Now, the Senate is considering passing S 2056 which will approve HR 3717 and send it onto the President for his signature and approval as law. If that happens, the FCC Commissioner is directed by Congress to fine and not approve of licenses of anyone who violates this law by broadcasting obscene, indecent, or profane material.
In this country, you are basically free to do whatever you want, with the exception that you don't hurt other people. For instance, the U.S. Supreme Court has placed limits on the freedom of speech for cases like yelling "Fire!" in a crowded movie theatre when there is no fire (the freedom of speech is less important than the safety of the movie-goers). The deplorable language, violence, and sex being depicted on TV and radio are not physically hurting anyone. If someone copies those actions and does hurt someone, then that person has done something illegal and should be responsible. People should be responsible for their own actions, however, describing that action is protected by the freedom of speech. It still comes down to the individual listening as to whether or not to follow the directions given by the radio and TV.
The way that these laws being passed are worded, the Commissioner has the authority to decide what is indecent, obscene, or profane. There is no list. There is no court case that can be cited, it is at the whim of the Commissioner to decide what is indecent, obscene or profane.
You are driving down the highway with a bunch of other cars, but there are no speed limits, no signs, nothing to tell you the acceptable way to drive. So you use the highway to go back and forth to work or school along with everyone else. One day, at home, the police officer stops by your house and gives you a ticket. "What this?", you ask. "It is for violating the driving standard on the highway 6 months ago," the officer replies. "What did I do?", you ask. "Your speed was too fast," he states. "Well how fast can I go? There aren't any limits on my speed on that highway," you state. "Your speed was too fast," is all that he will answer with. Also, he won't leave, though, until you pay the $1000.00 fine. You can go to court, but then he'll have to take your license away until your court case is over. So, you write $1000.00 check to the officer and he goes away. The next day, you drive a lot slower on the highway, even though people are honking at you and running all around you. For the next few months, you are the slowest, most cautious driver on the highway, and you make everyone very annoyed because they are all passing you and speeding around you. The officer shows up at your door again, though, and says, "You violated the driving standard on the highway again last week. Here is your ticket." "What?! I'm going slower than anyone else on the highway, you still haven't put up any signs saying what I can or cannot do, and now you are giving me a ticket? How can you do that?" you ask. "You can either pay the $2000.00 fine, or you can give me your license," he replies. So, what do you do?
Since the Commissioner of the FCC has the ability to determine what is obscene, profane, or indecent, he is the one that can set the limits on what you do. He is the police officer in this story. If he wants you to drive slower today, than he will slap you with a fine in a few weeks (not even right when the violation is occurring). When you ask about what was wrong, he will just say that your driving was too fast. The Commissioner is only required to disclose what violations were occurring in the fineable offense, nothing more. And there are no published standards or speed limits to disclose what you need to do to "comply" and not get fined. Since the Commissioner issues radio and TV stations licenses (which they do so you don't have two radio or TV stations on the same channel), if you don't want to pay the fine and go to court to argue that their are no standards, he will just take your license away. That means you can't broadcast or make money. The best part is that the Commissioner doesn't have to go after EVERY radio station or TV celebrity, he can just pick and choose and make them follow HIS own standards.
Where does it end? One person in Washington, D.C, makes these decisions the Commissioner of the FCC. If you don't agree with him, than you can go to court, but he'll make sure that you don't get your license. So what can you do? We can stand up and say that this is wrong.
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