PBS Sticks it to the Man

The BBQ Pit
1

BULLSHIT! The word for today is BULLSHIT! We are allowed to say it on a message board: BULLSHIT!

There is a Pink Floyd concert on public television right now. They are playing the most popular songs in front of us, to imply that the Floyd somehow belong in the same league as classical long-haired gigolos, one-hit wonder 60’s groups who’ve lost their voice, and 40’s pop songs as performed by up-with-people pretty boys. But that’s not the point. In fact, if I didn’t dislike my local station so much I would probably donate right now for them playing this concert.

But any chance of that is gone when I saw them play money. Don’t give me none of that @#$% @##%^ @#%@#% @#%@#%#. What was that word again, folks? What was that word that PBS played on air? I don’t know, as it was BLEEPED OUT. Perhaps it was the word of the day? Anyone want to take a guess?

PBS is supposed to be unaffected by public opinion: even during this drive they claim the advantage of PBS is they don’t do stuff because it is popular. Or are they afraid the FCC will fine them if they play the word unedited? TELEVISION WITHOUT THE WORD “BULLSHIT” IS TELEVISION NOT WORTH WATCHING.

Next time I’ll complete my rant about the last drive when they played an immensely ignorance-killing lecture by Wayne Dyer. Here’s a starting rant: PBS? If you want to fight ignorance, DON’T PLAY LECTURES BY CIRCULARLY-ARGUING, SMARMY, CONTENT-FREE AIRHEADS. That is all.

2

Just a few days ago I believe I heard someone at PBS bragging that they were the only network to play the President’s G-8 “Shit” without the expletive deleted.

I had much rather hear Pink Floyd uncensored.

A worthy rant indeed!

3

In their defense, PBS might not have been the one to bleep the word. It could have been done by the producer of the concert video.

4

This is why they bleeped your song. This might be a good time to not only support your station, but also to write your congressperson.

5

Fuck you very much the FCC
Fuck you very much for fining me
Five thousand bucks a fuck so I’m really out of luck
Thats more than Heidi Fliess was charging me.
So fuck you very much the FCC
For proving that free speech just isn’t free
Clear Channel’s a dear channel
so Howard Stern must go
Attorney General Ashcroft doesn’t like strong words and so
He’s charging twice as much as all the drugs for Rush Limbo
so Fuck you all so very much.

  • Eric Idle.
    The NSFW song is available at the official Monthy Pyton website by scrolling down:
6

I saw the same thing, and I had the same “WTF???” moment.

Sorry PBS, you bow to bullshit pressure, you don’t get my money…

7

The FCC probably would fine them if they play the word unedited. which, since they’re having a fundraiser, would be counterproductive. PBS stations are under the same obscenity rules as commercial stations.

8

"Dear Mr. or Mrs. (or Ms.) Congress’person’,

I was watching PBS last night with my family. A Pink Floyd concert was playing and my wife and I were anxiously waiting to see if the concert would include the song “Money”, as we knew it contained the word “bullshit” and we were so looking forward to explaining to our little kiddles what the word means. (This as a preamble to the time we’re so looking forward to in which we get to explain to them the words “fuck”; “cocksucker”; “asshole”; "motherfucker; and “tits”.)

Imagine our chagrin upon learning that, though the band apparently voiced the word “bullshit”, the station was apparently so fearful of being fined by the government that they bleeped it out!

Now, as you might imagine, this simply will not do! Yes, some feel the FCC exists to ‘police’ the airwaves, and given that it has the power to levy fines I suppose there is something to that, but still…we demand that the airwaves be free and unrestrained so that listening to it will be the equivalent of modern-day CB radio traffic (and thank goodness that those old rules relating to profanity on the CB airwaves have gone by the wayside; where else can one hear entire conversations in which nine out of every ten words is a vulgar profanity).

