. If not, then not.
<Medium-sized rant deleted about the cultural disconnect between profance NASCAR, the politics of average NASCAR viewers, and the perception of the ‘Family Values’ political positions>
I think most of them are aware that their transmissions can be broadcast, but unless someone warns them, such as a broadcasting a conversation with a driver under caution or something (“Junior, Benny Parsons, you got me?”, for example), it’s not really a concern. Transmissions that are broadcast are usually not done live, anyway (“Here’s what the 24 team said about that last pit stop…”). These communications are primarily for the driver and crew. Fans at the track have scanners to eavesdrop (which is what it is, really), and TV broadcasts air clips so that the viewer can get the feel of what it’s like to be there. Well, sometimes, that “feel” is rated PG.
NASCAR’s target audience isn’t necesasarily the delicate eared family, though.
Should profanity be allowed helter skelter on TV? Probably not. But should some organization get their panties in a twist because an angry adult, in the heat of competition and unaware that he is being broadcast, says “shit” to another adult? Nope. :rolleyes:
We should form our own non-profit organization, called the “Shit Society”, and write outraged letters to the media anytime we see the “F***** P***** N******” words.
This reminds me of when they went batty (they being some “family” group) about Pamela Anderson doing “start your engines”. Apparently it is not ok to have a buxom blonde say a few words because it’s not “family friendly” but it’s ok to have VIAGRA and such plastered all over the cars, in the ads, etc.
I was watching when I heard this explicative. The first thing that went through my mind was, “What happened to the 5 second delay? Is someone asleep at the button!?” But anybody who gets offended by an angry man saying angry things when you’re listening in on his conversation is just plain daft.
Does anyone else remember that episode of The Goodies called “Gender Education”, in which some awful prude hires them to make a Sex Ed film with no naughty parts, smuttiness, or anything even vaguely educational in it? It’s very funny, and I’m often reminded of it whenever I hear these sorts of stories…
There was a big flap down here a couple of years back when a guy on a live-broadcast panel show dropped ‘fuck’ before ten thirty at night, which apparently hadn’t happened before (which I find hard to believe, but anyway). A few months later “Sex and the City” premiered, with swear words ALL OVER the place, at ten thirty at night. It was possibly the quickest I’ve seen Australian society go from tea-spluttering outrage to no-shit-giving apathy about an issue.
Anyway, more swear words on TV. About time it started accurately representing how most people speak anyway.
Channel 10 showed Pulp Fiction at 8:30pm in it’s entirety, uncut, in about 2001 or so, complete with every swear word in it. No-one complained, AFAIK.
I also recall one of the characters in “The Secret Life Of Us” describing her boss as “A Fuckwit” and “A Fucking Wanker” about about 9pm. Again, the care factor was zero and falling.
I agree there needs to be more swearing on TV- it’s how people speak in real life (certainly in this part of the world, anyway), provided it’s not on too early in the day where little kids can hear it…
“What should we do today, B1?”
“Fucked if I know, B2. How about we knock off early, head down to the pub, and see if we can find some hot piece of ass for the evening?”
“Only if those cunts The Wiggles haven’t beaten us to it… bastards…”
Why yes, I did enjoy Death To Smoochy. Why do you ask?
You just have to look to ruin of society a little bit North of y’all to see the dangers therein.
All manner of four-letter words, not just where dramatically appropriate, but on the news and suchlike, when that’s, like, how people express themselves. (Link contains embedded video and a few choice words.)
It’s anarchy up here, I tell ya. You hear stuff like that on the TV, and pretty soon you’ve got dudes marrying dudes and Nazis riding dinosaurs.
Now, now, now, they’re only concerned with protecting the virgin ears of the typical NASCAR fan from such rude language, lest it trigger an attack of the vapors.
Actually, the OP’s link makes one good point. It’s broadcast over public airwaves, and the FCC has rules against it… so does NA$CAR (but those rules change hour… no…, minute by minute.) NBC (Horrible coverage IMO) instituted a 5second delay. FOX doesn’t.
IMO, NASCAR IS a family sport, and it should be limited/eliminated from the broadcasts… there is no technical reason why it can’t be. 5 seconds of delay “live” makes no difference to me as a viewer vs 0 second delay “live”(especially not to me, as I start watching a race 2 hours after it’s started, on my DVR, no commercials for me!).
If they are interviewing someone, I can see fines. If they butt into a conversation over the radio, at a “hot temper” track, with a team that has just crashed (for the 2nd time due to being spun, in a short number of laps), no fine… just as I think Jeff Gordon shouldn’t have gotten a fine for a wee shove to Matt Kenseth at the same track (Bristol)… no punches, no blood, no swears, no foul.
