Incoherently unsophisticated

You Can't Say That On TV!!

So after pondering on my friends "Bunny" blog, it struck me as to just how dumb censorship is. For example you can't say "Shit" on TV or radio without facing fines from the FCC in excess of Paraguay's annual budget. I won't get off on a rant about the legality of the FCC's inquisition on all things obscene, because I'm just in too good of a mood.

But seriously, words are what we use to express an idea, or to reference a thing. You can even have multiple words reference the same thing. And so we outlaw the usage of the word "fuck" on TV. But not the idea behind it. You can even reference it as long as you use a more kosher term. So why exactly is the word taboo, but not the idea?? Seems really well, bureaucratic and very much like what our government is good at.

I've noticed that sci-fi shows are rather adept at getting around this. "Hmmm... we can't say fuck, so instead we'll use... frak! Yeah that's it. They even sound the same, and everyone will know what we meant." And to which the censors say "... its not on the list. Approved!" And since it's all make-believe anyway, it's perfectly reasonable for their parallel-dimension type universe to have it's own unique words of curse. I've heard: frak, frell, dren, gorram, even swearing in chinese. And that's all A-Okay! I think it's just plain silly.

10 points if you can match the curse to the show!

posted by wrmblnwrck @ 11:34 PM