Yes, my wife and I (and most of our friends here in the suburbs) demand that you not only put pressure on PBS (and all other broadcasters over public airwaves) to allow free and uncensored language to be broadcast over the public’s airwaves, but that you begin work to enact legislation to enforce it. After all, we certainly don’t want to have to pay to listen to Howard Stern and other like-minded freedom-fighters on satellite in order to hear the profanity and vulgarity that my family (and hopefully yours) so love to wallow in.

Therefore, I’m writing to inform you that unless you take action to rectify this situation immediately, I’m afraid that I (and my wife and most of my neighbors, as well) will be forced to support the candidacy of your opponent in the next election, as he has already spoken forcefully and favorably upon his desire to bring unfettered filth to the public airwaves.

I truly hope it doesn’t come to that as we’ve long held you in such high regard and truly hope that you can continue to represent us in the responsive way that you always have in the past.

With warmest wishes and sincere regards,
Starving Artist & Family"

9

You’ve got to fight for your right to have bullshit.

10

Indeed!

11

The Bushiviks are deeply suspicious of PBS. (Jim Lehrer is clearly the terrorist’s anchorman of choice.) If I worked at PBS, I would definitely have a sense of threat. Given the Bushiviks demonstrated attitude towards PBS, it makes no sense to offer them any opportunities.

If trimming the sails in the wind means that I can continue to enjoy Mr. Lehrer’s air of calmly polite skepticism, Mark Shield’s common sense and Gwen Ifil’s scorching hottietude, it will be well worth it.

12

FWIW, when Pink Floyd reunited and played “Money” at Live 8, the word “bullshit” was broadcast on MTV / VH1 uncensored. And I’ve been hearing “shit” said uncensored on FX recently, and not just late at night.

Mayo

13

That’s because the FCC anti-obsenity laws only apply to broadcast channels, not cable-only networks.

14

I love Eric Idle.

15

IIRC, Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC are suing to remove the language restrictions from FCC regulations. The increased FCC fines all date from the flap resulting from Janet Jackson’s boob (and nipple clamp) flopping out at the Super Bowl a couple years ago, and as we all know, if Janet had kept her titty tucked up, 9/11, Enron, WorldCom, Iraq, AIDS, world hunger, poverty, cancer, abortion, gay marriage, and Manos: Hands of Fate never would have happened.

16

I haven’t heard that. Do you know the case? I’d just be really surprised if the Supreme Court were to overrule Pacifica.

17

Nope, it was just something I picked up skimming a couple of news sources a few weeks back. I think there may have been a mention of it on some NPR program (would have been within the past 4 months or so), but I can’t say for certain.

18

Here is the first relevant story about the lawsuit, which is not a suit per se, but a notice of intent to appeal the FCC’s ruling.

That said, I don’t think the Court would overrule Pacifica outright, but the networks would like to see some consistency in the FCC’s rules on indecency and obscenity. After all, the beef is not that they exist at all, but that they are applied rather inconsistently, and some would argue, capriciously.

'Luci, you may be interested to know that Kenneth Tomlinson, former chairman of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and current chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, is currently under investigation for misuse of federal funding. In addition to his application of political tests when viewing PBS public-affairs programming, he tried to tilt Voice of America stories so they were more favorable to the Bush administration. Fortunately, the reporters balked. Cite He is a political appointee who has ties to Karl Rove, among others.

Robin

19

Just to clarify, I’m not saying that the right to use words that some would consider obscene is the most important 1st amendment right, certainly not as important as politically-charged free speech, just that the right to words in artistic expression is nearly as important as words in political expression, since art is all about the words chosen. It would almost make more sense to fine PBS for not bleeping out an obscenity during a political commentary than during a concert, since the content of the expression is key in political speech but the form itself is important in art.

(And to head off the obvious NEA parallels, PBS is mostly listener- and corporation-funded, so if the government wants to not support the use of the word “bullshit” other than giving it air access equal to the commercial stations, so be it.)

20

I’m pretty sure that was NPR.